Have you got a favourite mug?

very much so

You're welcome Sunflower!  I know exactly what you mean re the coal bunker, I don't co-habit well at all and always said that if forced into such a situation I'd need an old house with a priest hole I could escape into!  We've recently been moved into a huge open plan office at work (aarrgghh) and I'm constantly scoping the place out for potential 'coal bunkers' 

Thanks so much for explaining this to me - great message to have on a mug. One of the things quite a few of us seem to struggle with is being able to say 'please leave me alone'. I used to escape to a disused coal bunker as a child when I was sharing a bedroom - not cosy but lovely and peaceful. Tea is very good as a fabric dye which is probably why it stains mugs so well! 

One given to me by my nephews and niece.  It has a picture of them and then saying “Best Uncle.” 

I just wish you'd been able to see it in all its stained glory, hehe!  The words basically just echo how I feel when expectations are placed upon me.. especially if I'm in my 'safe place' (eg: snuggled on my sofa and shut away from the world) or comfort zone ;) 

Thanks so much for describing your mug. I am not sure what the slogan 'NOPE, NOT TODAY means as I have never heard it before. Could you explain it to me please as I would love to know! 

It's a sports direct sized one with NOPE, NOT TODAY printed on it :). And almost completely brown tea stained inside! 

I have known quite a few people at work who drink black tea and occasionally I have tried it. Not too bad if very weak. I would rather have tea black than with UHT milk which always tastes tainted to me! Does UHT milk taste odd to you? 

Oh no, that's a shame - can you describe it? 

Argh it won't post the photo of my mug?? :(

Names for the part of the spoon that joins the bowl to the stem: neck, shoulder, transition, curve, bend, bolster

I only started liking tea when milk was put in it.

In my early childhood my mother made tea, either black, or with lemon juice or with various red and darker juices.  Never with milk!!!  And my teeth were really stained!!!!

Then at a summer camp when I was eight.  They served tea with milk.  And I fell in love.  It was lovely.   From then on I always drank tea with milk.  But my mother never tried tea with milk to her dying day.

Sunflower said:

Milk in before or after?

There is a reason to put milk in before the tea when using a teapot.

The milk helps take the temperature down when the tea is  poured, so the very fine bone china will not crack and spill scalding tea.

I always used to insist on sugar before milk, milk before tea. 

And I always like tea in a proper tea cup with a saucer.  And using leaf tea.  Something civilised about the whole ritual!

I find not washing a cup between cuppas makes for a far more satisfying drink

In the days when all cups of tea were made in a tea pot, there were many who were of the belief that a teapot should never be washed.  Tea itself has anti-germ properties, and this together with the fact that boiling water is required to make a cup of tea ensures that there is little chance of nasty germs in th tea (well at least that is what I have convinced myself!)

Brilliant! I must listen to Hitch Hikers Guide again, it's a while since I've done so. 

How interesting - I didn't eat cheese at all as a child - found the taste revolting. When I was about 14 I accidentally ate some cheese and realised I liked it! Still can't eat xmas cake, xmas pudding or mince pies (broccoli and tomatos are fine). My daughter used to call broccoli 'tree' which was wonderfully descriptive! 

It always makes me think of the food dispensers that Douglas Adams wrote about in The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy...

...a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

I have now tried hot squash and it tastes just as delicious as it did 50 years ago!

Haven't been brave enough to try 'sludge' yet (I may test it on a small child first!)

Hate the smell of tea as well!  Interestingly though I never used to drink coffee either until about 15 years ago. Similar to you,  realised I'd better start drinking tea or coffee to be like sociable and fit in with the NTs like,  thought coffee was the lesser of two evils.  Took me about two weeks to go from nor liking it to liking it,  then soon progressed to really really strong coffee!  Also started liking dark chocolate and cheese at the same time.  Never got there with tea though!  Nor broccoli.  Nor tomatoes. 

I hated tea for the whole of my childhood. When I refused it my grandmother kept putting more and more sugar in it. I am shuddering remembering the taste now. I only managed to start drinking tea in my mid 20s when I realised I was expected to do this when visiting clients at work. Even now if someone accidentally put sugar in my tea I couldn't drink it. Do you ever try tea to see if your tastes have changed?