It’s not just toys for boys. I may not feel the need to browse hardware stores, but I like equipment just the same. In my case, it’s usually kitchen related.
But every now and then, I find something that does just what I want, in a way that makes it stand apart from regular equipment. It’s not just the right tool for the job. It gains its own must have status – for me, at any rate.
So, here’s to my new tea flask that makes school runs, bus commutes, car trips etc much easier. It’s metal. It’s thin, so it fits in the cupholder in the car, and in the side of my rucksack.
It’s a beautiful blue (‘but it hasn’t a hood’, I hear my mother saying, quoting an AA Milne poem). This is not just so I can find it easily but so I can tell it apart from…my coffee flask! And from Dan’s coffee flask. You can see a certain attachment to drinking vessels going on here.
It also gives me the opportunity to sing the praises of a certain Mr Wilson who, when having to leave a cafe early where he had a half-drunk coffee, whipped out a neat little mug, so he could continue his coffee AND bow to the wishes of Those Who Need To Go To A Park. Immediately.
Such was the impact, I too had to have my flask. The first one was bulky, and it dribbled more when you took the top off. Not a good look for trousers if getting a quick swig of tea at a red light. I tried a cheap plastic flask – that one tended to fall apart if I dropped it, which does happen occasionally.
So, good reader: buy thin metal flasks for hot drinks, and all shall be well. Or at least your beverage needs will be met, which does contribute greatly to all things being well. I draw the line at telling you which make to buy – or it wouldn’t be your perfect tool for the job, if there wasn’t the chance for a little personalisation.