More tea musings

Oh, how I miss England. And tea. And Mrs Hnaef, of course. But tea, oh tea.

Luckily the US censor has failed in his (surely "his"? A female version would be a censtor, yes?) duties, and allowed a few true English sites into the country, such as "A nice cup of tea and a sit down" (http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/).

I sometimes wonder whether I made a mistake in buying Mrs Hnaef a nice coffee maker. I don't drink the stuff, of course, but it's created a barrier between us (well, usually a double strength latte, but you get the idea). No more tea in bed. One of us drinks coffee.

But, to return to the matter in hand. People here in the US seem to think you can drink tea with lemon.

What? I mean, I visited a church today for a service. They were very friendly, which is always worrying, but we got over that by bring a little awkward over the Peace. The priest was rather young and epikletic, but didn't overdo things. So, we finished the service, and he invited me back to the parish office. I know what you're thinking. Young, attractive American priest invites ruggedly handsome English Druid round to his place after the service: a few drinks, some antipasti, some more drinks, and suddenly we're condemning Arminians, Methodists and Funambulist Baptists. What could be more fun, more wholesome?

And I was about to accept his offer when I had a terrible thought: what if he drinks tea with lemon in it? So I declined. And that evening I could have spent still exists, unsullied, in my imagination.

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American musings

I am in America at the moment, on a leave of absence, at the Archdruid's suggestion after the Anglican revelation, and have noticed that it is, in many ways, different from Husborne Crawley. Or even Luton.

For a start, it turns out that the drive on the wrong side of the road. And that, if the lorry (sorry: "truck") driver I met as I drove the hire car out of the airport is anything to go by, they have a large and expressive vocabulary.

But two things have struck me forcibly. And I am worried that there may be a correlation. First, Americans cannot, just cannot, grasp how to make a proper cup of tea. I have tried explaining, and even the hotel staff for whom English (though not the Queen's English) is their first language fail miserably to understand. And it's not as if there are Polish, Turkish, even French staff in Enhlish hoyels who have such diffuculties. I'm not being unreasonable. I'm not asking for loose leaf tea. Or even a pot. A bag in a mug will do. But please, please, I beg, pour the water straight off the boil onto the tea. Or it doesn't work. And I just want standard tea. Not a poor Earl Grey. English breakfast, or similar. With milk. Not, for the love of all things Beaker, "half and half".

Second, the average Episcopalian (yes, I'm indulging my Anglican leanings) congregation is enthusiastic, thriving, welcoming, generous and has a good proportion of people in it under 40. Under 30, come to that. This, as any regular Church of England churchgoer will tell you, is against the natural order.

Is there a connection? And if so, can I fix their errant Anglicanism by teaching them to make tea? I think I may have found a mission.

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