tea

hello there

to say that England, indeed the wider UK, has a designated National Tea Day strikes me as being some blissful ignorance of our worldwide (as in global, look you see) image. many, if not all, across the world would associate us with the immensely pleasurable (when done right) engagement of drinking tea at times in which one wishes refreshment. but, here we are. it is so that this very date on which this is published, being as it is the 21st April, is very much National Tea Day here in the UK. no, alas, or sadly, we do not get a public holiday for it. if it were offered to us, undoubtedly we would refuse, due to our equally famous and celebrated work ethic. 

our tea drinking habits have changed over the years, and not always in an agreeable way. whereas it is a truth that any time is a perfect time for tea, we did have two rigid, set times at which a brew simply had to be done and enjoyed. this was once a week, on a Wednesday i do believe, at around 8:50pm when the most recent edition of Dallas had been broadcast, and at 11am every week day. the former was stripped away by them stopping making that show, the latter was rather predictably (i am sorry to say) spoiled by the French. a key and often overlooked aspect of getting the Maastricht Treaty ratified in 1992 (or 93, maybe) was the crucial, unpopular concession which required to move the traditional UK elevensies mid-morning break to 10:30, so as to appease the French and make them feel like they actually contributed something to it all, or were of some slight relevance. here is where the first seed of Brexit was most decidedly sown, and also a glimpse at why the EU is generally incoherent and unable to act in a resolved or speedy way to much. 

so, in moving away from defiling this post with any further speak of that particular nation, tea. lovely stuff, it is, to be sure. here, why not consider a picture, in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode, of one of the finest brands available. 

for the sake of placing something interesting and insightful here, let me resolve for you the mystery of why one cannot get a proper cup of tea in America (as in the USA), ever. this is a subject i am sure i have breached here before, but if not today, then when again, dear reader. quite frankly, it all amounts to shortcomings in infrastructure. 

if you like metaphors, or comparative things, it can be said that the domestic electricity supply in America is really rather like a French car, or anything French - only, at best, half of what it is required to be in order to be fit for purpose. no, hear me out. they, the Americans, run supply at 110V, whereas in the UK we have it at 220V - 240V. what this means in real (and tragic) terms is that one cannot power a proper kettle to boil to the requisite temperature required to brew tea correctly. 

this lack of being able to make proper tea explains why so many in America are so easily agitated, and prone to distressing acts of aggression. if they were able to have a decent cup of tea, they would not be, i would wager, so tightly wound. making correctly brewed tea available to Americans might, for instance, have not made the likes of Biggie Smalls, Tupac and what have you all so cross that they vented their frustration by driving around shooting people. simply serving them some decent tea may well have relaxed them, and they would have possibly invested in something far more constructive and rewarding (and less shooty), such as trout fishing like what Roger Daltrey does. 

yes, another look at that very posh tea off of Highgrove, which means from HRH His Royal Highness Prince Charles, Prince Of Wales, no less. as today marks the official State birthday of the reigning monarch, presently Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, it seemed appropriate to make this inclusion. that and James took quite a shine to my reserves of Fortnum & Mason tea, so i have none left to picture here. 

well, there we have it. a cup of tea does indeed make everything better, and if a quarry, problem or incident cannot be resolved over a cup of tea then it would be a matter one should simply discard as of being of no relevance to the proper world. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!