Stickers - Labels and sticky fingers

Today is labelling day - my favourite task -- just kidding. It is quite a procedure since I don't have a bottle washer. These machines are quite expensive and use plenty of water, I was told. Despite the fact that I don't have the space for something large it is one of those items that hardly ever comes on the market second-hand. So we do it the good old manual way by washing the bottles by hand, dipping them in hot water and letting them dry off before feeding the labeling machine. In the past we had a front label and the certification sticker on the neck of the bottle, but since now the state wants us to put a health warning on each bottle we are running out of label space and had to introduce back labels. This also allows for a bar code and a bit of writing about the wine itself. Some tasting notes and the web address also fit.
Now this is when the fun starts. Once the front label is stuck to the bottle the back label is supposed to be the same height, same angle and needs to be placed in the middle of the remaining back space. Well, that's the theory. Visualize me watching in horror as labels shoot out by the dozens because the magic eye (that registers the next label coming) was covered with the back label backing paper (that is the transfer paper for the labels). Before I can intervene, a bottle is covered in several layers of labels and blocking other bottles from coming forward and it all becomes a major mess. Calling Juri was the sensible thing to do. Now I have the time to write my blog while he is busy setting up the #&#$%@# machine. I hope he gets it right as I am not keen to label 5310 bottles by hand.