I assume it's not just me, others too, find themselves in this situation. But there are times in life when you are forced into the most ridiculous conversations. Living with one or more  junior recipe testers under the age of five will mean this is a daily occurrence. But it is made even more problematic when you are forced to have a ridiculous conversation in a very public place.

Now, I realise, I am at high risk of over-sharing here. So if you are prone to embarrassment, please do avert your eyes.

I recently had need to visit the GP....

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We buy veggies for your dinners from a local vegetable farm. When I first went to the farm to talk to the farmer about this arrangement we gazed out across his fields. "Well," he said to me, "You'll have to give me a couple of days notice of your order."

"Ok," I replied.

"So I can pick 'em."

When the veggies get to our kitchen they have often just been plucked from the ground. We need to wash them, then we trim them, before we chop them up for you. They don't come in plastic bags, they're rarely neatly cubed, and they never have a 'washed and ready for use' sticker on the pack...

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I blame it on the time. Actually, I blame it on the time of day. And the lack of sleep. And the fact that I felt a little fraught at the time.

I am not generally inept at public transport. I do not usually have difficulty discerning sign boards and timetables. A very long time ago I lived in East Africa, and managed to negotiate the public transport system there. On one notable occasion I shared my seat with a live chicken, while a panic stricken goat was hoisted past my window and onto the roof of the bus. When it comes to transportation, I have runs on the board.

I was, on those occasions, travelling alone...

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There are days when you're all over it. And then there are those days when it's all over you. No prizes for guessing.

The day started, like most before it, with the obligatory cup of tea. With tea poured, one of the junior recipe testers and I went to read a book on the couch. Just before I sat down I managed to drop my cup.

It landed on the edge of the seat of the couch...

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We are learning the trumpet. Well, when I say "we", I mean one of us is learning the trumpet. But the walls in our home are such that we're all right there amongst it. For every huff, groan and occasional note that emerges.

I am not complaining. I was the one who encouraged the pursuit of music. The senior recipe tester is blessed with a great many talents. Music is not one of them. As my aunt once fondly commented, "Bless him. He can't get within a bull's roar of a note."

But I digress. We now have in our possession a beautiful instrument, on loan from the school music department. We cared for it diligently for perhaps twenty four hours before we had a problem.

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We're always listening when you tell us how we can change your daily life. And you've told us that last minute dinners could really get you out of a bind! (We get it, we're last minute people too... one more than most. Not saying which one 😉.)

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Big problems are worthy of big thought. They need time and energy to consider and act on them. Little problems should not be time and energy consuming. These, should just be dealt with: spontaneously and with a modicum of fuss. Those particularly adept at problem solving can think about the big problems while solving the little ones. Simultaneously.

Until the other day I thought I was one of those people.

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There are others who write far more eloquently than I about travelling. But, while travelling with three junior recipe testers, here is what I have learned recently:

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I recall writing about new tools at the beginning of last year. It was when we bought our first refrigerated van, and there were just a couple of teething problems. Recently I wrote about our excitement regarding another new tool: a much, MUCH bigger vehicle, in which to fit your dinners so we can get them to your place.

Now, this being the second vehicle, I consider myself an old hand at logistics. I surely would not succumb to the difficulties of last time. Lesson learned from that fiasco: the one when all the veggies ended up in the driveway. No; no such mistakes this time.

Did I mention that the new vehicle is MUCH bigger?

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I am glad that I'm able to write this. I might have been unable. This afternoon I narrowly avoided a karate chop. From someone I love.

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