If there is one thing the English know how to do well, it is tea. As a subset of tea (and that is hot tea to you Yanks), what they do very well is cream tea. Tom and Rekha wanted to make sure we had had the experience.
They invited us over to their lovely house to have tea (or coffee for the slackers). There was the wonderful tea at a table set for seven, and then wave after wave of food—the quarter sandwiches (with the crusts cut off), the pastries, the jam, the cookies—there was more food than you could shake a stick at!
We also celebrated with them the good fortune of their daughter, Christina, having gotten into Oxford University! Getting into a particular university is a very competitive affair here in England! I dare say that Oxford is at the top with Cambridge a very close second. Their daughter is “reading” (American translation: “studying”) for her law degree. Their son, Jonathan, is very interested in theatre. I‘ll bet that perhaps one of the very best performances he ever gave was staying awake during the tea while the old fogeys were talking and chatting and looking as if he were interested!
