Odd-tasting tea

Wednesday:

After eating too much at my regular Tuesday-night supper (18 PP worth!) my weight is up a little bit today and back over 75 kg, but I am determined to get it back down by tomorrow and forever. As I was saying to another blogger who was worrying about treats, you have to allow for little indulgences or you won't stick to the diet. But 18 PP is rather too much. I'm still a work in progress. Before that I had eaten exactly my 26 PP for the day -- of the last five days I had only gone over once, by 2 PP, which I think is excellent. Until last night, anyway.

I have been working on a little domestic puzzle for a while. When I have tea at my friend Caroline's house, it often tastes unpleasant. I didn't like to say anything -- although we are good friends I am spectacularly bad at that kind of thing -- but it was often a struggle to drink it. I continued accepting tea because it wasn't always bad. I assumed at first she was giving me a flavoured tea, like Earl Grey or Irish Breakfast; but no, she would ask me "normal tea"? so I ruled that out. Then I thought an odd brand; but I saw the packet recently and it was a brand I often buy. Also normal milk, so she wasn't getting unpasturised goat's milk or anything. I trust her to give me a clean mug! It was a mystery. Until the pieces all came together.

When family was visiting last week I was unpleasantly surprised to find coffee granules in my sugar bowl. Tim and I don't drink coffee, but my mother and brother do. I hate coffee, I even hate the smell. But coffee drinkers think nothing of using a spoon to scoop their instant coffee granules into their cup and then the same spoon to get their sugar, leaving behind some nasty brown grains.

Caroline is a coffee drinker. And I have sugar in my tea. So there you go, mystery solved.

Now, what do I do about it? I love sitting with a cup of tea, especially as we move into winter, and particularly now I am turning down any biscuits or other unhealthy food offered. But I don't like coffee-flavoured tea at all. I think I might be comfortable enough to jokingly mention it and ask for sugar straight from the bag instead of the bowl. The problem with that is, if I mention it she will know that I have been putting up with coffee-flavoured tea for years! I don't want her to feel bad. I am not a particularly shy or socially-anxious person, but I do not like being in the situation of making someone else feel bad.

OMG. The drains have been starting to get clogged with tree roots as they do every couple of years and the plumber just arrived with his "eel". I took him outside and he opened the drain and a huge amount of filthy water came pouring out (over one of his boots). When I say filthy, I mean it included lots of fully-formed poo as well as toilet paper. Rushing down the path and onto the lawn. And the smell! Well, you can imagine. It won't hurt the lawn, but I might ban the kids from going out there for a couple of days. I'm hoping the plumber will hose down the path a bit. The things those guys have to deal with! I'm not overly squeamish about human waste, I dealt with years of nappies, but the smell was pretty bad. I think I can still smell it, inside and right up the other end of the house. I hope the neighbours don't complain.

The moral is, don't wait until the toilets are glubbing and burping before getting your drains cleared.