Around London in 80 days
In these uncertain times, I need a lifeline and a horizon so I have — somewhat arbitrarily I’ll admit — set a date. April 1st will be my horizon ; my lifeline will be the 80 days separating me from it.
And as I cannot go around the world right now, I give you A Mad Belgian’s “Around London in 80 Days” : eighty impressions of London, eighty stories, places, thoughts from my experience of this wonderfully mad and maddening city.
Day 65: Scones
“A spoonful of sugar, that is all it takes, it changes bread and water into tea and cakes”
I often think about this Mary Poppins quote when sitting down for a cup of fancy tea and a deliciously warm freshly baked scone. Oh, the taste of clotted cream and raspberry jam and the endless debate that comes with it: jam or cream first?
Cream first makes sense practically I suppose, the clotted cream’s stickiness acting like butter on a toast, as a comfy support for the jam to rest on. But someone told me once —and he was right— that there truly is something to be said for the feel of the cream in your mouth when it is on top.
Either way, tea and scones are a true British treat and I’ve got a particular fondness for one tearoom in London. Hidden away below an old Oriental & African Bookseller, right opposite the British Museum: the lovely “Tea & Tattle”. Their friendly staff will sit you at one of the tiny square tables and bring you all the delights that a Cream Tea requires. And if you’re feeling extravagant, you might even add some cake & finger sandwiches, and dive into a full Afternoon Tea.
