I am lucky enough to have, via my Step-Dad, a Welsh step or "Bonus"-Grandma who is a total sweetheart. She is often found doing cryptic crosswords at warp speed. My other two grandmas, as much as I adored them, were both a bit lacking in the sense of humour department. Thankfully Bonus Grandma (let's call her BG for short) more than makes up for it and is an absolute hoot, intentionally and , occasionally, unintentionally too! BG is also a wonderful cook and , with no disrespect meant to anybody else, she makes the best apple crumble in the entire universe.
One of the things I associate very strongly with her is that we always, always , always drink tea from a cup and saucer, rather than from a mug. Prior to meeting her, my only experience of “cup and saucer” tea was on special occasions or if we were having some sort of afternoon tea at home. So, when I first met BG , aged about 11 or 12, I remember being so impressed by the fact that we were drinking tea from a cup and saucer without any special occasion being required. How fancy! This seed of decorum planted itself quite strongly into my mind and was responsible for a long phase of me only drinking tea in a similar way because it just seemed so effortlessly elegant. A few decades later, I am much more flexible and I’ll guzzle my tea from anything at all. When I do have tea from a cup and saucer though, I immediately think of BG no matter where I am. I can also confirm that over the decades since our first meeting, nobody has beaten her in the Apple Crumble stakes. They haven't even come close.
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