Random reminder

Press, 11 February 1981, Page 25

Random reminder

INSTANT TOAST

It was by and large a very ordered household — a place for everything, and everything in its place. The visitor with a more chaotic bent recovering from a bout of ill-health found the tranquil orderliness soothing to her over-wrought senses. Mind you, it took some time to master where all the special places were where everything had its place — to memorise the certain shelves, the ingenious little cupboards which swung around like the revolving doors in the old apartment stores, the hideaways in out-of-the-way places . . • Once she had mastered all'of these — and they took some mastering — she herself began to be more tranquil. Her morning began with muesli, but her appetite returning one morning, she decided to add a slice of toast. Her hostess, as well as being a dab hand at organising a house, was also a dab hand at bread making — (wholemeal bread it must be added). Her guest should try some as toast, she suggested. So, as the hostess charmed the breakfast dishes from her family’s earlier breakfast back into their pre-

ordained places, the guest placed two slices in the automatic toaster, sorted out the cottage cheese from its - cubby hole and waited. No toast was forth-coming. Maybe the toaster was; just slow on the take-off. She waited, gazing hopefully at the toaster’s gleaming sides. Here she was discovered by the hostess, who chided her gently: "You’ve forgotten the chocolate instant pudding.” A. Had her own ill-health affected her friend’s sanity she worried ... or was she' suggesting chocolate instant pudding as a spread? Her eyes must have assumed a glazed expression, and she was firmly put to one side, a packet of instant pudding was retrieved from behind the toaster and wedged to make the toast stay down. “Now just keep your eye on it, won’t you, and take out the pudding when it’s time for it to pop.” Order may be all very well, but there’s nothing like a little bit of controlled chaos to make one feel at home.