I’ve always had a Swiss Army Knife. For more than half of my life I’ve been taking one with me wherever I go. I’ve misused and abused it as a screwdriver, to open coconuts, bottles, cutting things open, prying things open, cutting paper, and whatever. My most-used tool, good for everything. It’s a red handled knife, the traditional swiss cross has faded long ago, it has many scratches and it died. More or less. Actually, only the tip of the main blade broke off when I lent it to a workmate – after the move into our new office, we had to cut open some cable ducts.

That knife served me well for over 15 years, and I decided it might finally be the time to get a new one…

So I bought the same model again. Only the black version this time. Very simple and minimalistic, it only has two blades, a can opener, a bottle opener, an awl and a corkscrew. And it’s black. Some new gadgets that have been added during the time since I last bought one: a toothpick (???) and a pincer. Also, it’s black. With a silver cross on it. How extraordinary goth!

(Did I mention I like black?)