About

MY FIRST BOILED EGG
Everything started with an egg.
I was 6 or 7 and I was home alone. I was hungry so I decided to put together all my knowledge and boil an egg.
I knew it had to boil for 3 minutes, so I started to search for a clock. But even if my house was full of clocks (one of my mother’s old passion) none was “portable”. I needed a kitchen clock.

In those days, the telephone company gave you the exact time every 10 seconds, just by calling a phone number. So I took with me the phone in the kitchen, and I nicely put the egg in the water, I tuned on the gas and the long wait to see the water boiling, began. I was looking at the small pot very close, making sure not to lose the “moment”. When I saw the first bubble I dialled the number and listened: “ At the next beep the time will be: 2 PM, 36 minutes and 20 seconds” told me the metallic voice. And I waited……. “At the next beep the time will be: 2 PM, 36 minutes and 30 seconds”…… “at the next beep the time will be: 2 PM, 36 minutes and 40 seconds” CLACK! The voice stopped.
This service was on only for 30 seconds and after that you had to dial again. But I didn’t know that.

When you are little you hear only what you want to hear, and 10 seconds seems like a minute. I thought… “maybe the 3 minutes already passed away. And now? What can I do? And if it’s not ready?” I panicked! How would I know if the egg was ready? And if not, how will I finish to cook it?
At that time the eggs didn’t cost that much, but they were rare goods if you didn’t have relatives living in the countryside.
I decided to risk. I turned off the gas and I put the pot under the cold water. Then I started slowly to peel it on the top (in case I had to put it again in the water), but when the albumen came out all my hopes flew away.

Now I don’t remember what happened after that, if I tried to cook it again or if I threw it in the bin, but I never tried to boil an egg again until my parents gave me a watch.