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The Afternoon Tea Times welcomes correspondence. Contact Afternoon Tea online, or by mail to: Afternoon Tea Times, MPT, 11767 Owings Mills Blvd., Owings Mills, MD 21117-1499. You may also reach MPT Afternoon Tea by telephone at (443) 394-1634.
Tea Times is a co-production of Maryland Public Television and The Insider, a publication of the BBC Sales Company.
The Insider welcomes all correspondence, story ideas and requests for contributed articles. Send letters via e-mail to Editor N. Scott Jones at bbinsider@comcast.net or by snail mail to: The Insider, c/o Oliviu Savu, BBC Worldwide Americas, 747 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10017-2803. All letters are assumed to be for publication unless marked otherwise. The Insider reserves the right to edit letters for reason of space or clarity. Let us know what you think!
The Insider, copyright 1999-2007 by the BBC Sales Company. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission. All photos and graphics used are rights free or copyrighted by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Unless otherwise indicated, all material written by N. Scott Jones.
Editor's Note
It's the last month of summer and we hope you are enjoying every moment! Hopefully your vacations have been fun-filled and safe.
We surely have some great programming to fill your summer evenings. From Sherlock Holmes to ballroom dancing, with some summer fun program thrown into the mix, it's programming you will want to watch. Read the Tea News Bits to find out all about it.
Where is one of the world's largest Ferris Wheels? In London, of course! This month we offer you information about the Eye of London.
Why not throw a new twist into a summer party by adding your favorite Brit Coms characters. We have an article that will give you some suggestions on how to accomplish this and make your party an event your guests won't soon forget.
And at your party, perhaps some Crab and Avocado Salad will be nice to serve. We give you the recipe for this as well.
Enjoy the remaining summer days and make memories for your family and friends!
The Tea Times Newsletter Staff
1
They Say It's Your Birthday!
Do you share a birthday with any of these people?
August 13, 1899
Alfred Hitchcock – director
August 14, 1968
Halle Berry – actress
August 17, 1920
Maureen O'Hara – actress
August 31, 1945
Van Morrison – singer
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The London Eye
It's summer! What better time to read about one of the world's largest Ferris Wheels.
The London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel, is the tallest (135 meters (443 ft)) Ferris wheel in Europe, and has become the most popular paid tourist attraction in the UK, visited by over 3 million people a year.
At the time it was erected it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until it was surpassed by the Star of Nanchang (160m) in May 2006, and then the Singapore Flyer (165m) on February 11, 2008. However, it is still described as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" (because the entire structure is supported by an A-frame on one side only) by its operators.
The London Eye is located at the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in London, England, between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The site is adjacent to that of the former Dome of Discovery, which was built for the Festival of Britain in 1951. The nearest London Underground stations are Waterloo and Westminster.
Design and construction
Designed by architects David Marks, Julia Barfield, Malcolm Cook, Mark Sparrowhawk, Steven Chilton and Nic Bailey, the wheel carries 32 sealed and air-conditioned passenger capsules attached to its external circumference. Each capsule holds approximately 25 people, who are free to walk around inside the capsule, though seating is also provided. It rotates at 26 cm (10 in) per second (about 0.9 km/h (0.5mph) so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes. The wheel does not usually stop to take on passengers: the rotation rate is so slow that they can easily walk on and off the moving capsules at ground level. It is, however, stopped to allow disabled or elderly passengers time to embark and disembark safely.
The rim of the Eye is supported by tie rods and resembles a huge spoked bicycle wheel, and was depicted as such in a poster advertising a charity cycle race. The lighting for the London Eye was redone with LED lighting from Color Kinetics in December 2006 to allow digital control of the lights as opposed to the manual replacement of gels over fluorescent tubes.
