L'il Red Knife - R.I.P (Dec 25 1997 to Feb 15 2009)

I’m attached to this little knife. Li’l Red Knife (LRK) has gone with me everywhere since I got it from my brother as a Christmas gift in 1997 and it fits very well into my preference of owning things that serve more than one purpose. For almost 7 years, L’il Red Knife was my only can opener (which I loved, but which drove my guests crazy). The bottle opener doubles as a screwdriver; the scissors are indispensible. And although it usually sits in a kitchen drawer and gets used for kitchen things, it has also come with me on every major trip since I received it.  

I’ve had some close calls with LRK over the years. Once when catching the 6am flight from Moncton back to Ottawa, I had to run out of security to catch Pierre before he drove off – I’d forgotten it in my backpack and had no way of getting it into my checked luggage. I got lucky that time and could send it home with Pierre.

It’s a little known fact about Victorinox that they make excellent tweezers for their Swiss army knives – perfect for everything from slivers to eyebrows. I’ve been meaning to use mine for the last few days. As the immigration official hands me back my passport I wish I had used them as planned because a) I’d be better groomed right now and b) we would have remembered to put the knife in our stow-away luggage instead of forgetting it in Pierre’s backpack.  

We already have the stamp in our passports that says we’re not allowed back into the country without a new visa, not even back past the simple immigration desk that we just passed. We see the clear Lucite box with the hole on top – inside there’s a pile of manicure kits, tweezers, penknives and all manner of sharp objects that other forgetful travelers have had to discard here. The airport doesn’t offer any means for us to mail the knife to ourselves and there’s no way to get it into our checked luggage.  

We’re disgusted – both that we’ve forgotten it and with our lack of options. After the last few days of feeling like we’re bleeding money – after days of being overcharged, plus the 25$ US we’ve each just had to pay unexpectedly as departure tax – after all this, we know that we have no choice but to just dump LRK in with the rest of the trash.  

Fair or not, we feel like Cambodia just found a way to rip us off one last time.  

Pierre and I set the knife on the top of the box near the hole and look at it for a minute. He finally sweeps it into the box, disgusted. “What a waste.” We continue through the security check without any problems.  

We buy a new one in Hong Kong – same model, but not the same. It grows on us.