RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Fortress of Awesome Chat Teabags

I went to Vietnam, but all they offered me was Coca Cola.

An unsuccessful tea mission.

------------------
Dave's entertainment law forum:

Answer Print "

Dibbles while on the subject of beverages as you guys have been for the last 60 pages - how many posts is that?
i would like to inquire as to how the hell i drank 3 pints worth of pure scottish whisky - The Famous Grouse (diluted with coke)
last night and wake up without a hangover?
i'm sure it happened i just can't for the live of me work out how i managed to escape without paying for it. Scotland got gubbed 38 - 3 by France at rugby in the Six Nations causing me to hit the bottle with a fury rarely seen before or every will again.

tea rocks

proper way of doing things:
tea bag first then hot water then milk/cream

optional extra:
sugar goes in cup at same time as teabag. cant taste it other wise.

lapsang souchong anyone?

-Bruce wrote:

"Coca Cola? Hark, did I hear 'Coca Cola' whispered on this thread!?

Nothing is more American about me than my life-long love of Coca Cola :)

A truly interesting book is Mark Pendergrast's ""For God, Country and Coca Cola"". It ties together the inception of advertising, Nazis, cola wars and secret ingredients (orange juice will also eat a nail). hmmm, this could be a Vertigo series. "

Lord_Savaunt wrote:

" I'd like to take this moment to raise a cup of tea to a departed friend that I never met. He was with me as a kid, and made me feel like a special person. As I grew up I didnt see him so much, but he was always in my heart. Hanging out in his neighborhood never left me feeling anything but calmed and happy. I just found out this past week that he passed away. So I raise a cup of tea in toast and say...

... Good bye Mr. Rogers."

Lord_Savaunt wrote:

" I'd like to take this moment to raise a cup of tea to a departed friend that I never met. He was with me as a kid, and made me feel like a special person. As I grew up I didnt see him so much, but he was always in my heart. Hanging out in his neighborhood never left me feeling anything but calmed and happy. I just found out this past week that he passed away. So I raise a cup of tea in toast and say...

... Good bye Mr. Rogers."

A message on Rob's boards indicate a demise of the entire boards (and a replacement with the new) is imminent, which will mean that this thread along with others will softly and silently vanish away (not unlike our Iraq debate).

------------------
Dave's entertainment law forum:

Answer Print "

We need a virtual Noah's ark.

Seeing as there's been a few off topic posts here already, I just thought I'd mention I got dumped yesterday."

cyberwaif wrote:

"

quote:

---

Originally posted by TyphoidDave:
A message on Rob's boards indicate a demise of the entire boards (and a replacement with the new) is imminent, which will mean that this thread along with others will softly and silently vanish away (not unlike our Iraq debate).

---

So, that would explain why there was less then 3000 posts when I logged on this morning, when there were over 3100 on Sunday.

"

goldfish wrote:

"I think the evil men at the top are deleting posts, like anything on iraq. when we about to go to war the last thing we want is freedom of speech and an actual debate."

goldfish wrote:

"on a tea related subject why is long island ice tea called that, as it has no tea in. and why are there no cocktails with tea in?"

HG wrote:

"

quote:

---

Originally posted by D. McDonagh:
Seeing as there's been a few off topic posts here already, I just thought I'd mention I got dumped yesterday.

---

That was not an off-topic post.

When my first marriage crashed and burned catastrophically, flames and smoke and everything, I did not drink tea. I didn't even like tea.

Now I'm in a happy relationship with a great woman, with no end in sight, and I drink almost exessive amounts of tea.

So it all has something to do with tea.

Next relationship you have, you'll know what to do."

quote:

---

Originally posted by goldfish:
I think the evil men at the top are deleting posts, like anything on iraq. when we about to go to war the last thing we want is freedom of speech and an actual debate.

---

Got that wrong, actually - its still here.

DMcD. - sorry to hear that.



------------------
Dave's entertainment law forum:

Answer Print "

J'arl J'onnz wrote:

"

quote:

---

Originally posted by SmilingKnight:
Ok, so I'm at work patiently making fun of customers who make silly orders at Subway and a little highschool girl asks for tomatos. Which wouldn't be so bad, except that she said it with the ""a"" in tomatos like the one in ""hat"", and I personnaly reserve that for old women and british people. Then someone told me that was racist or it's national equivilant, and I'm wondering just how you Brits say tomatos. An interesting side note, most people who say tomatos like that, also ask for tea, which we still don't have. Oh, and I'm enjoying my 2nd cup of tea tonight.