Mace were responsible for construction management with Hollandia as the main steelwork contractor and Tilbury Douglas as the civil contractor. Consulting engineers Tony Gee and Partners designed the foundation works while Beckett Rankine designed the marine works. The wheel was constructed in sections which were floated up the Thames on barges and assembled lying flat on piled platforms in the river. Once the wheel was complete it was raised into an upright position by a strand jack system, being lifted at 2 degrees an hour until it reached 65 degrees. It was left in that position for a week while engineers prepared for the second phase of the lift. The total weight of steel in the Eye is 1,700 tonnes (1,870 short tons). The project was truly European with major components coming from six countries: the steel was supplied from the UK and fabricated in The Netherlands by the Dutch company Hollandia, the cables came from Italy, the bearings came from Germany, the spindle and hub were cast in the Czech Republic, the capsules were made by Poma in France (and the glass for these came from Italy), and the electrical components from the UK. (Mann, Thompson, Smits, 2001)
Each of the 32 capsules holds approximately 25 people.
History
It was formally opened by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at 20:00 GMT on December 31, 1999, although it was not opened to the public until March 2000 because of technical problems. Since its opening, the Eye, operated by Merlin Entertainments but sponsored by British Airways, has become a major landmark and tourist attraction. By July 2002, roughly 8.5 million people had ridden the Eye. It had planning permission only for five years, but at that time Lambeth Council agreed to plans to make the attraction permanent.
Since 1 January 2005, the Eye has been the focal point of London's New Year celebrations, with 10-minute fireworks displays taking place involving fireworks fired from the wheel itself.
In 2006 the Tussauds Group bought out the other two joint owners, British Airways and the Marks Barfield family (the lead architects). Following Merlin Entertainments purchase of the Tussauds Group in 2007, it now owns 100% of the Eye. British Airways continued its brand association, but from the beginning of 2008 the name 'British Airways' was dropped from the logo.
During the bidding process of the 2012 Olympic Games, the London bid organisers announced the Olympic emblem would be attached to the Eye for the duration of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
In August of 2007, it was announced that London Eye could be temporarily renamed "The McCartney Eye" after Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles. The renaming would coincide with the release of a McCartney related DVD set titled "The McCartney Years".
On 5 June 2008 it was announced that 30 million have ridden the London Eye since its opening in March 2000.
Financial controversy
On May 20, 2005, there were reports of a leaked letter showing that the South Bank Centre (SBC) - owners of part of the land on which the struts of the eye are located - had served a notice to quit on the attraction along with a demand for an increase in rent from £64,000 ($126,016) per year to £2.5 million ($4,922,103), which the operators rejected as unaffordable.
On 25 May 2005, London mayor Ken Livingstone vowed that the landmark would remain in London. He also pledged that if the row were not resolved he would use his powers to ask the London Development Agency to issue a compulsory purchase order. The land in question is a small part of the Jubilee Gardens, which was given to the SBC for £1 ($1.97) when the Greater London Council was broken up.
The South Bank Centre and the British Airways London Eye agreed on a 25-year lease on February 8, 2006, after a judicial review over the rent row. The lease agreement meant that the South Bank Centre, a publicly-funded charity, would receive at least £500,000 ($984,484) a year from the attraction, the status of which is secured for the foreseeable future. Tussauds also announced the acquisition of the entire one-third interests of British Airways and the Marks Barfield family in the Eye, as well as the outstanding debt to BA. These agreements gave Tussauds 100% ownership of the Eye and resolved the debt from the Eye's construction loan from British Airways, which stood at more than £150 million ($295,325,048) by mid-2005 and had been increasing at 25% per annum.
Critical reception
Sir Richard Rogers, winner of the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize, wrote of the London Eye in a recent book about the project,
The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That's the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London.
Writing for G2 in an article from August 2007, Steve Rose described the Eye as follows,
The Eye... exists in a category of its own.... It essentially has to fulfill only one function, and what a brilliantly inessential function it is: to lift people up from the ground, take them round a giant loop in the sky, then put them back down where they started. That is all it needs to do, and thankfully, that is all it does.
