HobbesOxon wrote:
> Sure, it does sound silly to pay $60something for tea and sandwiches
> when you put it like that - but you're not just paying for high quality
> goods at the hotels I mentioned.
>
> My only suggestion would be to go and have a look around one of these
> places, and talk with the staff. It's a beautiful place, and it's a
> refreshing change to have witty, polite service (at least in England!).

Oh, I'm aware of what is all involved, I just find it a bit to
high-brow for me personally and even at a lower price it would not suit
me. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with it, just that for
me tea is a peaceful and tranquil basic indulgence. I'd be happier to
have a more standard English tea at a home where it is more personal.
But that is just me. To me the journey is the goal.

> But, getting back to the main point, I'm very happy that the profile of
> tea drinking has been raised. We all do it, here, but it's nice to see
> that the gentrified, genteel version is becoming popular again.
>
> Not because I'm on a crusade for everyone to know lots about tea (which
> would be wonderful, however unlikely it is), but because I'm happy that
> people are holding up the ideal that it is a good thing to be elegant,
> and to enjoy something slow-paced and delicate.

But this is my problem. It won't be slow-paced and personal, or even
slightly enlightening. When something becomes trendy and hip, it loses
that grounding. It becomes the exact opposite of what it is.

> I don't know if you're familiar with English culture at the moment, but
> it can be quite rough. Children will swear and curse at strangers, and
> even threaten them with violence. There are currently campaigns
> underway from the UK Government called "Respect", to try and get people
> to be more polite to one another. As our country grows into the modern
> world, it is vitally important that we don't lose the good manners and
> politeness for which we are (or at least used to be) famous for.
>
> You see good manners in certain sections of the population, but the
> "common man" is now tending more towards unruliness and poor manners
> than was previously acceptable. Against that background, I'm genuinely
> happy to see people rediscovering the afternoon tea rituals that have
> been neglected by most of the population.
>
> Anything that helps the majority of the populace regain a little of
> their polite and genteel heritage is fine by me. Certainly, not
> everyone is going to be taking $60 afternoon tea in the Ritz, but the
> revival in the public consciousness is very welcome.
>
> I like it when people slow down, enjoy themselves, and each other.
> Leave the Starbucks to the McDonald-munching junky, and look for the
> finer things in life, I'd say to them.
>
>
> Toodlepip,
>
> Hobbes

Unfortunately that is a problem everwhere, respect, intelligence,
thoughtfulness, hope, and real enjoyment of life is in short supply and
getting shorter and to some extent almost a negative thing these days.
I read an article the other day that summed up the current outlook on
life, it was titled "How to retire by 30." The entire article was about
getting a degree and working in a high-pay, long hour, job with no
personal satisfaction while living in an efficiency apartment and doing
nothing else even going so far as to state that dating and marriage as
well as children are off limits while suffering for 10 years so that
you can then retire... What do you have to retire to at this point
then? What will you reflect on for the next 40+ years? That is pitiful,
but exactly what the common outlook on life is. To some extent I'm
stuck in the same kind of thing, as most are, like it or not.

Priorities are all messed up. It would be nice to hit a collective
reset button to go back to a simpler existence. Brewing and enjoying
tea is as close as I can get to that, along with being outdoors,
hiking, camping, kayaking, fishing, etc... People have lost their
grasp of what is real, and important, and grounded in life, that is why
I find it sad and disheartening. They will buy their "premium" tea and
brew it in their "premium" teapots while wearing their "premium"
clothes and sitting on "premium" furniture and go through the empty
motions but miss the real beauty that is right in front of them that
could show them a whole new way of life.

- Dominic