SWF, 37, Can't Cook Eggs, GSOH

[Sundae]

Sorry, I just can't.

Omelettes I thought I got. Turns out, when I'm turned out in to the wide world, that what we called omelettes at home were called overcooked placemats elsewhere.

Mum never fried an egg the whole time I lived at home, so I never got the knack. Mostly because my Dad's Mum was a real East End mother and fried everything so my Mum was trying to lower the grease:blood ratio after she married Dad.

And their poached eggs are (by preference) mostly hard, except for a tiny leaking yolk right in the centre. I want to make really soft yolked ones.

Boiled eggs, I can't excuse. I didn't eat them ALL my adult life and now am too embarrassed to ask Mum how to cook them, at 37. And that's what this post has been precipitated by. Mum left me three eggs. I have tried to make myself a soft-boiled egg three times. I have failed every time.

I don't know if I'm starting off with the water too cold. Or too hot. Or if I have the cooking heat too high or too low. I KNOW there must be a rule, but I'd rather hear it from Dwellars than google it, because you might be able to help with my other egg issues on the back of this.

Truth is, in Food & Nutrition (at school) we learned the temperature of the coagulation points of both egg yolk and egg white. Well, I say learned. I didn't. It was numbers! I didn't know it then and I don't know it now.

I find I still have runny white when the yolk is just right. For poached, fried and boiled. If I get the white right, the yolk is hard as old whatsits. I can eat hard boiled eggs of course, but if I have soldiers ready (or toast in the case of poached/ fried) it's a real upset.

Should I raise or lower the temp/ increase or decrease the cooking time?

If someone could detail exactly how to cook a perfect soft boiled egg - and please don't miss out any stage! - I would really appreciate it. More general help would also be great. Just don't use temperatures