Stuff In Steve's Office #6

[sleigh]

  Stuff in Steve’s Office #6:

  I keep refreshments around, too.  There’s usually a mug of tea on my desk -- alongside the laptop which, I know, is a semi-dangerous place to put it, but hey, if there’s no danger in life, it’s boring…

  Scattered around, you’ll see some of the stuff in the picture below.  Let’s start at the lower left and go around the horn.

Yes, that’s a 7up can sitting there.  Look at it closely, because that’s a pull tab on the top.  Anyone still remember pull tabs, long since replaced by the tab opener that remain on the can?  Back then, you pulled the tab completely off and had to get rid of it somewhere.  In fact, “Please don’t litter. Dispose of properly” is stamped on the lid.  This particular can had been part of a pack I bought decades ago, back in the 70s. I kept it because while it’s perfectly sealed, it’s also perfectly empty.  Evidently this can misbehaved at the factory and while it went through the line and was sealed and packaged, it was never filled with soda.  Poor thing.  So to make it feel better, I kept it as a curiosity.

  The pack of Coca Cola at the top of the picture came from Denise’s dad, who liked to collect old stuff.  This is an ancient wooden carton, and he had managed to find five old coke bottles (still capped) from around the same time.  I added another, not quite as old, bottle to complete the set.  I assume (but don’t know, since wooden cartons pre-date me) that one returned the empties to the store and put a new set of six bottles in the carton.  It’s a rather neat-looking piece, but I’d be afraid to actually open up and drink any of the bottles, given how old they are…

  And finally, there’s a bottle of Guinness Stout dressed in a miniature suit jacket.  That’s Hania’s work. One year, she promised to make me a sports coat for my birthday; she didn’t quite have it done by the time my birthday rolled around, so this is what I got at the time: a bottle of Guinness well-attired.  I did get the coat not long after, and wore it proudly for a long time.  I still have it, but alas, it no longer quite fits.  I’m certain it must have somehow shrunk.  

  But hey, I’ll bet no one else has such a snazzily-dressed bottle of Guinness in their office!