Predecessor
A predecessor to the London Eye, called the "Great Wheel of London", was built in Earl's Court in 1895 and was capable of carrying 1,600 people. It closed in 1906, and was demolished in 1907.
www.wikipedia.org
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Tea News Bits
August Programming
Sherlock Holmes returns on Monday, August 4 at 9:00 p.m. with "The Blue Carbuncle." You can catch Sherlock Holmes during August on Sunday, August 10, 17 and 24 at 8:00 p.m., and on Monday, August 11 and 18 at 9:00 p.m.
America's Ballroom Challenge returns on Saturday, August 9, 16, 23, and 30 at 7:00 p.m. We know you all enjoyed this program by the number of households that watched.
Join us for the Summer Fun programming during the month of August! Beginning on Sunday, August 10 at 6 pm we have the Hot Dog Program, followed by Sandwiches That You Love at 7 pm. Tuesday, August 12 brings us Hershey Park Sweet Memories at 8 pm followed by Pennsylvania Diners and Other Roadside Restaurants at 9 pm. On Wednesday, August 13 enjoy The Ice Cream Show at 9 pm and then Shore Things at 10 pm. Flea Markets airs on Thursday, August 14 at 8 pm and Great Old Amusement Parks at 10 pm. MPT-produced Eatin' Crabs is back on Wednesday, August 20 at 8 pm and at 10 pm watch the Program about Unusual Buildings and Other Roadside Stuff. All of these are fun programs to watch and reminisce with.
We also know you loved the Jane Austen Masterpiece Theatre productions. Part One of Sense and Sensibility returns on Sunday, August 10 at 9pm. Part Two airs on Sunday, August 17 at 9 pm.
From August 25 through August 28, 8 -10:30 p.m., join MPT for the PBS coverage of the Democratic Convention.
What does that mean?
We asked and you responded! In the July edition of the Tea Times, we asked if anyone knew the definition of the word "barnpot." While apparently the spelling was incorrect (we had equal responses saying it's balmpot or barmpot), the meaning is ringing loud and clear. It means "silly, " "crazy," or "foolish." And when it comes to Onslow, that's right on the mark!
We were corrected about our spelling of the phrase "right pillick." It's "right pillock." Many apologies for this error!
Drop us a line at tealady@mpt.org if you have a term you would like explained and we'll try to list several every month to try to clear up the confusion!
Unusual Teapots
We asked if anyone had an interesting tea pot of which they would like to share a photo.
This tea pot was given to K. Hamilton of Manassas, Virginia last year on her birthday which is July 4!
Graffiti 'vandal' paid to deface Albert Square
An artist paid by the BBC to make the set of Eastenders look more authentic was actually a graffiti gang leader, a court heard yesterday.
Andrew Gillman, 25 of Wandsworth Common, was the "main mover" of the DPM Crew as it carried out graffiti attacks on trains and stations in Britain and during cross-Channel expeditions, Southwark Crown Court was told.
Six months ago he went to work for the BBC under a false name, Eddie Jones, after producers of Eastenders decided to decorate the set, based in Elstree, Hertfordshire, with some genuine graffiti.
His handiwork was put on locations around Albert Square including the stall outside Kathy's Café, Beale's fish and chip shop, Phil Mitchell's workshop, the Argee Bhajee Indian restaurant, and the entrance to Walford East Tube station.
It featured the name of his gang, DPM, his own tags, Neas and Mood - tributes to dead graffiti artist James Dutka, the court was told.
David Durose, for the prosecution, said: "From 2004 up until the defendants' arrests in 2006, this group, who called themselves the DPM Crew, caused frequent and substantial damage to trains, railway rolling stock and other infrastructure."
Although the gang was mainly active in south London there was evidence of acts of vandalism in Southport, Liverpool, Manchester and during a weekend on the private East Somerset railway line and on the Sunderland metro system, he said. Paris and Amsterdam were also targeted by the gang.
Gillman and seven others have already admitted conspiracy to cause criminal damage. But Paul Stewart, 26, from Lewisham, denies conspiracy to commit criminal damage between January 1, 2004, and June 28, 2006.
His trial continues.
www.thisislocallondon.co.uk
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If you are having a party and looking to do something a little different, here's what others are doing to blend a party with your favorite Britcom character!
