When we arrived in Vancouver, we went through the usual travellers’ ritual of trying to have a nap, and then staggering out in a jet-lagged haze to look about. Rolling downhill to 4th Street Kitsilano, the first commercial premises we entered was an amazing fruit and nut shop. Really amazing. We bought stuff. The second […]
It may amaze you to know I am flawed, but yes, I am. One of my problems is I often fail to do something as I am hoping for better. For example, I won’t hydrate with a cup of water or with a drink from Starbucks when I get the chance because I’m optimistic that […]
One of the joys of overseas travel is shopping malls. No, really. The great thing about a mall is that it is a microcosm of retailers. It contains, for example, a bunch of global retailers that I despise at home, all conveniently collected for me to ignore in one spot. It also contains local chains […]
As I start writing this, I wonder if I will end up apologising for it. You might think that I often wonder if my unfettered sarcasm and wholesale sprays of invective, combined with poor attention to detail will have that result, but you’d be wrong. It’s not that at all. My readers generally love that. […]
With lots to do in Vancouver, our approach to tea shops has mostly been to just find them while walking past and drop in. On a recent walk we came across two that were totally different and loved them both. We were vaguely searching for Neverland Tea Salon when we stumbled across Bayswater Tea Co just […]
What does it really take to know a city? More specifically, can you get to grips with a city by visiting a representative sample of it? And is three restaurants, two Asian style gardens, a rose garden, a back yard and two days of continuous teas in seven different locations a representative sample? I say […]
I have always loved the expression The Curate’s Egg because, well, people say I’m a bit of a fence-sitter. Or, as I prefer to put it, not a fence-sitter. I like to consider all sides of a situation from all points of view before giving my opinion. Or you could I’m a fence sitter. But […]
We often conduct tea events in Aged Care facilities. People in Aged Care facilities are usually over 60 and a large portion are well over that. Sixty years ago, the year was was 1957. Family and social rituals embed themselves when we are very young; using AA Milne’s suggestion that once we are six we have […]
After a decade in tea, as a tea shop co-owner and/or manager, a blogger, a speaker, an author, co-owner of an online retailer and simply pouring way more tea than most would think possible down my craw, I think it’s fair to say I know a bit more about tea than most people do, or […]
I’ve been at this blogging lark for over seven years, and looking back, it seems to mainly be a series of posts that switch between unintentionally abusive rants and intentionally abusive rants. Every so often, I try to be serious, and usually fail. The thing I am really terrible at is using the blog to promote our […]