Back Again...

Last weekend it was my mom's birthday, so the whole family went to stay with my sister just outside London. We had a champagne breakfast, followed by the gift-giving. Then later on in the week, as part of the birthday celebrations, we all went to The Ritz for tea. That was so exciting. It was great to pretend to be a grown up for a while. It was all so proper and English! We were shown to our table, seated, and had our napkins put onto our knees for us! We were then asked what kind of tea we would prefer to drink, and a silver plate rack was placed on the table. Not long after that a plate of sandwiches was brought over. Now these sandwiches were perfect. They were crustless, and cut into identically sized fingers. There was chicken, ham, egg and cress, smoked salmon and also cream cheese and cucumber. They were all so delicious it was a good job they kept refilling the plate. I don't think I've ever eaten so many sandwiches! When we had had our fill of the bready treats, a plate of fresh scones was brought over. There were pots of jam and cream on the table already, which of course are the only accompaniment to scones. Again, the waiter kept on bringing over more and more scones...it would have been rude of us to turn them down, so just as we thought we could no longer eat any more, one more scone would magically appear on the plate!!! Of course during all this we had countless cups of tea, I'm sure i must have drunk about 8 or 9 cups. it's alright though, because I'm sure tea solves the world's problems, and i can always drink tea, no matter when or where!!! To finish off the very posh tea, there was a plate of miniature cakes. these unfortunately weren't refilled, so the four of us had to make-do with the 5 cakes we got! I really didn't think you could eat so much at tea-time! the whole experience was thoroughly enjoyable, and as I said, it was great fun trying to be all grown up and civilized, as supposed the wannabe student I really am!!!

I have to say though, after a week away, I'm glad to be back again. However, i'm really not looking forward to going back to work again tomorrow...it's going to be a shock to the system. I have enjoyed being a lady of leisure for a while. Aren't vacatioons just the best?!?