write.as/jonbeckett

I learned something new tonight. I learned that you really shouldn't laugh when your other half opens a kitchen cupboard door above a mixing bowl full of cocoa powder, and a bottle falls from the cupboard into the mixture, instantly coating both her and everything within a few feet with a perfect coating of dark brown chocolate powder. It worked perfectly in the way that only accidents can.“Don't laugh!“And that's how I found myself cycling to the late night supermarket at 9pm in search of a variety of cake making ingredients.

Bonus discovery of the night? The supermarket is empty late in the evening. No out-of-control toddlers, no teenagers, no octagenarian tartan-cart wielding maniacs, and no bossy-pants business people who are obviously far more important than you.

The universe has a curious of way of balancing out good fortuneand it did this by switching the weather dial from “cold” to “spitting with rain” the instant I left the supermarket. Stupid universe. I think it noticed my indifference after a minute or two, and gave upswitching everything back to “freeze everything solid by the morning”.

So far tonight I have washed up four times, helped write a CV for our 14 year old's homework, installed Minecraft on two computers for our younger children, and then watched them discover the delights of TNT in minecraft. I foolishly showed them how to blow up horses and rabbits, and before you knew it there was a full-on re-enactment of some kind of Monty Python scene going onblowing up sheep and cows left, right and centre while giggling hilariously.

As I wandered from the room I overheard Miss 9 excitedly telling her sister “I'm going to build a house out of TNT and then blow it up”. She called a few minutes later, and proudly gave me a tour of the crater.