Work is the curse of the drinking classes

I like tea, I do.

I like it with biscuits, with a scone, on its own.
I like it so much I have an entire cupboard full of the stuff: herbal, infusions, black, green, white - I like tea (I also like coffee, but it's not the same...)

Since starting work yesterday, I have developed a raging thirst for tea. I think in part it is because I am too scared to use the kettle and the strange water-container arrangement in my new staff base- and thus risk the wrath of the middle aged ladies who are my new colleagues should I upset the incomprehensible system - and so, apart from sipping water from a bottle I keep in my bag, I go thirsty for much of the working day. When I get home, the closeted tea-jenny in me comes out and the kettle is kept almost constantly warm due to afternoons and evenings filled with the brewing and consuming of tea.

Teaching is a thirsty business. Dusty rooms, talking into the void (or to students... mainly the void if the blank/quizzical expressions worn by the students are anything to go by...) and fear all make for a dry mouth. Teachers and lecturers generally seem to suffer from hellish halitosis as a consequence of this. Either that or people with halitosis are attracted to teaching and lecturing, I'm not sure which. Having a painfully fragile periodontal disposition myself, I am a keen slurper of sugar-free mints to maintain my oral freshness. Would that my new colleagues were as considerate...

Anyhow, in short, all is going well so far: I haven't got lost, said anything contradictory or inaccurate, insulted senior staff or cried in front of a class yet. Still, it's early days... but I am toasting my new employment status with tea(well, until I can get to the pub, anyhow): slainte!