Picture this tragic scenario.
It is 10 in the morning and you are pouring blood, sweat, and tears into your manuscript. The words aren’t flowing and writer’s block is setting up camp in your brain. Just when you are about to succumb to the depths of despair and defeat, you remember you hid a lovely bottle of wine in your underwear drawer. Not one of those screw cap jobbies, but one with an honest-to-goodness cork.
Sure, it is Two Buck Chuck, but no matter. It is wine . . . your favorite writing tool.
But alas and alack, in a brash and ill-advised attempt to curtail your 10 am drinking habit, you removed all the corkscrews from the house the day before. What is a writer to do!?
Fear not. I can help you out here.
Go to your closet and grab a shoe. You heard me right. I said a shoe.
Watch the educational video below to learn how you, yes you, can open a bottle of wine with a shoe. I kid you not.
You can thank me later.
Robin Coyle 
Pingback: A Normal Day at Work | The Midnight Thief
That is an amazing trick. Thanks for sharing!
You bet! I am here to serve!
This reminds me of my brother who can open a beer bottle by hitting it just right on the edge of a counter (or anything sturdy). All those years of college really do pay off.
All that college tuition really does pay off.
The things people can do!
What I want to know is who thought of opening a bottle of wine with a shoe.
A friend of mine at work said her husband tried this at the weekend. On the third bang against the wall his daughter shouted at him to stop.
There was a big crack in the wall! Not part of the plan!
Oh dear! I hope they didn’t blame me!
They asked for your address! I kept your blog out of it 😉
I never would have thought to do such a thing! But knowing my luck, I’d hit the bottle too hard against the wall and shatter it. 😉
My advice . . . safety googles.
Genius! I’ll have to remember this when I travel. Nothing is worse than getting back to the hotel room with a bottle of wine, changing into pajamas and then having to get dressed again to go out and buy a corkscrew.
I just go out for a corkscrew in my pink footie jammies. You should see the looks I get at the corner liquor store.
The other day, I ran to the convenience store in a pair of New York rangers flannel pj pants. The young man who held the door open for me at the entrance definitely rolled his eyes. And not in a good way.
I’m sure you looked stunning.
Well I’ll be darned. Never knew this. Am amazed. Thanks.
Thanks for the Tweet!
You can use this as a party trick and impress all of your friends with your newfound talent!
And won’t I be the belle of the ball when I do so?
Indeed!
this is one piece of advice I can use–thank you Robin!
Call me the Heloise of blogging. Helpful household tips for all.
by the way–my Writers’ Group loved your post–parts of it had them rolling on the floor–my stuff never gets that much attention!
That is awesome! I’m glad they liked it. Thanks for letting me know.
Oh yeah! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Brilliant! 😀
Yup. It is brilliant. I wonder who the heck thunk that up.
Someone who was very desperate indeed 😉
Necessity is the mother of invention!
Essential information to pass on. I will try it. Thanks.
I liked performing this public service for my fellow bloggers.
Pretty handy trick. I think even I can handle this.
Just don’t use a good shoe in case the bottle explodes! I can’t be held responsible for a ruined stiletto.
Haaaa stiletto? Me? Pshhht never. Sneakers always
I say give them a try. Wink. Wink.
Break my ass for sure
Oh my god. I am going to open my next bottle like that!!!
Wouldn’t it be funny if you pulled this trick at a restaurant to avoid the corkage fee?
Hilarious! You should try it! We don’t have that out here that I know of.
Fun fun fun! I’d write more, but I have to go open my bottle of wine…
Opening a bottle of wine with your shoe?
Shhh, don’t tell anyone….
Your secret is safe with me.
Oh yay!! I’ve ruined two bottles of wine because I didn’t have a corkscrew…got plenty of cement walls…got shoes…oh no, no wine! Off to the store…first one to actually try this out has to report back to the rest of the class.
Excellent idea. I will grade on the curve.
This is the best tip I have ever heard. Many years ago, while vacationing in Florida, I had the wine but no corkscrew. The stress was…there is no word for it. 😀
Can’t wait to try this. Might have to go outside because I have no stone or brick fireplace inside. *giggles* This is way too entertaining.
Wine and no corkscrew is indeed stressful. That is why they invented Prozac.
I gotta find a rock wall and try it!
What about the outside of your house? Heck, how well do you know your neighbor. Too bad you cannot pull up a sidewalk or driveway vertically… 😦 In a pinch…you know as hard walls…
I could do it against my head . . . heaven knows it is hard as a brick wall.
I sent this link to my sister and she said she had just seen this done on some sitcom the night before. 🙂
Ha! Amazing!
Who knew? Right? You can amaze all of your friends with this party trick.
When I find a wine I enjoy.. I will definitely try.
There were lovely wines in Portugal.. then I moved back to the UK.. 😦
Your blogs are always so insightful 🙂
I consider myself duty-bound to perform this public service for my fellow writers.
By the way, could you ask Bradley Cooper to come over my house and demonstrate this bottle opening method for me?
I all ready told you. I’m not sharing Bradley.
Well, who knew a shoe could be that handy? I’ll make it easier on you though. Buy the wine with the screw caps. They’re a lot easier to open and don’t require a corkscrew. And the wine doesn’t spoil as much, how convenient is that?
Or, you can buy wine in a box and have it on tap! (Wine enthusiasts all over the world are cringing right now.)
Wine box or bottle, it’s all the same. But just to show up how you can open a bottle with a shoe, you should stick to corks.
I can not believe, as a good Australian girl, I didn’t know this. Brilliant
I wonder who was the one that said, “Hey, where is the corkscrew? I know, I’ll put the bottle in my shoe and smash it against a rock wall!” I bet it was an Australian. You are all so resourceful!
An Australian at a BBQ. We can do anything when wine is involved. 🙂
Picture this: whilst all this morning flurry of activity was happening over the pond, it was afternoon, if not early evening, over here. I couldn’t quite get that morning feeling! What a shame. I feel I was missing out!
Well, there is always time to catch up!
Great post ~ I just learned something new!
I’m here to serve.
Giggle giggle
HI-larious, Robin. I feel as if I learned a new life lesson. Trader Joe’s rules, doesn’t it?
They should teach that life lesson in college. Oh wait, they don’t drink wine in college. Beer is the beverage of choice, but it would be a handy skill to have later in life!
You hide wine in your underwear drawer? Is that where you put the Halloween candy too?
Rats! You are on to me. Now I need to find a new place to hide the Halloween candy AND my wine.
Losing the corkscrew? My worst nightmare!! Thanks for sharing because who knows, I may need to resort to this one day! 😉
I dying to try opening a bottle of wine with my shoe. I just need a rock wall.
Okay, I’m not even a wine drinker, and I think that’s cool. Leave it to you to find that clip, Robin. 😉
Hey, a girl’s gotta be resourceful when she can’t find her corkscrew.
Such synergy. I was just telling Mike about this. We are all on the same wavelength. Clearly, it’s winter, and we need our wine.
Wine warms one’s cockles. Whatever cockles are.
We should all get together and slam wine bottles against walls.
Sounds like a party.
I love that word, “cockles.” It’s a type of clam. So, if one’s heart is as cold as a clam, one needs something to “warm the cockles” of his/her heart.
Now back to our regularly scheduled work day….
Party at the Coyle’s! Bring a bottle of wine and your shoe!
P.S. Cockles sounds vaguely naughty. But I digress.
I decided to respectfully not comment cockle-wise.
Smart man.
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 12:27 PM, Robin Coy