It was a really interesting day today. Sitting in a video conference with our partners in crime in England, I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, I love their bloody accents ( my own rendition introduced). But in addition to that, I love how much they love their traditions. We were all sitting through a meeting, when suddenly this man with a tray comes into the room for them. All of us in the room in Canada stopped and starred, while, the British man, with a kettle and china cups, laid down the tray in front of the people and left. Even while our mouths fell open, the people in the group started pouring tea from the dainty kettle into their dainty cups and slurping away at their tea (quietly, obviously).
It was so cute to me that they were so ingrained into their high noon tea time tradition, that even during office hours, it is strictly regulated. But I guess I should mention that they did not have their cucumber sandwiches with the sides cut out. For us Canadians, we have hastily slurped coffee that burns the roof of your mouth, while you are eating a doughnut or bagel through the side of your mouth. Well, that happens sometimes. Often time, we have little time for food, but I am just being a little melodramatic, like I like to be.
Just to switch around the topic a bit, I was chatting with a person yesterday ( names shall not be mentioned at all), and he was lamenting about the fact that he did not have any time to travel. He was 27 years old and he hadn’t travelled much at all in his life. I really was saddened by that fact, that this person who is so young, has no family or obligations yet, is already so escounced into the fabric of full-time work, deferred-life plan, that he hasn’t been able to enjoy himself, and will probably not enjoy the benefits of travel until he retires. That seems a bit extreme to me.
I dont know how the deferred life plan came about, but it is the worst plan that I have ever come across. It teaches people that it is the only way to live and I have had people argue with me, that it is impossible for them to do mini-retirements throughout their life, because of all the expenses that they have at the moment right now. It is as easy to take those expenses off for a few months, as it was for you to put them on. And you only have to believe it is possible for it to be possible. If you believe it is impossible, it will be impossible.
By the way, my mum makes the best salad, its so yummy. It has the following in it, broccoli, hummus as dressing, nuts, salami cubes, apple cubes, grapes, tuna, and cheese cubes. Yum! And so filling and healthy.
2 Responses
March 19th, 2009 at 10:43 am
The 200+ years of British ruling has left that “Tea-Time” habit in my country (Bangladesh) as well. It feels a bit weird to have tea in the middle of the meeting (especially with that delegate and quiet slurping) as someone else is explaining something on the other end - I usually avoid tea when it’s served right in the middle of meeting; to me, it’s harder to concentrate to what’s being said while part of my brain is processing information about how hot the tea is and how I should be slurping it quietly.
March 19th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
i think if someone from britain were to come down to toronto and see our Tim Horton’s drive thru windows circled with cars at 9 am in the morning they might think we have some tradition too! I’m being sarcastic of course…
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