Up to that point I was quite fond of rather lavish events and would go to extensive efforts to put on a display a food, entertainment, games and so forth.

After 1997 things dropped off to the extent that I don't remember having a birthday party until 2017. But 25 years ago I had the wherewithal to kit out the kitchen with various gadgets in preparation.

I bought large enamel bowls for holding big bags of crisps. I bought several dozen bagels and l cream cheese to go with. You can get proper bagels in London, in Shoreditch. Maybe nowhere else in Britain. I made a variety of dips and sauces. I got fancy paper plates and drinking glasses. I bought gin and other spirits for making martinis.

And I bought hand crank ice crusher for daiquiris.

It was something like a plastic cube about 20 cm across. There was a hopper at the top and a chute at the bottom. In between was something that looked a bit like a paper shredder. It was all operated by a red plastic hand crank.
...

It was the sort of thing you might expect to find a Woolworths, but I'm sure I got it somewhere else. Where? That's lost in the mists of time.
it worked well enough. I remember being quite pleased with the results, and at having avoided splashing out for something metal with a motor at several times the price.
...

That gadget travelled with me through a couple of relocations. I don't think it was ever brought out for another birthday party. And Britain being what it is, there are very few occasions where one might wish to have a crushed ice drink.
The cube met its demise when the crusher bits stopped functioning properly. Perhaps the plastic gears wore out.
...

Given that the only bits of metal were the teeth themselves, there was no repairing it.
The only salvageable bit was the red plastic crank, whose teeth were still intact and whose freedom of motion was undiminished.
So it went into the box of miscellaneous gears, clamps, hooks, and the next We Ropey object.

The significance of that object could be known to none but you!

Oh! I forgot about significance! Help me please!

However, I dispute your assessment of the desirability of crushed-ice drinks in Britain.

Well, it's a sentimental thing with biographical import. That's the significance.

You Honour, I offer up evidence of disinterest on the part of friend, neighbours and casual passersby. Had the ability to make cheap crushed ice drinks been significant in the wider cultuire, I would have been lionised for that fact. Didn't happen.

OK, I'll be sure to add that significance to each of the other ones.

You can't be held responsible for the poor beverage tastes of others. Let them have their warm beer. More crushed ice for the rest of us!

I shouldn't have to ask this, because I know you have the statistics on the back of your hand. But I suggest that the ratio of warm beer drinkers to crushed ice alcopop drinkers is one of some disparity.

There is bound to be a graph somewhere.

Always remember: YOU are the trendsetter!