Ker-shatter!!!

This morning I was fully intent on making beetroot houmous and flatbread (River Cottage HQ recipe - what else??). I got the beetroot ready to go in the oven and just as I was about to switch on said oven I thought, the oven door is looking a bit grotty, I know I'll give it a clean before I start cooking.

This, it turned out, proved to be 'The Stupid Thought of the Day.'

The inner glass of the oven door slides out for easy cleaning. I filled the sink with hot soapy water, collected up various bottles of cleaner that promised instant de-greasing properties, availed myself of a new and very scratchy scouring pad and set to work. I also thought, whilst I'm about it I'll do the inside of the oven.

Scrubidy scrub and scrapity scrape I went. And soon the glass was shiny, clean and lovely. I left it to dry whilst I dealt with the bottom of the oven using a wooden spatula, kitchen roll and more de-greasing power spray. I was thinking, what a lovely clean oven I have. It will make my beetroot houmous that much more special. (Don't ask why - although I slept extremely well last night, I think the brain is suffering still from the lack of sleep the previous day and thus has impaired thought processes).

And then, just as I was about to replace the inner glass door and get a-cooking I thought, I'll just give the glass a final buffin'. WRONG!

During the buffing process the glass door shattered into a gazzilion trazillion tiny, tiny pieces ALL over the kitchen and bizarrely, half way up the hall way.

It made me jump out of my skin.

And my heart pound. Boom-diddy-boom-diddy-flump!

The cats froze. They had all been in the kitchen with me, helping to do oven cleaning mostly by getting into the oven and trying to eat toxic cleaning products. And then they unfroze and tried to help clean up the glass by skidding around and trying to eat that too.

I was left holding a 3mm square piece of glass and with a surprised look on my face.

So, all in all, the cleaning of the oven and clearing up of the broken glass exercise took an hour and a half out of my life. Result? A clean oven I can't use because a piece of glass is now missing.

Andy found and ordered a replacement on the Interwebbly in less than 20 minutes. Andy is great like that! It should arrive by the end of the week and the oven will once more be functional.

Until then it'll be on-top-of-the-oven cooking. Which is okay. On reading the manufacturer's instruction booklet for the oven to find the make and model number for replacement glass, there was a sentence which said 'Care must be taken when cleaning inner door panel as glass can shatter suddenly without warning.'

You're telling me, I thought.

So, lessons to be learned?
1) Do not be distracted into another task when you've already set your focus on one (especially when it involves making delicious food)
2) A clean oven does not necessarily improve its functionality
3) This would be a good week to cut back on eating homemade cake
4) It's good to have a partner in a crisis
5) Worse things have happened than this
6) Be prepared for sudden surprises but don't be thrown by them.