It was the thought of enjoying a small pot of
orange jelly this lunchtime that kept me going through a relentlessly dull
morning. Then I discovered that an over-zealous co-worker had put all
the teaspoons in the dishwasher. Now, I know of some colleagues who
rashly open the machine when it's going to extract what they need, but I am not
of that number. Not being one to relish scalding hot water all over my
feet, I was left with few alternatives.
Going without the jelly never crossed my mind, and
I've been brought up not to put knives in my mouth, so that only left the
tea bag squeezer or a fork. The tea bag squeezer had holes in it, and
even I know that squeezing jelly is probably best avoided in the
workplace. Forks, however, are of a generally similar disposition to
spoons, being curved; I decided to try one.
The first forkful was fine, but then the jelly
started breaking up and slipping through the prongs. A bit plopped out
onto the book I was reading, so I just slurped that up, grateful that I
was alone in the staff room. Inspired, I tried slurping the rest of the
jelly direct from the pot, but it was a bit less fluid further down,
so that was no good. I turned the fork round and, holding the now sticky
prong end, scooped with the handle. That was fine, but frustrating
as I could only pick up a tiny amount at a time. By this time though, I'd
nearly reached the bottom of the pot where it was rather more solid.
One final go with the prong end and a bit more slurping and I was
done. It was only a small jelly, and I probably used more than the
one calorie it contained in my efforts to consume it.
On reflection, I could have attempted making a
spoon from the silver foil I'd wrapped my piece of cheese in... and only now,
some four hours later, do I realize that I should have covered the prong end of
the fork with the foil!
