Obviously I didn’t plan this one, but sometimes opportunities just present themselves.

My iPhone took a dive out of my back pocket and straight towards the U-bend. I was surprisingly calm – nowhere near the hysterical mess I was in when I threw coffee over my Macbook.

I fished it out and stood it up on the sink while I continued to no panic and cleaned my teeth. The screen was still showing a photo of the girls and I figured any water would just run out of the bottom – I’m very logical.

When I got downstairs my other half looked at me with the expression of a man well experienced in dealing with technological clumsiness but unlike me he had an air of mild panic. He took the phone off me and rolled up tissue to stick in the tiny holes while I googled what to do – obviously not on my phone.

We turned it off and submerged it in a large jar of risotto rice. This seems extravagant but we’d eaten most of the white rice and thought arborio might be more absorbent anyway. The instructions told us to leave it for three days.

Three days? How was I going to check Rightmove every five minutes with a phone buried in risotto rice? How ever was my friend going to contact me about our arranged night out (I considered actually going round and knocking on her door – how very old school). How would I know what offers had come in from Groupon the instant they were emailed? It was an impending disaster.

I left it 16 hours then dragged it from the rice and turned it on. It worked, my husband sighed wearily and I checked Rightmove to discover that no, there hadn’t been a new house listed for a bargain price where we want to move to. Clearly worth the risk though.

Photo by Jong Marshes on Unsplash