The Eleven O’Clock viii Bread disaster?Tuesday 24th June, 2025

Each day for the remainder of June, I’ll post The Eleven O’Clock and aim to answer the following three questions in short sentences and/or very short paragraphs.

1.        Where am I?

2.        What am I doing?

3.        What am I thinking about and feeling?

Of course, I would welcome any comments, humorous, poignant, serious, or otherwise.

1.        Kitchen

2.        Attempting to rescue a bread dough – I forgot to add yeast

3.        Thinking? I’m thinking, is there no end to my incompetence? In a rather blasé, over-confident manner, I blended my two types of bread flour, added olive oil and my secret ingredient to the warm water, but forgot to add yeast. Have had a go at adding yeast/warm water afterwards. I doubt it will work. It’s a fail-safe recipe until human frailty takes over.

Feelings? Apart from a slight sense of disappointment and curiosity about the ‘rescue’ (time will tell), my thoughts and feelings have been caught up in preparing an Amazon order full of party paraphernalia, so thinking and motivation are more apparent than emotion. Although social anxiety is waiting in the wings, and occasionally makes an untimely entrance on stage to remind me of all the things that could go wrong.

Somewhat surprisingly, the dough is rising! So, one presses on…with bread-making, party planning, and all the rest of the TTD (things to do) list. Some of its items are written down, whereas others, unwritten, including the latest developments in the Jerusalem/Tehran/Washington conflict, are not. These thoughts take time to settle within, to create thoughts, and thoughts to create prayers. We often say what goes up must come down; it’s equally true to say what goes in must come out. I wonder if you have found that to be true with the Middle East, the impact of everything since the Hamas attack until now has gone into your heart. I wonder in what form it has come out?