Toby liked to start his breakfast off with a banana. He’d done that for years. Of course, bananas ripen fairly quickly, so he bought a small bunch several times a week. In fact, he bought four bananas on a Monday and three bananas on a Friday.
After eating the banana, Toby would have some cereal, and then a slice of toast with strawberry jam. Then he would finish it off with a cup of coffee.
He would begin having breakfast at four minutes to seven. That gave him time to eat the banana and prepare the cereal just before the morning news on television. He also put a slice of bread into the toaster but didn’t turn it on. He found that there was the perfect amount of time during the first lot of advertisements to toast the slice, spread butter and jam on it, and sit down again for the next part of the news. While the toast toasted, he turned on the kettle. Then during the second lot of advertisements he could make the coffee. The noise from the kettle boiling while trying to watch television was a little aggravating. And he had to get up and turn the kettle off manually. He’d been meaning to buy one of those kettles that switched itself off once the water had reached boiling point.
This morning however, was a bad day; a very bad day. It was Friday. Only yesterday afternoon his daughter had visited with her two children. And this morning – how could he watch the news? goodness me – there was no banana.