Gazpacho Soup
I bought some Gazpacho Soup today, the featured soup of the month from the Covent Garden Food Company. I noticed that the box said it was delicious hot or cold. That immediately made me think of Arnold Rimmer, the intensely annoying character played by Chris Barrie in Red Dwarf. He had something known as a Gazpacho Soup moment. It is recreated here in this fan Youtube…
I had my own Gazpacho Soup moment back in the Summer of 1980. I had been invited to a celebratory meal after supervising the installation of a 1500 line phone system for ESSO in Victoria. (It was the first SL-1 VLE for the PABX anorak). 
After the dessert, the waiter brought round expensive cigars and I chose a suitable one, possibly a King Edward. I had trouble lighting it, however, and had to bite off the end to get any suction. After creating a small heap of straggly leaves on my saucer, the waiter turned up with an implement and said “Oh…”
Here is another Arnold Rimmer Video, the spoof dark ride including the Rimmer Munchkins.
July 18th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
The first thing I thought of when I read the title was Red Dwarf.
A cracking series.
The don’t have that down the soup kitchen I frequent therefore I’ve never had to be embarrassed in front of everyone whilst they laugh their socks off.
I see this situation as the one thing in life Red Dwarf has prepared me for.
July 18th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Bag, Red Dwarf has prepared me to be able to salute in totally ridiculous ways. It has also given me a few catchphrases as well over the years, but I can’t think of any at the moment as they have to pop into my head to suit the situation.
Red alert is a good one- “Are you sure sir? I’d have to change the bulb” (Kryten) and “Don’t you mean brown alert?” (Cat).
July 20th, 2007 at 10:30 am
I’ve made gazpacho soup and thought it had to be served cold. You should seek a second opinion from Welshackes on this.
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:34 pm
More spam links masquerading as comment…
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I’ve used a few phrases though.
I remmeber one meeting after someone made a really stupid suggestion. ‘That brings back a Red Dwarf moment where Lister said ‘Raise the sheilds and arm the photon torpedoes’. Kryton said ‘Excellent plan sir. Only we don’t have any shields and we don’t have any photon torpedoes’
It made everyone laugh and my boss actually said to me later that he liked the way I handled the meetings and everyone seemed to be more at ease. I did think the guy who made the stupid suggestion wasn’t too happy though but he was new and would get over it. I had a chat to himlater and he was OK and he agreed it was a stupid suggestion.
So Red Dwarf experience fits in many different places in life.
As does Yes,Minister, Yes, Prime Minister and many others.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:00 pm
[...] He sent the soup back because it was cold, not knowing it was supposed to be served cold… I’ve blogged about it before *with Videos) but this post is written [...]