---

I work at McDonald's andno longer silently make fun of customers. It is way too fun to laugh at them.

Oh, and to stay on topic we have horrible tea. One greyhair brings in his own green tea and uses our hot water. No wonder the company is going down the toilets!

"

-Bruce wrote:

"(post #1495)

Over the clinking of silverware on china, I am slipping the following erudite items into our tea-time conversation:

1495 C.E. (though I prefer Anno Domini) - Leonardo is painting a wall on a dining room (the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan does sound more impressive); Columbus has come and gone and come again across the Atlantic; Dracula has been in the grave nearly 20 years; and syphillis first reaches Europe. "

quote:

---

Originally posted by -Bruce:
(post #1495)

Over the clinking of silverware on china, I am slipping the following erudite items into our tea-time conversation:

1495 C.E. (though I prefer Anno Domini) - Leonardo is painting a wall on a dining room (the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan does sound more impressive); Columbus has come and gone and come again across the Atlantic; Dracula has been in the grave nearly 20 years; and syphillis first reaches Europe.

---

Dracula invented syphillis?

can it be cured by tea?"

HG, thanks for the tip, but I've already lost the woman I love so I don't want to lose my sense of taste (and possibly will to live) as well.
Which I almost certainly will if I start drinking tea..."

Tea could never be so bitter. I hope things are have completed their spiral descent: everyone gets dumped sooner or later, but each experience is always a unique and acute pain.

On a different note, I am going home to Perth in less than 2 weeks for the first time in 18 months - a simultaneously good but sad event, as although my best friend is gettng married, my sister's baby just had brain surgery, for reasons too involved to get into here.

But, importantly for my fellow students of Morningstar High, I will finally get to check out this new Lux bar which you may recall I talked about a year or so ago. Photographs will be forthcoming.

------------------
Dave's entertainment law forum:

Answer Print "

Thanks, Dave.
We're supposed to be meeting to discuss it next week, so I suspect things haven't bottomed out quite yet.
The brain surgery thing sounds ominous: I hope the kid comes out of it okay."

-Bruce wrote:

"post #1500

1500 C.E. (circa 450 B.M.C.) - Christopher Columbus is arrested on Hispaniola and sent home in chains. Chinese inventor Wan Tu devises a flying chair using 47 rockets; they explode, killing him. The rumors that Vlad Tepes was a tea drinker and invented syphillis are finally put to rest (the Dutch will not bring tea to Northern Europe for another 110 years)."

quote:

---

Originally posted by -Bruce:
Chinese inventor Wan Tu devises a flying chair using 47 rockets; they explode, killing him.

---

I saw this one on jackass

"

Lord_Savaunt wrote:

Once again we have proof that 47 is a powerful number for good or ill.

quote:

---

Originally posted by D. McDonagh:
Thanks, Dave.
We're supposed to be meeting to discuss it next week, so I suspect things haven't bottomed out quite yet.
The brain surgery thing sounds ominous: I hope the kid comes out of it okay.

---

Thanks, and I'm told that she has: two holes in the head (and a lot of painkillers)later, and apparently she is good as new.

My father is joking that she has had her horns removed (the two holes were drilled into her skull above her hairline, directly in line with her eyes). And people think this thread is off-topic!

On a less macarbe but more sombre note, good luck with your meeting. I hope it turns out ok.

------------------
Dave's entertainment law forum:

Answer Print "

I'm glad she's going to be ok.

Mike Carey wrote:

"I missed the whole reference to the brain surgery until just now, Dave - glad to hear it went well.

Dominic, my time frame is all to hell and gone. Either good luck, or else how did it go?"

Thanks guys.

