cringe moments

sarahellenwhitney...as I said, I live in France, so I did as the French do, and bought French

My latest cringe moment came last week, we had a few friends round for the evening. We live in a rural area and like most rural areas we get the occasional small visitors, in our case, wood mice. In the Summer they are perfectly content to live in the garden but as the Autumn arrives so do they/ I have a couple of humane traps, if any go in there I let them out the next morning.
On this particular evening one decided to turn up in the living room,before I could do anything about it my cat who had been resting by the log burner got to his feet and began chasing the poor little thing around the room.Luckily our friends all live near us and are all aware of the mice but I was so embarrassed. Luckily my husband managed to catch it and put it outside, my hero.

When we first lived in Africa as a child my mother baked a cake which I thought had pieces of chocolate in it and duly ate - weevils. She sieved the flour after that and I was none the worse for it.

Many years ago DH and I went to supper with an elderly friend. She brought a bowl of salad from the kitchen and I thought there was a strange smell. DH and I took some salad, waited until our hostess had taken hers, DH took a mouthful as did the hostess who suddenly said 'Don't eat any more' and shot into the kitchen. She returned to tell us that her 'char' had put the bottle of white spirit in the wrong cupboard - our hostess had made the salad dressing of white spirit instead of white wine vinegar.

BB - I can imagine it only too well. Probably made the day for the stripey boater girls!

I went into the home of a couple who had bought their house to renovate it. They were saying how horrific the decor was, and I agreed, rolling my eyes and so on. I said "this dining room will be just lovely once its done though; the colours are awful!"
Then they told me that the dining room was the only one they'd finished doing.

The Aunt was in her 90s and had probably had them in a cupboard! She was never told.

I always put a dried bay leaf in my packets of flour once open. Haven't seen any of the little beasts since. ?

I have told this before, but coming downstairs naked to let in the cat that I could hear yowling on the window sill, I opened the front door (half glazed, patterned glass) and stood discreetly behind it to allow the ingress of said cat.

Was a tad alarmed when as well as the cat, there appeared round the open door an arm holding a bundle of letters. It was the postman.

I took them said "thank you" and just hoped he thought I was wearing a beige double breasted cardigan............

Frankie 74
The moral of this being when in 'Rome do as the Romans' translated Buy British.

Surely the aunt should have been mortified!

Sell not seem! Duh

My M once returned a box of chocolates to a high class manufacturer saying they were a gift to herself from an Aunt and they did not taste very nice and looked cloudy, and she was surprised a reputable company like them would seem such a thing. They replied with a very apologetic letter, and a credit voucher for a replacement box, but pointed out the chocolates were more than 3 years out of date.............she was mortified!

Thanks for all the nice comments and funny stories. A real tonic!

Don't worry Frankie74 you're all still friends and in a while you'll be laughing about it! I took my (invited) cat to my MIL for Christmas once and he managed to get into the pantry and help himself to some leftover turkey! "Never mind, darling", said MIL, "I pulled a wash basin off my MIL's wall and as she made no fuss at all I vowed never to get cross with my DILs"! And as far as I know she never did. So remember, when something embarrassing happens to someone else, laugh it off or ignore it. It happens to us all.

Living in Cyprus in the early 80s I often found that flour from local shops (not the NAAFI) would have weevils in - I just used to sieve it and then store in a Tupperware.

Some good stories on this thread - v funny
- personally could do without the toilet ones though!

My worst wish-the-floor-would-open-up moment was about 25 years ago when a new-ish friend confided to me that her husband had left her and gone off with another man. "Oh that's a bugger" said I ..... we are still friends though.

YUK !!!

BB that made me laugh so much. My 3 year old grandson gives a running commentary from the toilet, like he does about everything he is doing, and has me in stitches. He has got to the age where he wants us to leave him to get on with it but not yet seen any reason to stay quiet until he has finished.

As for cringe moments, too many to mention

When I was around seventeen and in my first office job, a salesman came to demonstrate a hot drinks machine. It was supposed to dispense soup, tea, or coffee. As the youngest he said I should try the first drink and give an honest opinion to the others. It was revolting and I nearly gagged. I didn't want to embarrass him so I said it was nice. Only after a few adjustments he realised I'd received tea, coffee and soup all in the same cup! I wished I'd told the truth as I looked like a bit of a fool!

I made some cup cakes for my grandaughter's primary school fete once, and was mortified when someone handed me one of them complete with a small tooth embeded in it!
I blame the tooth fairy!

I once said to my sister in law that my daughter told me I was turning into an old spinster. My sister in law is in her 50s and has never married.?

Oh BB that really made me laugh - Thank You!
I must also say that it was a fine example of how things should be presented - so, funny and a delight to read

Many years ago I went with a class of top infants on a school trip to a large London museum. As is always the case , we had only been there a little while when someone needed the toilet. So I took about six little girls into a large cloakroom, while the rest of the class and staff waited outside. The cloakroom was full of teenage schoolgirls, preening and chatting. Five of my little girls quickly finished, washed their hand and went to join the class. No sound from the cubicle where A--- was. She was a dear little girl but had a lot of problems. I tapped on the door
"Are you alright A---.
"It wont't come out Miss"
A lot of groaning and grunting followed
The teenage girls all stopped and one or two giggled
"It's coming out now Miss"
"It's very big Miss"
There was a resounding 'plop'
" Done it Miss"
A--- burst out of the cubicle.
One older girl clapped
"Are you alright now A---" I said
"Me a--e is b----y sore now Miss"
All the older girls fell about laughing.
Going round the museum later whenever they saw us there were gales of laughter
Made their day I suppose but I remember even their uniform, boaters and striped blazers to this day