I blame Jasper Fforde.

It was in the back of ‘The Big Over Easy‘ that I first discovered the comic properties of toast. His advert for the Toast Marketing Board really did make me laugh out loud.

And then, while harmlessly shopping for an amusing card for a friend, I discovered Edward Monkton and his Interesting Thoughts on toast.

And now this.

It’s amazing what Google allows you to discover – this is perhaps why it is one of the best search engines in the world – but I’d like to you try this:

1. Open another window (so you can do this and still read the instructions, of course…)

2. Go to Google.

3. Type in ‘toast’. (Yes, I may be crazy, but it’s necessary. I’m a teacher. I teach English to teenagers. It’s a requirement. Just humour me.)

4. Hit the ‘return’ key.

One of the things you are likely to find, once you get past all the pictures of Jesus on toast, is a link to Comedyhome.com, on which you will find a little flash animated cartoon called ‘Toast‘. Inventive use of the machine, I will say…

By the way, if you are ever stuck without a toaster, the Internet always has a solution. Try The Toast Shop – six different varieties of Toast by Post, all for a modest charge…