Why did the dish run away with the spoon?

Why did the dish run away with the spoon?

Ah, this is a story of true love dashed against the rocks of fate. 
Gertrude Bourne-Hathers was an eccentric English lady who lived in a
small cottage in the heart of the glorious countryside of the
Cotswolds. She amused and confused her neighbours by her behaviour and
strange habits, and her insistence that her cat could play the fiddle,
that her dog had a good sense of humour, and that her cow was training
for the high jump event at the 2012 London Olympics. But all this is
another story.

Out shopping one day, she found at the local charity shop a rather
fine Worcester porcelain tea-set which she took immediate fancy to.
Swiftly purchasing it, she returned home. At 4 o?clock it was time to
take tea using the new tea-set.

Now, she a good eye for porcelain, but her knowledge of silverware was
sadly lacking and she only used a cheap, stainless steel tea spoon to
stir the tea. A spoon from the wrong side of the shop was laid on a
refined and expensive saucer dish while she supped her tea. The
tea-pot, sugar bowl and cup were aghast at this, but the saucer dish
was somewhat amused by it all and struck up a conversation with the
spoon. Despite their differences, they found plenty to talk about and
were disappointed when tea came to an end and they were washed up and
put away.

Both of them now looked forward to the 4 o?clock tea-time rendezvous.
Soon friendship turned to love - much to the disgust of the rest of
the tea-set. Then came the day that the fateful decision was made.
They would elope to Gretna Green and planned to set up a bed and
breakfast in Frinton-on-Sea catering for retired gentlefolk.

That night they crept out of the house and started to make their way
to the railway station.  At day break they were forced to stop as they
could not move during the day in case they were seen. Foolishly, they
did not hide themselves away and they were found at the roadside by
the local postman who was just finishing his round. The postman could
not believe his luck, after work he was off to the local car-boot sale
and he thought that he could sell the dish and spoon for at least 50
pence each.

So we come to the end of this sad story. They were both sold - but to
different people. The spoon ended up in a roadside transport café,
stirring tea which was made so strong that she could stand up in the
cup without help and it burnt her skin.

The saucer dish was spotted by an antiques dealer and achieved fame by
appearing on the BBC?s Antiques Road Show. He was valued at £250 but
this price was quickly dropped to nothing when the expert dropped him
on the floor smashing him into thirty pieces.

answerfinder-ga

Brilliant, Answerfinder, a hark back to the good old days here of
extended humour with literary quality!
I was rather thinking that the spoon was male and the saucer female
from their physical shapes and the more active role of a spoon in a
normal teatime situation (a fine porcelain saucer would probably be
rather traditional in attitude  - hardly a womens-libber - 
maintaining a properly passive role, just lying there on the snowy
linen tablecloth).  The saucer's attitude  - "was somewhat amused by
it all" - also suggests the character of a sophisticated "U" female
...

But it is your tragic little tale, and perhaps there is a moral point
in having the female spoon end up in a roadside café.  Either way, she
is the tragic figure of a "fallen girl", a warning to respect class
distinctions, even in the use of inanimate objects.
(It couldn't happen in my home:  we NEVER use the everyday stainless
cutlery with the Sunday porcelain, don't even let them share the same
cupboard ....
Hmmm?  But they do get together in the dishwasher.  I'll have to talk
to the missis about that, can't have them showering together.)

Myoarin