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Tips for Fun & a 'Fancy Dress' Do
By Sheela Kadam
Picture the scene...Basil serves Hyacinth a sherry in the parlor while a noisy rabble of Vikings demand spam at the buffet table. The guest DJ is Mr. Humphries spinning Britpop hits and Del Boy's chatting up Miss Brahms in the corner while Rose and Father Ted strut their funky stuff on the dance floor. There's an English RAF soldier hiding in the pantry and the Health Inspector's stopped by to track down a Norwegian Hamster on the loose in your kitchen.
No, these aren't excerpts from the latest PBS Britcom documentary. These surreal Britcom scenes - and many more - could play out for real in your own home if you theme your next fancy dress party around your fave British Comedy characters!
British sitcoms, with their casts of colorful characters simply lend themselves to party themes - so if you are a Britcom fan who loves to entertain, here are some ideas to make your next party a truly fab event that your guests will talk about for ages.
Having grown up in England, I miss the type of social life I had there, the get-togethers, frequent dinner parties (eating out was a luxury!) and the endless social whirl, darling. Not that I came from an upper class background, or anything...it's just that, well, you've got to hand it to the Brits. They know how to throw a party, and have a right good knees-up, whatever the age, class or background.
We Brits love to dress up and that led to us dreaming up some very creative fancy dress party ideas - ideas that would still work today. Yes, we did Vicars & Tarts, James Bond, Famous People Fancy Dress, Murder/Mystery etc....but my fondest memories are those with comedy-related themes. One in particular was an 'Allo 'Allo themed party at a friend's house at a time when that particular sitcom was all the rage in England and was also a show in London's West End. Now listen very carefully, I shall say this only once! Among the guests were uniformed soldiers galore, French waitresses, Resistance girls, a Herr Flick & Helga, various British airmen, LeClerc in various disguises and the piece de resistance was a couple of our girlfriends dressed as The Pantomime Cow! Not to be outdone, I was a Resistance girl on the outside (and a French Waitress underneath!!). Everyone had to speak in silly French accents, Mother was in bed upstairs, cafe music was playing downstairs and guests were served Beaujolais, bistro-style food and naughty French pastries for dessert.
For a small gathering, how about a Keeping Up Appearances Party? You'd have to get Richard to keep an eye on Rose and The Vicar, and for goodness sake, don't put Daisy in charge of the food - unless you like beer, bacon butties and salt & vinegar crisps!
For larger affairs, ask guests to dress as their favorite Britcom character and have fun guessing all their various identities. Have a prize for best costume to encourage people to come dressed, or you could organize a talent show as part of the festivities!
Of course you could always take the loony route...go all out and have a Monty Python party! Here's one theme that you can really have fun with - there are a myriad of characters to choose from: Mr. Gumby, Bicycle Repair Man, The Suicidal Chef (holding a grubby fork), Mr. Teabag from The Ministry Of Silly Walks, The Man from The Wilderness as the MC, and of course, nobody expects THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!! Particularly topical at the moment would be a Holy Grail party, given the popularity of Eric Idle's hit musical Spamalot, based on the classic film, and currently playing on Broadway.
Here are some pointers to success for party planners:
- If propriety is a consideration, remember that you won't have any control over your guests' choice of costume, and generally, the older the Britcom, the less politically correct it is.
For successful fancy dress parties where everyone can join in/make costumes on a budget, choose a general theme or a Britcom that includes many characters such as 'Allo 'Allo. Blackadder might seem like a good theme, but remember that period costumes are more difficult to procure. Be warned! A Keeping Up Appearances party for a small crowd might result in many Hyacinths in your living room. Not a pretty sight, and could be quite alarming - particularly if they're all blokes.
- Tie the food/drink to the theme e.g. French food & wine for an 'Allo 'Allo bash, Gourmet Night for a Fawlty Towers fracas, elegant canapés for a Hyacinth soiree, army rations for a Dad's Army knees-up and LOTS OF CHOCOLATE for a Vicar of Dibley get-together. Chocolate fondue, perhaps?
