next episode of the tea story, or at least i think this might be the final chapter, is a happy one: i have noticed most days that next to the hot water dispenser there is a covered cup, and when i went to investigate, i found a used teabag squatting wetly in it. further investigations reveal that, every morning, after the maid makes my dad his cup of tea with a big round bandage-like marks and spenser tea bag, she pours the tea out into another mug, stirs in sugar and leaves this out on the table. the first cup with the teabag she leaves near the hot water and puts a plastic cover on, because my mother had told her to remove the teabag promptly or the tea comes out too thick. my mother had also said that it's wasteful to throw away a teabag that has only been dipped once and quite quickly, out of which one can get more cups of tea. what, gentle reader, is the result of this double consideration of drinkability and economy? the teabag is put aside, and the second person who desires tea that day gets his cup made from the same morning teabag. which just proves you have to live in the kitchen to know what goes on at home. so now in the mornings i head for the hot water and make myself my cup of tea thus neither depriving my father and economising on behalf of the family. i always said i was a good girl.