who you gonna call?

when the cat bites, you're tired, and the sun doesn't shine

We are both whipped because it was a red-eye flight. It’s January, even late January, so it’s suboptimal temperatures and not a lot of colour to soothe the eyes. The team my husband least likes is winning. On top of it all, one of the cats took a chunk out of one of our scalps for no discernible reason. What an afternoon.

We will have to figure out what to do about the cat but more immediately we need a lift. Those of you who know me won’t be the least surprised that I called my secret weapon—A Cuppa.

Mary Poppins would have used a spoonful of sugar. Some folks would have used several beers but too many calories. Lots of folks would go for a long walk but that just wasn’t in the cards today.

I have a deep-seated belief in tea as a rectifying force in our lives. No, seriously. It always makes things better.

Preparing tea is a ritual and rituals so often provide us comfort. Heat the water, inspect the pot, choose a tea (Russian Caravan? Scottish Breakfast? Oolong?), heat the tea pot, measure the tea leaves, pour water over the tea, let it steep, add the milk if you are a dairy type or sugar or honey, pour the tea, select a biscuit, and serve. It gives you time to slow down, to simmer if you are thinking about something long term, or to cool down if you are providing space from something or someone else.

Tea also is something one consumes slowly and deliberately. A Cuppa comes to visit slowly, methodically, surely. One relaxes as A Cuppa initiates an invaluable improvement on your spirit. Nibble on the shortbread, especially if it’s still warm as it was this afternoon.

As A Cuppa dissolves your irritations, you note the sky is perhaps brighter than you thought. The house is certainly warmer than you feared. The annoyances just are not as wretched as they were. The cat is in some unknown location where he can do little harm.

A Cuppa coming to visit won’t provide world peace, most likely, but it is a reliable manner to lift one’s spirits and provide some balance to what seems a slightly discombobulated afternoon. It’s legal, it’s relatively low-cost, and it’s not likely to keep you awake until 2.13 am. This is definitely a secret antedote to an off-kilter winter afternoon

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I don’t own stock in a tea company but I do know a bit about history. A Cuppa, known simply to most as tea, has played an important role in the world for centuries. I’m just looking for improving a winter’s afternoon. FIN