- Think about the type of music you'll be playing - this will really set the mood of the party.
- Have fun with the 'greeters' and 'wait staff' - imagine Hyacinth at the door, imploring everyone to remove their shoes, and DO mind the wallpaper, dear! Onslow would make a great valet and having Basil and Manuel in charge of the food would be an absolute scream.
And remember! Support Britcoms on your local PBS station. Ask the volunteer coordinator if it's OK to dress up as Comedy Characters when you and your group are manning the phone banks during British Comedy Night. Note: this can sometimes backfire. Some years ago, when we dressed up for the Python Marathon Pledge drive at KERA-Dallas, the crew were so enamored that they made us sing the Spam song. Live. On-Air. Oh, the things we do for PBS!
On a final note...have fun in this, your celebration of the spirit of classic British Comedy - great writing, fabulous characters and costumes and rib-tickling situations. Good-hearted laughter truly is the best medicine and one of the most enjoyable of stress relievers. Through the ages, in its various forms, British humor has kept us going when the going gets tough.
So go on, have a giggle this Saturday night, and pass me another sherry, Onslow!
The Insider, June 2005
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EU gives up on 'metric Britain'
European Union commissioners have ruled that Britain can carry on using imperial measurements such as pints, pounds and miles.
Europe's Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen said: "There is not now and never will be any requirement to drop imperial measurements."
The decision will not affect current law on metric measurements, but means imperial equivalents can be used too.
It follows years of wrangling between London and Brussels over metrication.
The commission has kept extending the deadline for the UK to complete the full transition to the metric system, with the most recent deadline being 2010.
This would have meant setting a deadline for ending the traditional delivery of pints of milk - and the sale of pints of beer in the UK's pubs.
Every one of the UK's road signs would have had to be changed from miles to kilometres - a move which opponents warned would be both expensive and confusing.
But it was the move, begun in 2000, to make the UK's market traders sell their produce in kilograms rather than pounds and ounces which caused outrage among traditionalists.
Sunderland grocer Steve Thoburn inspired the "metric martyr" movement with his defiance of the order to abandon the imperial measurements.
In 2001, he was convicted for having weighing scales which had only imperial measurements.
He died unexpectedly from a heart attack three years ago and, while the campaign he founded failed to win traders the right to ignore metric weights altogether, it has brought some results.
Under the plans which have now been scrapped, even displaying the price of fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces would have become grounds for a criminal prosecution.
Mr. Verheugen's role includes trying to improve the EU's reputation in member states - and in an interview with the BBC, he admitted the EU had been making itself unpopular on an issue that did not really matter.
"I organised a huge consultation, and the result was that industry told us there was no problem with the existing system.
"I want to bring to an end a bitter, bitter battle that has lasted for decades and which in my view is completely pointless. We're bringing this battle to an end."
However, campaigners on both sides of the debate have played down the significance of the announcement.
John Gardner, director of the pro-imperial British Weights and Measures Association, said: "I've seen the European Commission statement and what they're saying is it will be allowed to use imperial measurements as additional information.
"We think that the European Commission statement is extremely misleading. From our point of view the situation hasn't changed and the campaign goes on.
"If a trader tries to conduct his business in just imperial measurements that will be illegal."
The UK Metric Association said the statement does not mean that traders can go back to weighing and pricing in imperial measures, and it will be "business as usual."
Chairman Robin Paice said: "While we regret this proposal to prolong the current muddle of metric and imperial units, it will only delay but not stop the inevitable move toward all-metric shopping.
"Many of the big supermarkets have already stopped giving obsolete imperial prices, and we expect this trend to continue. There is no question of going backwards."
Science and Innovation Minister Ian Pearson said he welcomed the commission's proposal.
"This shows that the commission has listened to our views and reorganised the strong arguments that we've made for maintaining dual metric and imperial labeling and the right for the UK to decide on the future use of pints and miles," he said.
"We know how important this is to the British people and are grateful for the commission's support for this use to continue."
The UK first mooted plans to convert to an all-metric system in 1965.
