So this happened . . .

Simple boil in the bag mussels which I’ve made loads of times before but today one bag inflated so much and became so hard it’s wedged in the pan of hot water. I’ve tried using tongues to remove it and it won’t budge. I’m afraid the plastic is so stretched that I may end up scalded or mussels may decorate the ceiling if I push things so I’m leaving it. This has never happened before.

I’m mindful of a flight I took a while ago where a friend was waving a big bag of crisps around that had inflated to a ginormous size. He was worried we’d end up covered in crisps but I was less worried and nothing came to pass. The package was back to its usual size when we landed. In Barcelona once, straight after a flight, a half drunk bottle of sparkling water I was holding popped whilst we were on the train. The lid came off with such force that everyone in the carriage looked round in horror to see who had been shot. Very embarrassing.