Sunday 8 October 2017

There's no such thing as a free lunch!



Amongst Lady Magnon's Christmas presents, I usually add a year's subscription to one of her favourite magazines. Typically Elle Deco, Paris Match, or Elle à Table.

Some years back, I noticed in one of her mags an advert for a wine appreciation club called 'Expert Club'. After enlisting they would send you a free gift, then later inform you of their special offers of 'fine wines'; there was no obligation to buy anything. I happily subscribed.

They sent me the above Waiter's Friend as my free gift. I always prefer to use these rather than the standard corkscrews, and this particular one is of extremely good design and quality.

I believe the 'Expert Club' soon went bust (the name was later used by supermarket chain Intermarché), but I still regularly use my free gift. Who ever thought of sending out such 'freebies' by post must have made a very poor financial calculation.

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but free corkscrews; yes! I can't think of any other free gift I've received that was nearly as good.




21 comments:

  1. I bought a very nice corkscrew some years ago for a very reasonable price. I then discovered why it was so cheap. We now have almost all o our wine with screwtops.

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    Replies
    1. Screw tops are fine; at least they don't snap in half.

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    2. They are much easier but made my corkscrew redundant.

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  2. I loved those screw tops when we were in NZ or Australia. But here we have a variety of cork screws, some better than others.
    We don't drink much bottled wine, bottled in glass.

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    Replies
    1. Nor do we; I take my 5 litre containers to be filled at the vineyard. Much more sensible.

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  3. My husband has a couple of freebies corkscrews he received from his favourite wine cellar and they work very well. The wine that came with them was very expensive so I don't know if they were really free after all.
    Greetings Maria x

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    Replies
    1. I suspect that was the idea of the 'Expert Club', but it all went wrong.

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  4. I can't think of any free gift I have ever received!

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  5. I could never understand how some people only value stuff they paid a lot of money for? I love free stuff, best things in life are free right?

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    Replies
    1. It's called 'snobbery' Jan. Free is always best.

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  6. I often wonder about all those cork farms I saw in 1987 between the Algarve and Lisbon, mile after mile of them. I wonder if they are mostly out of business now. It is all screw tops on wine I buy.

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    Replies
    1. I remember seeing them from the train between Madrid and Algeciras. All bright orange after having been harvested.

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  7. Like you, I always use a Waiter's Friend on bottles that have a cork and have one which has stood the test of time. Instead of a blade (I do have one with a blade) this one has a tiny wheel in a slight recess and is superb.

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    Replies
    1. Wine waiters wouldn't use them if they weren't the best for the job! Self-explanatory.

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  8. Personally, I prefer one tool for one job. I hate Swiss Army knives, for instance.

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    Replies
    1. I've never owned a SAK, I always imagine that there are 50 inferior tools, instead of one good one.

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    2. The good one being the tooth-pick, which always falls out and gets lost.

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  9. Unusual to get something nice for nothing. (We went to a local wine tasting when the girls were here, I am now an expert on corks.)

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    Replies
    1. The whole business of corks is quite complex. They tell a much bigger story than just holding the wine inside the bottle.

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  10. My son gave me a year's subscription to an expensive magazine some time ago and the inducement was a large tub of face cream that costs £115! more than the cost of the magazine.....the cream was wonderful and when it ran out I was tempted to buy more but changed my mind...I often wonder if the gift was a mistake!

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