Coconut Cutting...

Riaan has been reading some old Usborne Puzzle Adventure books - which I read when I was much, much younger - and his favourite characters are Agent Arthur and his dog Sleuth.

Riaan was particularly interested when Agent Arthur was trying to open a coconut in one of the books. And so I went and found a coconut at the local supermarket and I showed Riaan how to safely cut open a coconut. He was quite concerned that I would "cut [myself] and end up in the hospital like Grandad"*, but we managed to open it without incident. We then drank the milk and also enjoyed eating the meat inside the coconut - although Riaan was certainly not a fan!

*This is a well-known true family tale. It was Christmas 1996 and I had just received a Swiss Army Knife for Christmas, and my dad decided to show us how to open a coconut. It was Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, which is a public holiday in South Africa. (Now known as the Day of Goodwill.) While the details of the story are a little bit hazy, in my mind my dad cut through the coconut, delicately balanced on his leg, and into his thigh muscle. There was no blood, but the cut was very deep into his muscle and he required several stitches from our family doctor - who just happened to be in his practice on a holiday. We actually used the very same Swiss Army Knife to cut the coconut some 22 years later in 2019 - thankfully, without incident! :)

 Draining the coconut of its milk.

Cracking open the coconut.

 The fleshy meat on the inside.

Riaan was not too impressed! :)