The Porridge Pot

My Aunty Kitty (1902-95) had porridge for breakfast every morning. Once when I was visiting her and washing up after breakfast, I noticed that her little old porridge pot (heavy-duty aluminium with straight sides and a red handle) had some deep pits in its bottom. I couldn't get the porridge out of these pits except by using a pin and that imperfectly. I pointed this out to my aunt and suggested it maybe wasn't very good always to be cooking her porridge on top of old porridge that couldn't be cleaned out properly. She said she'd been using that pot for many years and didn't seem to be coming to any harm. I could see the logic of this too and didn't press my point. Next time I went, however, she had a new pot. I'm sure you can picture what the one above looked like when it was new. What a treat new non-stick is! Kitty was pleased with it. So was I when it came to washing-up after breakfast. I remarked, "Oh! You've got a new pot!" She said, "Yes. I thought about what you said and asked Nicky to buy me one when she was in Crewkerne."

I loved the way we hadn't tried to bulldoze each other the first time. I'd told her what I thought and she'd told me, but there'd been no big effort put into convincing the other of the rightness of one's point of view. Of course I was delighted that she'd thought further, but I didn't crow and say, "I told you so!"

After she died, I'm not sure how it was that I got to keep the pot, but it reminded me of the gentle firmness and firm gentleness of our relationship. It's very hard to throw it away though as you can see (below), I really should! I think I will chuck the handle. The pan can go into the garden and the little bits of metal into the recycling now. I wasn't sure how to move the picture. By accident I squashed it, then stretched it out again, so I hope it's back to its correct size. I'm a bit nervous about apostrophes this morning because I've visited 2 websites and written to the contact people to complain about misplaced apostrophes. I'm almost bound to trip up myself after that..........