That led to generations of schoolchildren being promised that they would be the last ones who would have to learn two different systems.
www.news.bbc.co.uk
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Becoming Jane Austen
The True Love Story That Inspired
the Classic Novels
by John Spence
Part of a continuing series.
Temperamentally the Austens were not what Susannah was looking for as correspondents. They were too rational and philosophical, too unemotional for her taste, and she was too sentimental and too much given to discontent for theirs. George replied to her first letter because Cassandra was in London with her sister Jane, who had jut had her first child. Near the end of the letter George sends his love and tells Susannah that his sons are well, "and what will surprise you, bear their mother's absence with great philosophy: as I doubt not they would mine and turn all their little affection towards those who were about them and good to them: this may not be a pleasing reflection to a fond parent, but is certainly wisely designed by Providence for the happiness of the child."
Jane Austen
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George took a bemused, unsentimental view of children and delighted in the disparity between a parent's emotional expectation and the rational observation of the reality. He attributes the "great philosophy" of his three, four and five year old sons to the design of Providence, but he and Cassandra, themselves so philosophical and so impatient with people who were not, had perhaps already taught the children to follow their example.
Susannah herself might have benefited from a lesson or two. She was a complainer. In her next letter she moaned about not having pleasant neighbours, and Cassandra, back home from London, replied briefly but not unsympathetically: "Indeed my dear sister I do most sincerely pity your lonely situation, should have been most happy had fortune placed us in the same neighbourhood." But fortune hadn't, so that was that.
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Tea Advisor
Aspects of Tea Production
The Americans had developed fast sailing ships as privateers during the war against the British of 1812. These had sleek lines, a sharp bow and lots of sail. (A captured American privateer was used as a model for the British opium clippers that sailed between India and China. The first of these was the Red Rover, which was launched in 1829. Its captain, William Clifton, who had copied the design of the privateer Prince de Neufchatel, received £10,000 ($19,698) from the Governor-General of India for speeding up the opium run to Canton.) From these privateers the Americans developed the first tea clippers. The Rainbow, launched in 1845, made the journey from New York to Canton in 102 days, knocking sixteen days off the previous record. In 1849 the Sea Witch cut the time to seventy-four days. The repeal of the British Navigation Laws in 1849 allowed American ships to carry tea direct from China to Britain. The first American clipper to carry tea from China to London was the Oriental, which made the journey from Hong Kong in ninety-seven days. This was three times the speed of the lumbering East Indiaman. There was a furore in London, and a determination to rival the Americans.
The 1860s were the great days of the tea clippers. During the 1850s the British had mastered the building techniques developed by the Americans. The Americans themselves had more important uses for their ships, as they were enmeshed in a civil war. The opening up of the Treaty Ports made the races more interesting, for tea could be taken from the port of Foochow, close to the tea fields, immediately after it had been plucked and manufactured. Large sums were wagered on which would be the first boat back to Britain. The most famous race was in 1866, with forty entrants, which ended in a dead heat between the Ariel and the Taeping.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought the races to an end, for it made the trade viable to steamships. There had been a few slow steamers on the China trade previously, but they were not efficient, for they had to provide space for large quantities of fuel. The Suez Canal route had its own coaling stations en route, which gave steamers the advantage over the clippers sailing around Africa. The last clipper race was in 1871.
One of the last clippers to be constructed was the Cutty Sark, launched in 1869, now on display at Greenwich, in London. It is interesting to see how tightly the chests of tea were packed in, both to make maximum use of the limited space and to prevent the cargo shifting; and extraordinary to realize that such a small ship might carry a million pounds of tea.
Tea | By Roy Moxham
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Mystery of the Month
What Is Your Guess?
Case One
A stranger barges into a house where two small children wait alone for their mother to come home. The children are scared, but the stranger doesn't seem to notice. Instead, this individual makes the children play games they don't want to play. Eventually the stranger leaves but, surprisingly, the police are not summoned.
The Mystery
Who is the individual and who made him famous?
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Clues
- The individual arrives wearing a hat, gloves, a bow tie and fur coat.
