“Alice would give anything, anything at all, to be lying in bed with Nick, waiting for a cup of tea. Maybe he got sick of making her cups of tea? Was that it? Had she taken him for granted? Who did she think she was, some sort of princess, lying in bed waiting for cups of tea to be delivered.”

“Maybe it is not important to go to bed together but get up the following day and make a cup of tea for the other?”

“No, she did not want to go to hospital. Yes, she would like a cup of tea. Only then did she begin to think rationally again.”

“I told her tea bags were just a convenience for people with busy lives and she said no one is so busy they can't take time to make a decent cup of tea and if you are that busy you don't deserve a decent cup of tea for what is it all about anyway? Are we put into this world to be busy or to chat over a nice cup of tea?”

“She gave in to a hankering for a cup of tea even though she knew that the idea of a cup of tea-sitting still, calmly sipping-was more appealing than actually sitting still and trying to calmly sip.”

“Usually she ordered a cup of coffee and a cup of tea, as well as a brownie, propping up her sadness with chocolate and caffeine so that it became an anxiety.”