------------------
Dave's entertainment law forum:

Answer Print "

Thanks, Mike.
Your time frame is fine. It was supposed to be this Friday, but she's cancelled, so now it isn't.
Backstory: she lives in London, I live outside of Stoke, so we've been meeting up once or twice a month. I think she's decided she's had quite enough of this, though my diabetes and lack of regular income also seem to be factors. (She keeps changing her story.)
I'm also starting to get the impression she wants to cut me off dead so she doesn't have to bother staying in touch, but she's not going to come out and say as much and would rather wind me up until I tell her to take a running jump. If someone's going to be in the wrong and act like a swine, she'd far rather it was me.
In any case, this isn't going to get sorted out until we can talk about it and she's going out of her way to avoid that at the moment.
Chirpy bugger, hey?"

Lord_Savaunt wrote:

" Well Dominic I can kind of sympathize with you in so far as becoming single again after being with someone for awhile.

I just broke it off with my girlfriend of almost 2 years yesterday. Over the last few weeks she turned into an unreasonable b!tch and I got fed up with taking her bull ****. Yesterday I packed all of my stuff (save for two or three items I forgot) into a U-Haul truck while she was at work and left her a note telling her it was over.

The fact that I had to resort to being that cowardly should be a good indicator of how bad things had gotten. Like your ex mine wasn't willing to talk about things a whole lot. So I'll raise a cup of tea for ya D McD and we can sing together in misery. Good luck, I think we'll both need it."

Hellfire, Greg. That's abrupt.
Good luck yourself."

-Bruce wrote:

"1510 -ah, I remember it well... Botticelli died (he should have been one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), syphillis reaches the Shetland Islands, 60 witches are burned in Northern Italy and Bosch completes 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' (good thing Martin Luther is just around history's corner -can't have alterpiece paintings like THIS :)

Dave, good luck to your sister and her baby. Not so good for my cousin's son - his car was crushed between two trucks and had to have an arm amputated.

"

Mike Carey wrote:

"Jesus. I'm really sorry to hear that, Bruce.

And Greg and Dominic, condolences too. From the sound of things, they were relationships that had to end - but I know it can take *years* before that's the slightest consolation."

Thanks, Mike.

Bruce, that's terrible. I'm really sorry to hear that."

-Bruce wrote:

"thanks for the kind words.

I once read (I probably saw it on TV), a study on people who lived past the age of 100. They shared several traits - including the ability to overcome tragedies and disappoints. I try and keep this in mind.

Another cup of tea?"

-Bruce wrote:

"I just read my post - not only was it badly written (disappoints?!), but it seemed awfully flippant. Originally, I went into the (pretty grim) details a bit. I then thought that was the wrong format for this and erased the words.


I guess this is post #1514. Let's see, hmmmm, 1514, 1514... looks like nothing happened that year :) "

Lord_Savaunt wrote:

Thanks for the kind words Mike. Bruce I wish I could offer something to make you feel better about your loss.

Keldin lauke wrote:

"Okay, this thread alone has almost half the total posts of the board!

Something is wrong (or right, depending on how you look at it).

I wonder what new visitors to the board think when they look at it. ""It can't really be all about tea"" NOPE IT IS*.

So, in summation and conclusion, this thread deserves its own DC mini-site.

*except for a few dangerous tangents it went off on at times. Best not to talk about some of them tough."

Not a very good one but, under the circumstances, rather appropriate.

GREAT LOST TEA (cups)

DREGGS OF LONDON

The ‘Hamlyn Supermarket and Till’ was one of the best selling childrens’ toys of the 1970s, in the UK. It was manufactured by a British company and consisted of a small plastic supermarket till (containing fake coinage) a shopping basket, a miniature 3-tiered shelving unit and a number of fake tinned and boxed products to put on the shelves. It is now a highly sought-after collectors item.

Among the boxes of soap flakes, breakfast cereal and tins of baked beans there is a packet labelled: ‘Dreggs Milkless Tea’ which is described further down the box as: ‘A murky blend’ and which is a sly reference to one of our capital’s lesser known curiosities – The Dreggs Of London.

Villiers Street is a short road in central London that connects the perpetually busy Embankment Underground Station with The Strand. Since 1923, a pair of bone china cups have occupied the second storey windowsill of one of the smart terraced houses on the east side of the street. It is not known when these two cups were first named: ‘The Dreggs’ but this moniker is probably a reference the stagnant water that they collect throughout the year.

