flying solo

I've been doing a lot of travelling on my own recently. Last week I was at Heathrow on my way to Geneva, and ordered a burger from the Garfunkel's restaurant there. It arrived along with a nice, shiny brand new bottle of ketchup. I can't eat chips without ketchup, so I held it upside down over my plate and started to whack the bottle hard with my hand. Several minutes later I was still going, and there was no sign of any ketchup. A kind man at the next table felt sorry for me, and lent me his bottle of ketchup to try. After several minutes of thumping the new bottle there was still no response. Eventually I managed to flag down a passing waiter and ask for a clean knife which I used to shovel the ketchup out of the bottle. Now, I consider myself an independent woman. I can happily haul suitcases weighing 20 kilos plus up and down long flights of stairs, and on and off luggage belts. But getting the ketchup out of the bottle without making a fool of myself? I need a man for that!