A Fever Dream?

Did I really witness Nigel Farage watching clear cut video evidence of Donald Trump suggesting people look into injecting disinfectant, then have him try to deny it and then call someone fake news on live television... or did I just fever dream that whole sequence? It seems so surreal that that's kind of what it feels like.

Politics makes me so angry at the moment. I had to turn off the tele and put the kettle on, if I hadn’t I felt like I might have lashed out in some stupid way.

A nice pot of tea, and 15 minutes of light exercise, and I’m feeling a lot better, so it’s off to the "home office" to get a day's work done.

I Am A Self Confessed Food And Drink Snob

One of the things that people don’t really know about me is that I can be pretty snobby, but it only really comes into play with certain things, food and drink is one of those things. My snobbery isn’t based on a brands name, or shopping in a particular store, I try not to buy into perceived prestige. My snobbery is based on the quality of the product, the name on the package or where it was bought from quite regularly doesn’t guarantee quality.

With that said, because I’ve had good experiences with them, I have come to associate particular brands or stores with a certain level of quality. One of these is M&S food, their own branded ranges are usually a reasonable balance of quality and price, and I’ve never had a product of theirs that wasn’t at least good. So if I want to treat myself to something that I know is going to be reliable I head to M&S.

One of things I tend to treat myself to is tea, I love a good cup of loose leaf tea made in a teapot. As the name ‘loose leaf’ suggests, a sign that a tea is going to be of better quality is that it’s made up of something that is recognisable as at least part of a dried leaf. Bad quality 'loose leaf’ tea generally looks nothing like leaves of any kind and instead resembles dark brown gritty dust.

I have gone out of my way to treat myself to a 'premium’ tea from M&S, spending a little more on it than normal supermarket 'loose leaf’, only to end up with a bag of gritty dust. To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement, I just hope that it tastes better than it looks… SPOILER ALERT… it doesn’t, it tastes only slightly better than tea made using a standard teabag. I’m very disappointed in you M&S, I expected better.

Have A Break, Have A KitKat! (A Review... Kinda)

It's been a long day, and a long week (how is it only Thursday?), I feel like I deserve a post work pick me up.

It really is hard to beat a pot of builders tea and a four finger KitKat. I'm usually a dark chocolate kind of guy, but I'm absolutely loving these ruby chocolate KitKat's. There's a little hit of acidity in the flavour that's reminiscent of slightly tart autumnal berries. It really intrigues me, especially since there's absolutely no fruit or fruit flavouring in there, it's all down to how they've processed the cocoa beans. I could quite easily find myself addicted to these things.

By the way that is/was my favourite teapot and moments after I took this photo a crack opened up down the side of it. It's now completely useless because it leaks terribly, as evidenced by the fresh tea stains all over my room.

A Simple Pot Of Tea

Making a big deal out of a simple pot of tea is probably the biggest give away that I'm British, though I'm increasingly less certain that I want people knowing that these days.

A Bit Of Comfort

When you’ve had a particularly shit day at work, and know that it’s only going to get worse over the next few weeks and maybe even forever, it’s impossible to over estimate the sheer peace of mind, and general comfort, that your favourite blanket, dark chocolate, strong spiced tea and an old book can bring. To be honest I barely even read any of the book, just the act of holding it and scanning my eyes over the words, along with that amazing old book smell, was a comfort in its self.

Breakfast Teapot

There’s just something deeply satisfying about a breakfast tray with a teapot on it.

Charity Shopping

Been out doing a bit of charity shopping and picked up a couple of vinyls, a rather special cushion and a cute little T G Greens teapot. The teapot is a bit of a triple threat for me, not only am I a local boy, I was born and raised in Church Gresley, but my Nan worked as a cleaner at the T G Greens pottery for years and the piece it’s self is named after the mine my Grandad worked most of his adult life down.