Oct
19
Filed Under (General) by Rob on 19-10-2009

…is that most of them are barely capable of “doing what it says on the tin” (pun intended)

When I come to Africa, I always forget to bring a tin-opener with me from the UK, but have recently wished I had…

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First of all, I bought the blue one in the middle for round £3.00. The blue plastic bits on the handle fell off as soon as I took it out of the packaging and it just about managed to open ONE tin before giving up the ghost.

So then, I bought a classic, ‘twisty metal’ tin-opener (left) for 50p from the market – surely can’t be as bad as the first one, after all my Mum used one for years when I was a kid! It lasted almost a week, and then the small plastic ‘washer’ dislodged, thus rendering it incapable of opening any more cans.

Thirdly, I bought one of those horizontal ones that lifts the whole lid off. Cost me around £2.50, but it was so bad that it got thrown in the bin before even having chance to pose for a blog photo!

Finally, it had to be done, I shelled out a whopping £8.00 on a pucker TEFAL tin opener (right & below), which is almost the total of what I had paid thus far for my ‘dodgy’ openers. I am happy to say that this one is still going strong a month later, thereby dramatically outstripping its contenders on the ‘tins per £’ scale!

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So, I guess the moral of the story is, don’t buy cheap tin-openers in Africa, especially as warranties and refunds are few and far between.

Thanks for reading – please leave a comment if you can (NB I’ve not had any on the blog itself since last month!!)



Comments:
6 Comments posted on "The truth about tin-openers in Africa"
Phil on October 19th, 2009 at 1:52 pm #

It’s not you, it’s me. I’ve just not got anything to say. Still enjoy reading though.


thainamu on October 19th, 2009 at 7:51 pm #

Here’s a comment: This reminds me of my son lecturing me that it costs more to buy the cheap one…

(and no one ever comments on my blog either, so don’t feel alone!)

I’m one of your colleagues, BTW. I read your blog because sometimes it makes me laugh.


anne on October 20th, 2009 at 5:09 pm #

still reading, anne


Rob on October 21st, 2009 at 11:31 am #

Thianamu, who are you, I must know!


John Parkinson on October 26th, 2009 at 12:15 pm #

Stick to the ‘ancient’ model that has a sharp point and operates like a car-jack, rob! (or use you hunting knife when desperate).


thainamu on October 26th, 2009 at 1:14 pm #

I work in the black hole, aka Dallas. And no, you’ve probably never even heard of me, but you have no doubt heard of my husband, Gary.