Sod's Law*

I was due to meet up with friends for lunch at noon in town today and planned to make Vic a fruit cake before I went. The recipe requires that you simmer the fruit, sugar, fluid, butter and spice on the stove for a few minutes then allow it to cool before adding the flour and egg. I left the kitchen and got busy elsewhere whilst it was cooling, and forgot about it until about ten past eleven, at which point I completed the process, turned it into a cake tin and put it in the oven. Unfortunately this didn’t really leave enough time for it to bake fully before I was due to leave to walk into town. I took it out of the oven early, eased it out of the cake tin and put it in the microwave to finish it off. Sadly the result belonged on cakewrecks, if I’m honest! (If you follow this link it will take you to another blog – a highly amusing one. You can use the back button on your browser to return to this page).

Of course, as things turned out, I could very well have waited patiently for the cake to finish baking in the oven and still been on time … I walked into town and met with D_ at the appointed hour – and we sat there for a good 20 minutes waiting for B_, J_ and R_ to join us. P_ never did make it.

Our party moved off to the selected pub where we studied the menu and the Specials board. D_ can’t eat onions, so there was some to-ing and fro-ing before the order was placed to everybody’s satisfaction, D_ opting for the battered cod, but substituting mash for chips. When the waitress brought his plate, the chef had missed the substitution and dished up cod and chips. D_ sent it back, but the waitress soon returned to explain that there was no mash left, and it would take half an hour before more could be ready. B_ had selected the Chicken & bacon pie and mash from the Specials board, and hadn’t started eating at this point. She volunteered to swap her mash for D_’s chips. The waitress went away with both plates and returned with the substitutions made … except D_ had no peas on his plate. Had there been some on there before the substitution was made? I couldn’t tell you, but B_ was adamant there had been. The waitress dutifully carried the plate back to the kitchen for a portion of peas. At last it seemed everyone was satisfied and began to eat … but D_ cut into his fish only to discover it wasn’t fully cooked! We called the waitress over yet again, and eventually she returned with a fresh piece of cod (plus the peas and mash). I’m hosting and cooking for our next lunch date when our mutual friend A_ will be visiting from his home north of the border – and hope that luncheon date** is not so fraught with error as today’s experience!

*Sod's Law, also known as Murphy's Law and Finagle's Law, states that 'if anything can go wrong, it will'

**PS Happily everything went extremely well and we all thoroughly enjoyed the lunch I hosted and catered for. It was a warm, friendly, relaxed experience with ample to eat and much merriment. Phew!