Fuddland

I had thought that throwing an entire pot of freshly-brewed tea onto a lightly-coloured carpet was about as bad as things could get, tea disaster-wise. Perhaps I’d gotten too complacent, having been tea disaster-free for about eighteen months, and have paid for it this morning.

I placed my half-finished breakfast cuppa on the table, sat in my office chair, span round to face the television, and leaned back for a bit of a stretch. The back of the chair hit the cup, knocking it over and spilling tea over the arm of the comfy chair that’s beside the table. You’d find it pretty annoying, soaking a chair in warm tea, wouldn’t you? And you’d find it a complete pain when you noticed that your snazzy mobile phone was on the arm of said chair, and is now dripping with tea.

I’m lucky I decided to cut sugar out of my tea about eight years ago — previously I was taking up to five spoons of sugar in a standard mug — and my phone looks like it has a nice watertight keypad. My main concern is if any tea got in the speaker(s) or microphone. I pulled the battery out immediately and everything’s been left to dry since this morning, so I’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime I’m off to buy a toddlers’ cup.

#1

bsag | 2004 / 02 / 23 – 14:56

Hmm, not good, though the hubby’s mobile survived a swim in the toilet, so there’s hope… It must be the day for beverage disasters. We had an espresso explosion this morning when the machine got accidentally switched on with a plug of old grounds sticking to the filter, but no filter holder attached. It’s truly amazing how far afield an espresso machine can blast coffee grounds given a sufficient head of steam. And even more amazing how long it takes to clean up the mess. Still, no lasting damage was done.

#2

David | 2004 / 02 / 23 – 17:33

Update: The phone appears to be fine — both the regular and hands-free speaker [in the back of the phone, so you can put it down and still hear the caller’s voice] are working, as well as the microphone. The screen and camera are also unaffected, so I think I can praise Panasonic for designing such a well-sealed device. :)

Re #1: I’d prefer to continue to use my phone after it’s been dipped in tea than toilet water, so I guess I’m luckier than I thought! And espresso machine disasters? Yep, I’ve had one of those too!

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