I was already way behind schedule for the arrival of our dinner guests (CM, VAE and possibly her sister), and now I found myself stuck in the Sainsbury’s checkout queue.

I considered all the raw ingredients for supper that were staring out at me from the trolley and wondered when I would ever get the meal to the table. The only way for me to make up some time was to prepare the fruit and vegetables here and now in the supermarket.

I reached for a knife and made a start on peeling the potatoes. Then I chopped the apples. This was going well!

However, I paid for my hasty food preparation antics when I reached the head of the queue. As punishment for opening the good prior to payment, the shop manager added a fine of 10% of the value of the contents of my trolley to my grocery bill.