After brewing a fresh pot of coffee yesterday morning, I refilled the electric kettle with about a liter of water and a half-cup of vinegar to de-scale it. Left it to boil while I returned to the video I had started on my computer.

It was not the smartest move I could’ve made. I typically leave a note on the lid of the kettle that says “VINEGAR” to prevent misunderstandings. My Darling B has been known to shamble sleepily into the kitchen, see a kettle with boiling water in it and pour it over the grounds still dripping from the pourover cone, in the mistaken belief I wasn’t finished brewing the coffee. Hence the note.

But yesterday morning the note was nowhere to be found and I was too lazy to make a new one, and besides that the kettle reeked of vinegar. Surely she wouldn’t accidentally pour it into the coffee.

Shirley appeared in my doorway a few minutes later. “There was vinegar in the kettle, wasn’t there?”