This is why we brits like to complain and be miserable about things - it's just a ploy to drink more tea ;)

seconded ;o)

I like the way tea breaks punctuate a working day. Even if I don't have time to do anything other than stand up briefly to make the tea and then sit at my desk to drink it, it helps.

It does. Tea always helps.

This is the ultimate truth.

We put up with most things, tut at others but you really really do not want to threaten our tea supply.

Its not all about the tea of course it is the ritual and it is why we treat those folk who say they don't drink tea or coffee as rather alien creatures. Have you met Mr Wilson ;) QED

I don't mind teetotallers at all, but when someone comes over who doesn't drink hot drinks, I'm immediately discombobulated. Especially if I don't have any soft drinks in the house!

For me I sometimes need a strong coffee in the morning to jolt me awake, but at work, and when I get home, there's nothing like a decent cup. A question, do you take it with sugar, and if so, how many?

mymatedave I love your userpic. Do you mind if I nick it?

Feel free, it's one of my favourites.

Thanks.

No sugar most of the time. Exceptions are (a) when I've run out of milk (b) when I've had a shock and (c) when I'm putting it in a thermos to take on a long cold walk outside. You?

In the morning I have milk and sugar in the coffee, but in tea I've found I quite like a teaspoon of honey. Outrageous I know, but when I have sugar I do try to have brown sugar if at all possible.

My god man, honey. You're a renegade.

I guess I'm just a born rebel.

I too believe in the power of tea. I usually drink nice loose-leaf black tea, no milk, but last week after my apartment was flooded I was drinking giant mugs of bagged black tea with lots of milk. I learned that from the English-descended side of my family, in fact.

I'm very glad you had this as a coping strategy. I hope it helped to the degree it ought to have done.

Yes indeed, he did well there.

And just don't bother trying to refuse tea. I have tried to decline tea in Ireland. It is a waste of time. You're having tea whether you like it or not. Just had tea 10 minutes ago? Doesn't matter, more tea! And a biscuit.

This is where we need a Mrs. Doyle gif. Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on...

Ah, but you still love all your other teas, and so are not as discombobulating as a British person who drinks no hot beverages at all. That's just confusing. What do you offer them when they're upset and need comforting?!

But there is no hardship that cannot be eased through the application of tea!

Granted I drink my tea black but I assert my right to be Englishly eccentric. I mean, I have a double-barrelled surname and everything.

But yes, tea. First thing I did the other day on finding my hot water supply had died again was put the kettle on for tea. (Second thing I did was boil it again in lieu of having a hot tap that actually came out hot. And I drank my tea while I waited for it).

Sometimes I regret not double-barrelling Humuhumu's surname. I fear I might've deprived her of the ease of developing Wodehousian quirks.

I hope your tea had the desired effect on the situation!

"ea that comes in teabags, has been anointed with boiling water from the electric kettle and is served with milk. If the need for tea has befallen you abruptly then it is more likely to be served in a large mug"

That's exactly what I'm doing now, as I read this ;o)

And when you say "the bloke" turned up with the police etc, do you mean *your* bloke, or...?

Yes, I do mean my bloke. He is "the bloke" in this journal. I probably should've capitalised it before it became his standard moniker!

No problem, now I know.

Of course, it just means I need to remember that in future journal entries...

Supposedly the sugar is to keep your blood sugar level up, because one of the after-effects of shock and the consequent adrenalin flood is low blood sugar.

I'm not sure about the milk, mind you - but then I've not drunk sweetened or milkened tea for a couple of decades. Well, not unless my East Frisian relatives are being really *really* PITA insistent... http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A56992675