Because the cups are positioned some way back on the sill, they cannot be seen from the ground and are best viewed from a walkway, on the opposite side of the street, that connects Charing Cross Station with Hungerford Bridge, and is roughly level with the window. A small semi circular gallery protrudes from the walkway and was built presumably so that interested parties could pause to view The Dreggs without interrupting the flow of pedestrian traffic.

From the gallery, we can see that the windowsill is broad and set at a slight gradient so that it slopes towards the building. The two cups are stamped with the crest of the London China Company and, near the base, there is a grasshopper motif, probably a reference to Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of The Royal Exchange, who adopted the Grasshopper as his crest, in order to remind him of his humble beginnings.

Both cups rest in badly chipped saucers. The curved shards of china that surround them are, in fact, the remains of a teapot, which originally sat between the two cups, but which was destroyed during the second world war.

Over the years numerous methods of preventing birds from roosting in the windowsill have been employed. These have included heavy metal bars, a statue of a falcon, a fine gauze, a ‘pigeon repelling’ paint and currently: a translucent netting.

The Dreggs owe their existence to the habits of a Judge Silas Bendrey, who once held chambers in the building and who used to place his tea on the windowsill while shaving, his bedroom sink being adjacent to the window. According to historical records, he would drink one cup of tea before washing and one after. He had taken to placing both the cups and the teapot on the sill after the finding that, in spite of a heavy cloth, they had left rings on his oak dresser.

On August 19th 1923, Bendry suffered a stroke while returning home It is assumed that in the days following his death the cups were forgotten about. Possibly later they were left on the sill as a mark of respect or as an affectionate memorial.

The history of the cups is interesting in itself: They belong to a service of china rented from the Temple Bar, the ancient legal district of London, where many lawyers and judges still hold their chambers.
A set of china has traditionally been manufactured for the Temple every 3 to 7 years. These particular cups belong to the 1920 service, when a new set of china was produced every five years. Subscribers to The Temple China Archives are charged rent on a yearly basis and this money is diverted into charitable causes.

The current owners of the building on Villiers Street, which is now used as an office, are still invoiced annually for the rent of the two cups. Sixth months after the end of the second world war, the then owners apparently received an invoice billing them for the teapot which had been broken during the heavy aerial bombardment of London.

During the early 1980s, the ground floor of the building was home to a Tea shop called: ‘Dreggs of London.’ Following the stock market crash of 1987, Dreggs café (as it is now known) retreated into the grounds of the college adjacent to Somerset House, on the embankment. Although predominantly used by students and lecturers, the café is still open to the public. The framed invoices for the rent of the two cups are displayed on the walls.

A tea shop in Highgate called: ‘The Two Left Behind’ was also originally named as a tribute to The Dreggs. The original sign outside the café depicted the two cups. Unfortunately it has recently been replaced by a rather mawkish painting depicting two wounded soldiers slumped against the side of a trench.

Every year, The Dreggs are taken down, cleaned and then replaced on the sill. In 1990 it was decided to move them back a few inches from their original positions, in order to shelter them from high winds. The cups listed along with the building and are protected by English Heritage laws.

A post card of The Dreggs was once widely available and can still be purchased from the London Tea Drinkers Association.


------------------
""All my friends are soldiers
and they are getting drunk
Oh, Johnny come and save me
I believe my luck has sunk.""

- Jeffrey Lee Pierce"

cyberwaif wrote:

Backwards- that was a rather enjoyable tale! Glad to hear that the dreggs are not sitting in the cup from the 1920's!

Mike Carey wrote:

"Always a keen pleasure, Backwards - and well up to your usual high standards. :) "

strafenkinder wrote:

"My grandmother died yesterday morning. I know I should feel sad, but somehow I feel relieved. She was 89 years old and had diabetes.

While I was posting here a few moments back, this board suddenly reminded me of her. She was a quirky woman. Unlike other girls, she enjoyed baseball. She was a great batter.

Another thing that endeared me to her was her fondness for bougainvillas. She loved them so much she made tea out of the dried leaves.

I remembered her drying the leaves in the sun and gently roasting them on the oven.

We would taste a freshly brewed cup with a bit of honey. It smelled weird but strangely welcoming. And when I smell sweet, fragrant tea, I think about her.

May she rest in peace."