Devonshire Tea

Said good-bye to Frank, Nina, & Tansy which were heading to Dunedin. Jack & his roommates all took off for work. Alison & I went to the NZ Antarctic Centre. It cost $20 and quite interesting. One display involved putting on a jacket with hood & rubber shoes over our shoes. Then we went into a cold room. It was done up like a camp in the Antarctic. There was snow on the ground, a snowcat & a tent. Also a big temperature gage so we could see how cold it currently was. Then they turned on the blowers & sound system so we could feel a real ice storm. The temperature dropped to -24 C (-8 F). The howling wind was nerve racking & I couldn't wait to get out. It lasted 4 minutes. Normally a storm in the Antarctic would last between 40 minutes to 4 days & much, much colder. There were statistics on how cold it has been recorded. I don't remember the degrees but they said if exposed to it for 30 seconds a person would be dead.

Before looking through the last room, Alison & I left to get lunch. It was nice to be able to come & go on the same ticket.

After seeing the whole centre, Alison drove me around Christchurch to places she used to live. One house was close to downtown. It looked nice but there was graffiti on the garage door. The second place was nice too, in a newer suburb.

We drove up to the Port Hills. On the way, we went through a long tunnel. We stopped at "The Sign of the Kiwi", a small restaurant built of stone in 1909. It overlooked Christchurch. Alison wanted me to experience a true "Devonshire Tea". We were brought delicious scones, blackberry jam, whipped butter, whipped cream, & tea. Alison was disappointed because it wasn't done properly. The tea set was supposed to be silver, ours was ceramic. Our cream pitcher was a cow. We were missing the smaller teapot of hot water that's supposed be used to dilute the tea. Here's the rules or etiquette of a Devonshire Tea:

· All silver service.

· Teacups & saucers are to be bone china from England.

· Hot water is poured in the teapot, then loose tea (not in a bag), swirl it around a bit & let sit for 5 minutes.

· Pour milk into the cup, then tea, then sugar.

· Cut the scone in half, put on butter, then jam, & last whipped cream.

· A little shortbread cookie (biscuit) is set next to the teacup.

There's your Devonshire tea.

I’d like to start a tea club with some people I work with. I asked Alison for some ideas of what to call the club. My idea was The White Rose Tea Club, & we'd all wear a white rose to each tea. These were her ideas:

Lizzy Tea Club - short for Queen Elizabeth - we could wear a little hat & gloves

Kings & Queens

Any name of a tea like:

Greymouth Tea Club

Chamomile

Yorkshire

Earl Grey

Lady Grey

I like Lady Grey Tea Club. We could wear something grey or not.

We walked through the Christchurch Cathedral. The architecture was awesome. Just like the pictures I saw in my History of Western Art Humanities class. I even got to see flying buttresses, bastilles & domes made of stone. Alison said she got to see the Dali Lama there when he visited in 1996.

We went back to the house. Everyone was eating leftover meat from the night before that had sat out for at least 24 hours. I wanted something to eat but not meat that had sat that long out of the frig. Jack assured me that it would be all right. He promised me. I asked what kind of meat it was & he said pork. I said, "Pork! No way!" He talked me into it & I told him I'd haunt him if I die. There was a little bit left when we were all done & it got thrown away. Thank goodness.

We watched a funny British comedy that was a little more risqué than what Americans would have allowed on regular TV. Also watched a very interesting documentary on homeopathy.