Pot Noodle....of danger!

When I was 18 I was involved in a car accident, which resulted in my first ever car being written off. I was devastated and in big trouble with the parents who had lost a prized no-claims bonus. And it was all on account of a beef and tomato Pot Noodle.

Procrastinating instead of revising one day, I took a quick trip up the road to the local store to grab the potted snack. In my eagerness to get home and devour it (and still being a pretty inexperienced driver at that point), I probably wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been, and also made the mistake of pre-empting another driver’s manoeuvre. This chilling combination resulted in another driver ploughing into the side of me as I attempted an ill-fated, Tory-esque u-turn on a busy road. The impact was so great on the passenger side of the car that the driver’s side had been bent out of shape. I am pleased to say that all involved somehow escaped unhurt.

Needless to say, I have since been a little gun-shy of pot noodles and unwilling to chance my arm in purchasing another, lest I set into motion another devastating chain of events. However, today I stared my freeze-dried food nemesis down and wiping the beads of sweat from my brow, I selected a pot from the shelf and gingerly made my way through Asda with the snack held at a precautionary arm’s length.

Having made it through check out without having set it off, getting back in the car I wrapped the seat belt around the pot before my own and started the engine. My sweaty hands began to shake upon the steering wheel and tears stung my ears. With the vehicle in neutral, I revved the engine and screamed at the top of my lungs "Not today, noodles! Not today!" My breathing slowly returned to normal and when I was calm once more, I backed the car out and made my home without incident to enjoy a snack I had waited almost 25 years for.

It was incredibly disappointing and I felt a bit ill after.