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Eccentricities

I was recently thinking about my eccentricities, not the ones you see me exhibiting around the village, but deeper, more profound things. I was thinking about how I made a cheese sandwich. I was actually making one when I laid strips of cheese across the spread bread, and found the last strip was too wide.

Naturally, I cut it to fit the bread, and then ate the odd bit. It was at this moment that I had a revelation. ‘Why did I do that?’ I thought. ‘Why didn’t I just put the off-cut inside the sandwich?’ Of course, I could claim that I have a naturally tidy mind - but my wife wouldn’t believe that.

I could claim that I’d usually put the little strip of cheese in the next sandwich, which I do sometimes; but why, on this occasion, did I eat it? I think there are two reasons, both lurking deep in my unconscious. One, I think, is childhood training.

Don’t put that much in - its greedy. Don’t leave it hanging out- it’ll drop off onto the floor

and so on. So cut off the excess and use it in the next sandwich if you can. But I didn’t. I ate it. More childhood training. “Don’t waste it; eat it up. If you don’t want it, I’ll have it - it’s too good to waste”. Parental examples, perhaps.

Mum made the sandwiches and then ate the scraps rather than throw them out. Of course, the dog could have had it. The birds could have had it. Actually, I enjoyed my little bit of cheese as much as the sandwiches themselves.

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