My friends frequently give too much credence to the aging process, undermining themselves. Saying “senior moment” if they forget a name or recent history is to surrender mid-battle.

Joe Biden has a teleprompter. You don’t!

Typing takes longer as I redo words or sentences. Software points out misspellings. That hurts, but far less than a ruler on the knuckles. Perfection is a dream, not a goal.

The English respond to life’s challenges, large or small, by putting the kettle on for tea. I know this from living there in the 1950s, courtesy of the U.S. Air Force. Happily married to an Englishwoman, family ties were strong. When funds and time allowed, we scooted to England on holiday and drank a lot of tea.

In May 1994, I wrote a paean to tea in Hampshire Life. A new generation of readers have grown up in 29 years. I came across my file copy last week. Perusing it reminded me of how tea has been an important part of my life for 70 years.

Hampshire Life sent along a photographer to picture my wife pouring lashings of hot tea from her best teapot. Sadly, millions of homes here lack a teapot, not knowing what they’re missing.

Electric kettles are de rigueur in the U.K. They’re popular in America now, which is a good thing, However, you need a teapot to make a decent cup of tea. To be clear, I’m talking strong English Breakfast tea, like PG Tips. A black tea that peacefully softens the day as it consoles your heart.

God’s answer to February.

In November 2022’s Harvard Health letter, Heidi Goldman quotes a U.K. study of a half-million middle-age people: 89% drank one or two cups a day of black tea and had 9% to 13% lower rates of death from heart disease or stroke. Need I say more?

My tea column listed me as a freelance writer, an early credit. Rising to the task, I told of how my bride-to-be, upon arrival in her former colonies, was served a cup of hot water with a teabag on the side. Unimpressed, she inquired about separating tea from boiling water. I’ve been trying to answer her query ever since.

OK, back to Hampshire Life.

The editors headlined my story “Worried? Worn out? Time to put the kettle on!” They’d picked up a theme from my mention of “Beyond The Fringe,” a 1970s review by Peter Cooke, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller. In a hilarious skit, their overbroad, sometimes in drag, pre-Monty Python characters had a stock answer as they reprised disasters in English history, from the 1066 Norman conquest to World War II.

A cheery voice intoned, “I’ll just put the kettle on then.”

This new writer found that referencing a book or short story filled out your text with the benefit of making one appear literate. I continued: “In J.D. Salinger’s tender love story, “For Esme — with Love and Squalor” we read of a precocious girl’s encounter with a lonely American G.I. during WWII. The day was soaking wet and they had both sought refuge in a Devon tea shop; she boldly leaves her nanny and younger brother at their table to confront him: “I thought Americans despised tea, she said. It wasn’t the observation of a smart aleck but that of a truth-lover or a statistics-lover. I replied that some of us never drank anything but tea.”

Salinger’s poignant short story hit me hard. I think it rates among his best. Writers, poets, musicians and sensitive people in general easily identify. They place themselves inside the story — be it book, movie or audio. Esme serves as hero and reader, struck by wartime’s irredeemable losses. The rainy day harbor of a tea shop briefly conquered the world outside.

Blessed with a long life, I’m free with advice to near-seniors excited about new horizons: 1) Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today; 2) Traveling in your 60s is a breeze, by the mid-70s it begins to pale; 3) A surprise for your 80s is that your doctors have also retired. Always be friendly with the good folks at your nearest library. Travel via television. I’m spending this winter in Yorkshire with “All Creatures Great and Small.”

Finally, buy a teapot! Recipe follows:

Proper Tea by a husband

In America there’s a mystery

Just how to make a cup of tea?

Hotels, restaurants, caterers too!

Apparently, never have a clue.

 

First, boil the water free

Then warm a teapot.

Pour boiling over black tea

Or real tea — you have not!

 

Let it steep ye

For a minute or two.

Now, you’ve made tea

As the English do.

 

A little milk, a little sugar,

Perhaps a biscuit or a cake:

Life improved by this small pleasure

Is my cup of tea, and so easy to make!

 

Poet and columnist Jim Cahillane lives in Williamsburg. Columnist@gazettenet.com. jamesfcahillane.com.

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