- The individual brings two Things to the house.
- The individual likes to play, even on a cold, cold, wet day.
- A famous Dr. brought him to life.
- The individual speaks in rhyme.
Case Two
A car pulls up the driveway of Mr. and Mrs. Stone. A stranger gets out of the car and rings the doorbell. Mrs. Stone peeks through the curtains and yells for her teenage daughter Vickie to stay upstairs. Mr. Stone opens the door and he and the stranger talk in hushed voices. The stranger is let inside and asks for Vickie. As Mr. Stone goes to get the girl, Mrs. Stone starts to cry.
The Mystery
Who is the stranger and where does he plan to take Vickie?
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Clues
- Mr. Stone told the stranger to take care of Vickie.
- Mrs. Stone cautions Vickie to be careful.
- Mr. and Mrs. Stone can't believe this is happening.
- It is May and Vickie is a senior in high school.
- Mr. and Mrs. Stone take a picture for posterity's sake and tell Vickie they'll see her at midnight.
Be sure to check the September 2008 edition of the Tea Times for the answers
Answers to July Mysteries:
Case One: He is a plumber who has just unclogged a drain.
Case Two: Winnie the Pooh lives in the Hundred Acre Wood.
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England's Calendar of Events | August
Robin Hood Festival
July 28-August 3
Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre
In honour of its most famous outlaw, Nottingham holds an annual Robin Hood Festival in Sherwood Forest. It kicks off in customary style with the Sheriff of Nottingham and his cronies attempting to put a stop to the event. Throughout the week visitors are entertained by jugglers and jesters, strolling minstrels and street theatre performers, a falconer and experts in medieval combat. No Robin Hood Festival would be complete without archery and, down by the Major Oak (whose massive branches are now supported by crutches), costumed longbow archers are on hand in full costume to demonstrate their skills and give visitors a chance to test their prowess.
www.whatsonwhen.com
Moor Music Festival
August 7-9, 2008
High House Farm
The Moor Music Festival brings live music and festival fun to High House Farm in Addingham Moorside in the Yorkshire Dales. Three main stages host live music from all genres with performances by bands and DJs including Utah Saints, The Long Blondes, Forward Russia, Tim Sheridan, Audiojack, Paul Woolford and Eddie Temple Morris. Late-night sounds are provided by the Headset Disco. As well as the multi-media cinema lounge there is a VW show and shine competition and a kids' activity tent with workshops building up to a lantern parade on the Saturday. Camping is included.
www.whatsonwhen.com
Rath Yatra Chariot Festival
August 10, 2008
Victoria Square
Birmingham now hosts its own impressive version of the traditional Hindu Rath Yatra festival. Chariots devoted to Lord Krishna's most merciful incarnation make their way to Victoria Square for a huge vegetarian feast and entertainment. This festival has its origins in Jagannath Puri on the Bay of Bengal, and for millennia the chariots of Lord Jagannath have rolled through that town. Throughout the year Lord Jagannath is worshipped in a temple which, at 200 feet high, dominates the city. Once a year the idol leaves his temple for the streets to enjoy a ride on the Rathyatra chariots and around a million people participate in the procession. Birmingham's version is scaled down, but still pretty impressive, as well as being very important for the city's huge Asian population.
www.whatsonwhen.com
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Papaya and Avocado Crab Salad
If you aren't in the mood for crab, why not try shrimp?
Ingredients
- 1 poblano chile, halved and seeded
- 1 medium jalapeño pepper, halved
- 1 cup diced peeled papaya
- 1 cup diced peeled avocado
- 2/3 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 6 (6-inch) pitas, split
Preparation
- Preheat broiler.
- Place chile and pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined broiler pan; flatten with hand. Broil 10 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 10 minutes. Peel and finely chop; place in a large bowl.
- Add papaya and next 7 ingredients (through garlic); toss gently to combine. Serve with pitas.
www.myrecipes.com
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Afternoon Teaisms
Rhymes and Wits
Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
What is now proved was once only imagin'd.
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Source: Quotationary by Leonard Roy Frank