I decided it was finally time to say goodbye to my Arcoroc glass mugs.
I have some attachment to these. When I was at school, my weekend and summer job was calling Bingo in Pastimes amusement arcade in my hope time. These mugs were half a win for six. As an employee, I was allowed to buy prizes if I wanted, so I bought these for my grandmother as a present. This would be 49 years ago. She liked them because they don't hold quite as much as regular mugs, but hold more than teacups; she used to drink tea out of them.
When she died in 2000, they came to me. I've been using them daily ever since. They must have been in the dishwasher at least 5,000 times each, but they haven't been ground down in the slightest. They're incredibly robust. They've survived being dropped from hand-height onto a hard floor multiple times over the years, they're incredible!
You will note, however, that there are only five of them. This is because although they don't mind being dropped on things, they do mind when they have things dropped on them. In particular, they mind when another one of the set is dropped on them. I lost one that way maybe fifteen years ago.
They're manufactured by a French company called Arcoroc, which seems to make goods mainly for the catering industry. I don't know what magical extra ingredient they put into their glassware to make it so strong, but if you ever need bulletproof drinkware, they're the company to go for.
Still, all good things must come to an end, and after 23 years of drinking out of mugs that are slightly-t00-small I've decided in this year of discarding sentimentally-significant items that their time has come.
Good luck recycling them, Colchester Borough Council.