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Julia, your timing is brilliant! It's almost primary season here, and everyone I know is TERRIFIED or MAD AS HELL and INCREDULOUS that we could even be at this point in American democracy...

And how about the age range between our President and your Prime Minister!?! xxx Catherine

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In the decades since the movie we have given up taking action. In the UK at least, there's the feeling (and evidence) no-one out there is listening.

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Jan 10Liked by Julia Watson

I recently read a disturbing article about the threats to the insect population worldwide, and it’s potentially devastating effects on the food chain, but also on pollination and thus the entire ecosystem. Not sure if it was the New York Times or The Guardian. I’ll try to find it, in case you want some more depressing reading. I will admit, however, that I declined the roadside fried tarantulas in Cambodia!

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Could have been George Monbiot on the Grauniad.... Tarantulas not unlike crawfish or big prawns without a personal dresser

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Oh, dear! I wish I knew where and when this confusion originated: the photos you show are not High Tea, but Afternoon Tea! Afternoon tea came about when one of Queen Victoria's ladies decided she needed some sustenance between luncheon and dinner; the slice of bread and butter and cup of tea escalated into the sandwiches+scones+cakes. High tea, on the other hand, was the workman's evening meal - served earlier than the evening dinner of the posh folk, usually between 5:30 and 6:30, it consisted of a light main course, followed by bread as a filler, and scones, perhaps a slice of cake, depending on available cash and whether the lady of the house had been baking. I've been coming across this more and more recently; having had one granny who was afternoon tea, and one who was high tea, I grew up knowing the difference!

I've never knowingly eaten insects, but fairly sure I'd turn down a tarantula! (Yes, I know, a tarantula isn't a insect). But who knows? If you're hungry enough ... The real problem, though few will admit it, is that there are simply too many of us. As always, very interesting and informative!

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I could KICK myself! If course you're right. And even as I was writing the piece a gremlin at the back of my brain was saying Woohoo, wrong here! And I didn't pay attention. I KNEW that! After all, at weekends, my family lived off High Tea. We only ever had Afternoon Tea with maiden aunts.

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If I'm honest, it did seem strange that you had come out with it! I've done this sort of thing myself, so know how you feel! And just recently I've had so many people arguing with me about it - afternoon tea, misused words and points of grammar: my life in microcosm!

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