The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Tin Opener

As I picked the tin of tomato soup out of the cupboard, my next thought was to locate the tin opener.

I wasn’t sure where the tin opener was, and I wasn’t sure why I didn’t immediately know where to look.

Admittedly we mostly ate Maggie’s homemade soup for lunch, but the occasional tin of soup wasn’t an unknown phenomenon.

I found the tin opener at the back of the second draw I looked in, but although I knew how to operate it, the action felt unfamiliar: almost like somebody else’s memories.

I wasn’t sure why it felt like this. I wondered if we had a different tin opener – perhaps some fancy electric thing – I’d been using more recently. But I was pretty certain we didn’t have one of those, and I definitely couldn’t think where in the kitchen it might be located if we did.

So allowing my hands to work on muscle memory rather than conscious familiarity, I squeezed the levers, puncturing the lid, then turned the winder until the tin had rotated the full 360 degrees and the last piece of the metal was cut through.

I fished the lid out of the soup and poured the contents in to a pan.

At which point I saw the ring-pull on what I had hitherto assumed was the underside of the tin, and the universe abruptly shifted.



Now I suddenly existed in a world where easy-to-open cans had been the norm for many years, and all the memories of using the ring-pulls were right there in the front of my brain, as easy to access as turning on a tap or opening a fridge door.

There are some theories about the structure of the universe that reckon there are an infinite amount of parallel universes which exist along side our own, each with minute differences to the next one.

It feels slightly more comforting to believe I gently slipped from one universe (where ring-pulls on tins didn’t exist) into another (where they do), than drawing any more obvious conclusion.





22 comments

Pat said...

I do so much of the slipping I'm getting travel sickness.

Kim Ayres said...

Pat - perhaps as we get older we just wander the multiverse more frequently :)

Jean@ WordSparks said...

Oh, I enjoyed this. See the world differently with a soup tin.

Morgen M said...

As you started, I was wondering if you were relating a dream. Then, I wondered if I might have missed something important in your life by not reading (being notified of) an important post. Something like a death or hospitalization. Then I read to the end and laughed when I realized what you realized. You were just "half asleep" in your wanderings in the kitchen. Best of luck, my friend. It happens to all of us at some time or other...

hope said...

I really think the ring top lid happened after an Expert giving a speech in the U.S. was describing what you should put in your "emergency supplies" for hurricane survival. The news reporter pointed out that all the items made sense...except most of the food was in cans. The Expert looked at the reporter as if he were an idiot before lecturing on how much safer cans were than glass containers. Then the reporter pointed out there was no manual can opener. The "Expert" turned decidedly red in the face before sputtering something about Americans being too use to their electric can openers.

Not long after, all my Campbell Soup cans had this new lid. Wonder if the "Expert" was related to them somehow? :)

Jackie Buxton said...

I think this kind of episode can safely be aligned to putting the milk in the bin and the rubbish in the fridge - all perfectly normal adult behaviour to be embraced alongside all the other outwardly signs of ever-decreasing brain cells.
Anyway, ring-pulls are only ever as good as the ring upon which you pull, once it snaps off, if you haven't got one of those old fashioned tin opener things, you're scuppered.
Great post! Made me smile!

Anonymous said...

It's like filling out a questionnaire only to read later on the form you hadn't done it correctly. :)

Anonymous said...

wow...all this and you were only opening a can of soup! I find the theory of alternate universes scary and fascinating at the same time, explored in the Sci Fi series Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis!
To think that there is/are possibly one or more universes where my life exists similar but different from the life I know...I have not had this particular phenomena happen to me...but I do have a ultra high pitched squeal in one corner of my bedroom. Perhaps something that is occurring in another universe or a portal to another universe or perhaps the precursor to the men with the straitjacket coming for me!

reality or imagination?...live long and prosper Photographer Kim!

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Tee hee hee.

Know those two lines from the song, slip sliding away...?

Anonymous said...

Thank you for making me feel better! :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for making me feel better! :)

Kim Ayres said...

Jean - thank you :)

Morgen - half asleep would have been fine -the worrying part was I was wide awake, just some of the connections were not working...

Hope - you might be on to something there... :)

Jaxbee - I'm sure it's just a matter of time before someone creates a tin-opening app for the iPhone... :)

Allen - I can relate to that :)

Theanne - unfortunately we don't have Sky TV, so I never did watch any of the Stargate series. Are they worth getting the box set?

Guyana-Gyal - :)

Conny - my pleasure :)

Falak said...

Reading this post has only encouraged me to keep hoping to slip into a parallel universe where I find a treasure.

Or maybe, I'm asking for too much. :P

Kim Ayres said...

Falak - as you get older, you care less about finding treasure and more about avoiding catastrophe... :)

Sayre said...

I find myself slipping back and forth with alarming regularity these days, often only made aware by my son pointing something out. It's a little disturbing.

Kim Ayres said...

Sayre - we're not getting senile, we're travelling between dimensions more fluidly...

Awaken the Buds said...

I felt that way the other day when the grocery store that I normally go to finally changed their card system so that I didn't have to sign...All of a sudden, things just got easier and I felt like I had slipped into yet another realm of possibility.

Kim Ayres said...

Awaken The Buds - welcome to my ramblings and thank you for taking the time to comment :)

Jayne Martin said...

Oh, dear God! So that's what's happening to me. Such trickery! And I bet the Universe is having a good laugh, too.

Thanks for making me feel not so alone. :)

Kim Ayres said...

Jayne - forget dementia - it's all Stephen Hawking's fault ;)

Rossandra said...

A most comforting account. Thank you.

Kim Ayres said...

Rossandra - you're most welcome :)

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