RULE 41

Lighten up

As a teenager I was once helping prepare a family meal (I use the word ‘helping’ loosely, as you’ll see). My mother was actually cooking the meal, but I got the frozen peas out for her. For some reason I cannot justify, I held the peas up by the top corner of the packet, and used the scissors to cut off the corner, just below the level of my finger and thumb. Predictably the whole packet (apart from the corner remaining in my fingers) hit the ground and frozen peas rocketed across the floor – under the fridge, the cooker, the washing machine, and our feet.

Horrified, I looked up at my mother, who was already under pressure trying to carve the meat, stop the gravy burning and cook the vegetables, waiting for the inevitable ...

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