Browsing the Bookshelves

You cannot conceive of the mess caused by spilling a large mug of hot tomato soup from a height of six feet on to tiled floor. I can, because that's just what happened. It slowly glouped out of the microwave, gaining speed as it ran down the fridge before plummeting onto the floor and splashing onto everything in sight - including my cat!  It got in the grooves of the fridge door, stained the grouting between the tiles on the floor, splashed up against the table, chairs, radiator, walls and kitchen cupboards, turning everything a rather frightening shade of orange.  And that was before the cat decided he'd had enough of free food - he's not supportive of vegetarians - and dashed up the stairs, heading for the cat flap, leaving a trail of orange splatterings as he tried to shake the damp, hot soup off his fur.  Before he got the top of the stairs, he worked out that shaking wasn't going to be enough, so sat down and started to lick, leaving a patch of orangey-dampness on the carpet, not the mention the little track of similar paw-prints at strategic places en route.  When he did squeeze out through the cat flap, he left a little orange circle, like a frame, around it and further orange splatterings on the flap itself.  I had no sympathy.

Husband, hearing the cuffuffle, comes tearing down and sweeps round the corner into the kitchen and doesn't immediately notice what's wrong. He only sees the mess shorting after his slipper makes contact with the orange pool still seeping across the tiles.  Bends down to remove his slipper and puts his hand out to support himself against the wall, which is of course covered with splattered soup. So now we have hand prints as well as paw-prints.

It took over an hour to clean it all up.