North Shields and the Geordie Shore

Yesterday I took the Metro train from Newcastle to North Shields for a stop of sorts on my ancestral home pub crawl. Except I wasn’t visiting a town where my ancestors lived; I was visiting real living relatives, my paternal grandfather’s cousins! I also didn’t stop in a pub, but I did drink some brandy, so I’ll give myself a pass.

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Drunken Wannabe Botanist: Mail Art 6

Another piece of Mail Art from my sister! This is her fourth submission; I challenge you to beat her total.

Spinnakers Honey Mussel Saison

In mid January, I went out for drinks at Spinnakers with Andrew and Lys. They gave me a late Christmas gift: a hardcover book about the Queen Mother. I love it, seriously. We also reminisced about the time they came over for cream tea (a form of English afternoon tea) and when Gractor sat on Andrew’s back.

Victoria Tea Festival: Feb 7-13, 2016

Victoria is an exceptional craft beer city, but it is also an awesome tea city! I have often mused that Victoria must have the most teahouses and teashops per capita in Canada. No doubt this stems from her very English past, an identity that is still very much alive in Victoria today, as evidenced by tea, the pub culture, the village system, the popularity of soccer, rugby, and cricket, and physical reminders such as the many English style buildings and street names. But enough about Englishness, and more about tea. This month, Tea Victoria is hosting the Victoria Tea Festival Revival from February 7th to 13th.