Thursday, January 18, 2007

Tea in bed


The advantage of being married to a British male is that I get brought tea in bed every morning.*

Being a Midwestern American, I am not used to such solicitous treatment.

But I like it.

I suppose it is possible that not all male British partners have this vocation, but I know at least three, and all of them do this. (Good work, British mums, for training your boys so well!)

If you are lacking this service, don’t despair. What you need is


  1. a partner or a housemate

  2. tea and milk

  3. a training regimen (two or three days of drills so that said partner or housemate can practice getting up silently, making the tea and bringing it back just in time for you to wake gently to the world)
Should they prove resistant, simply refuse to do any of the essential yet invisible things one does in a household relationship (menu planning? lint removal? unclogging drains?), and tea should be forthcoming.

Having engaged in the hard work of domestic activism, we all deserve a cuppa in bed.


*Except when my family is around; then I bring him tea in bed....

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

Well, I'm very impressed. I do think that it may be a British characteristic (and training). Have you heard of such training working for American men?

Anonymous said...

I don't really care for tea, but it sounds like such a nice, quiet way to wake up. And how nice that you appreciate it! Too many little things go unnoticed in relationships.
My personal wake up routine involves a lot of small people getting into my bed to "snuggle". But then they all start wiggling and kicking, and talking way too loud for 6am!! I know I will look back on it fondly when they are older and they think that just wouldn't be cool. But that early in the morning, it is hard to appreciate it...