speedy baking

a long time ago, I worked in a bakery in the south west of Scotland. It was a special bakery in that it was also a sheltered workspace for people who, whilst being perfectly capable of doing a days work, needed extra help to achieve that. Whether that meant adapting to wheelchairs, knowing how to deal with epilepsy or understanding autism or other stuff that makes people different, we adapted to it. We found people work they could do and enjoy and provided a suitable atmosphere so that we could all enjoy our jobs. The bakery is still going strong and many of the people I worked with are still there enjoying the wonderful way of life.
My job as an able-bodied person who could read and write and take responsibility for stuff was to be in charge of the afternoon workshops. On Friday afternoons we made buns. I was in charge of timings and ovens and things, one woman greased trays and delivered the buns to the houses in the community, one weighed out dough and washed up and then there was the Human Bun Machine who rolled out the buns.
Now, something strange happens to me when I see someone using a skill I don't have and also boasting that they are the best in the world at it. Yes, I become exceedingly competitive. After three weeks of practice (some of it in secret) I could also roll out a bun properly. A few weeks later and I'd cracked doing two buns at once, one for each hand. And then I started picking up speed.
Of course, the Human Bun Machine noticed what I was up to and started picking up speed himself so I had an even harder task ahead of me. But one day, I managed to beat him 120 to 80. And then we became a team. We started to try and make our 200 buns in a shorter and shorter time - whilst also trying to achieve absolute rounded perfection. Unfortunately, this meant that, by the end of my time working there, we did a full afternoon's work in ten minutes....so I had to start inventing new ways to keep my team happy.
It was such a wonderful place to work - full of singing and laughter and good smells. I've never had such a nice job ever again. I love re-creating it a tiny bit in my own kitchen by baking lots and lots of things. This afternoon Shish cut up the dough into 20 pieces and I tried to show her how to roll out buns "I can't do this" she said, very crossly. But I managed to persuade her to have another go and she managed one or two passable buns - at least as good as my first efforts.
These hands are, however, mine. I went a bit slower than usual so the camera could keep up.