A couple of years ago, I was in Bath for the day visiting my friend David Tubb. At the start of the day, I was looking for something in particular from my pockets, I can’t remember what it was, but I often keep a lot of things in my pockets so it took me a while to find whatever it was I was looking for. One of the things I took out of my pockets while rummaging was an ‘Emergency Lollipop’.
“When would you need a lollipop in an emergency?” asked David.
“Well, I can’t think of anything right now,” I said, “but it’s best to be prepared for all possibilities!”
Then we went about our day as we often did at the time. A lovely lunch at Pizza Express, a luxurious browse in a book shop or two, a sniff of the air in a tea shop and visits to various other places until we finally popped into Sainsbury’s. David was going to have dinner once I’d left, so we were going in there so that he could get his shopping before I left. I believe he bought himself a lasagne and one or two other essential foods (milk and bread, for example) and while he was looking around getting all of these things, I spotted something which would be a nice snack for me too.
I’m quite a big fan of dark chocolate, I certainly prefer it to milk chocolate (and I don’t even like white chocolate), and while we were looking around Sainsbury’s I spotted a nice, big bar of dark chocolate. It was 95% pure, so that meant that it was made almost entirely of cocoa beans and very little else. This was going to be very dark chocolate indeed! I could remember having bought the 95% one before, and I loved it, so it seemed reasonable to get it again as I was a little hungry. However, it seems I’d remembered wrong.
Once we got back to the station and were waiting for our respective buses, I quickly ate all of the chocolate. Delicious. But hang on a moment, what was that extremely bitter taste in my mouth? While it had seemed nice during the process of eating it, once it was gone there was such a horrible bitter taste left behind. I might even be sick! I reached for my Trusty Water Bottle and took several huge gulps, hoping it would get things back to normal. Sadly, all that happened was that it made the water taste bad as well. I couldn’t handle the taste at all. It was a real emergency. That’s when the Emergency Lollipop came in handy; sucking on that very sweet snack perfectly cancelled out the bitter taste left from the chocolate.
David was very impressed that it had proved to be useful so soon after his enquiry and then we both headed home. Me with the happiness of a non-bitter mouth and him with the happiness of the upcoming dinner and both with the happiness at having spent a nice day together.
“When would you need a lollipop in an emergency?” asked David.
“Well, I can’t think of anything right now,” I said, “but it’s best to be prepared for all possibilities!”
Then we went about our day as we often did at the time. A lovely lunch at Pizza Express, a luxurious browse in a book shop or two, a sniff of the air in a tea shop and visits to various other places until we finally popped into Sainsbury’s. David was going to have dinner once I’d left, so we were going in there so that he could get his shopping before I left. I believe he bought himself a lasagne and one or two other essential foods (milk and bread, for example) and while he was looking around getting all of these things, I spotted something which would be a nice snack for me too.
I’m quite a big fan of dark chocolate, I certainly prefer it to milk chocolate (and I don’t even like white chocolate), and while we were looking around Sainsbury’s I spotted a nice, big bar of dark chocolate. It was 95% pure, so that meant that it was made almost entirely of cocoa beans and very little else. This was going to be very dark chocolate indeed! I could remember having bought the 95% one before, and I loved it, so it seemed reasonable to get it again as I was a little hungry. However, it seems I’d remembered wrong.
Once we got back to the station and were waiting for our respective buses, I quickly ate all of the chocolate. Delicious. But hang on a moment, what was that extremely bitter taste in my mouth? While it had seemed nice during the process of eating it, once it was gone there was such a horrible bitter taste left behind. I might even be sick! I reached for my Trusty Water Bottle and took several huge gulps, hoping it would get things back to normal. Sadly, all that happened was that it made the water taste bad as well. I couldn’t handle the taste at all. It was a real emergency. That’s when the Emergency Lollipop came in handy; sucking on that very sweet snack perfectly cancelled out the bitter taste left from the chocolate.
David was very impressed that it had proved to be useful so soon after his enquiry and then we both headed home. Me with the happiness of a non-bitter mouth and him with the happiness of the upcoming dinner and both with the happiness at having spent a nice day together.
(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)
