Older relatives definitely belong to our favourite childhood memories.

My grandmother was of German descent, and about once a month she would set out a huge evening meal for the family. She would serve it on her good 'Blue Willow China', she had a complete table service including a 3-tiered service tray with a center metal pole that screwed through a hole in each plate. It was usually disassembled for storage and she did not use it at every meal.

I had an uncle who was a big man and worked in one of the steel mills. One of his greatest pleasures was to fill his plate with all the different food dishes and cover them all in ketchup before starting to eat.

One evening after he filled his plate and without applying the tomato sauce he started to eat it all plain. When somebody asked him why he had not put on his ketchup, he sadly replied 'I can't' He then showed us his plate with the hole in the middle. 'I would just run out and spoil the table cloth'.

My grandmother then realized that she had accidentally given him the bottom layer of the serving tray. She gave him a new plate without the hole so he could fix his meal properly. I am not sure if the pattern matched, but he was happy.

This is the kind of stuff you just can't make up.

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Florida Sailor

06.11.17 Front Page

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