BILL Cowardine thought it was a 'yoke' when a neighbour claimed the fresh eggs he'd given her were hard boiled.

But his disbelief turned into amazement when the same thing happened to him.

Bill, 69, of Pansy Road, Farnworth, has been buying eggs for months from Alan Stephenson, who runs Frank's Motors in Gladstone Street, Farnworth.

"I buy them in batches of 25 and then give a lot away to the neighbours," said Bill.

"When one old lady told me she'd had a hard boiled egg in her pack I scoffed. "But then my wife was was making our dinner and we were having lamb chop, mushrooms and fried egg.

"All of a sudden she started shouting about the egg. She said it wouldn't drop into the pan because it was hard boiled.

"I immediately got on to Alan and asked him if one of his hens was running around with a red hot backside?"

Alan is as bemused as anyone about the mysterious hard boiled eggs.

He's been selling eggs from the garage from several years. Some come from his uncle who owns a farm, while the free range eggs he sells to Bill come from chickens he keeps at home.

"All I can say is that one of the chickens must be a microwave one," said Alan. "This has never happened before and I still can't believe it. I don't know whose kidding who. I'm convinced somebody's winding Bill up."

Alan, who is known locally as 'Green Grass', said he will be investigating the riddle of the hard boiled eggs.

"But I don't expect I'll get to the bottom of it," he said.

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