Read Online The Final Crumpet by Ron Benrey, Janet Benrey - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Ron Benrey, Janet Benrey
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TV camera projected a beam of light that made Flick blink. “We passed a gift shop when we came in,” he said. “Why don’t we begin there?”
Paco wanted to photograph Flick in front of the display of tea-drinking teddy bears, while Harry’s preferred backdrop was the bookcase full of tea-related novels, cookbooks, and music CDs to play during afternoon tea. Flick talked them into using the shelves that held more than two hundred kinds of loose and bagged teas produced around the world. Harry asked Flick to describe her favorite items on-sale in the shop.
“We sell all of the things our visitors need to brew and serve a perfect cuppa,” she said. “Teapots, tea filters, teacups, teaspoons, tea mugs, teakettles, tea cozies—the list goes on and on. But I’m most proud of our selection of teas grown on five continents. Our visitors can take home some of the rarest teas in the world and also some of the most unusual.”
“That looked perfect through the camera,” Paco said. “Ditto from my perspective,” Harry said. “Where’s the nervousness you promised us?”
Flick pointed to her throat. “Right here—waiting to come out if you ask me a question that I can’t answer.”
Paco turned to Harry. “She’s confused us with a real investigative reporting team. Why not tell her the truth—that we never ask tough questions?”
“Well— hardly ever,” Harry said to Flick, finishing with a big grin.
“We’ll start at the rear of the ground floor, with the Duchess of Bedford Tearoom,” Flick said.
“I trust the food is good,” Paco said hopefully.
“I’m sure that we can get you a scone or two to munch on—in the spirit of assisting editorial research.”
“I knew I was going to love this assignment.”
The next hour sped by for Flick. She escorted the two BBC visitors around the museum and spoke briefly for the camera at each location.
The Tea Garden:
“Yes, the walled-in patch of land beyond the tearoom is our tea garden. I wish that I could take you out there, but the police have asked us to keep the access doors locked.”
And: “The garden is heated by subterranean hot-water pipes. On a sunny winter day, it can feel almost tropical.”
And: “You’ll have to ask the police whether or not our tea garden is the scene of the crime. All I can tell you is that we found Etienne Makepeace’s body buried in the garden.”
The World of Tea Map Room:
“The large floor-to-ceiling maps show the major tea-growing regions of the world—which are mostly in Asia. The smaller panels depict the journey tea takes from Asia to our grocery stores.”
And: “Most of the antique maps on display came from the collection of Commodore Desmond Hawker—one of the great nineteenth-century tea merchants, a man who built a huge fortune importing tea to Great Britain. As you may know, the museum has undertaken to purchase the collection from the Hawker estate, following the recent death of Dame Elspeth Hawker.”
The Commodore Hawker Room:
“Commodore Hawker used much of his personal fortune to establish the Hawker Foundation early in the twentieth century. The Foundation subsequently established the Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum to celebrate the importance of tea in Great Britain, to honor the commodore’s memory, and to house the family’s many tea-related antiquities. The Commodore Hawker Room is an accurate reproduction of Desmond’s business office—down to the antique fountain pens that he purchased around 1890.”
The History of Tea Colonnade:
“This is the museum’s most popular gallery. Visitors love the large diorama that recounts tea’s long and fascinating history. Legend says that tea was first brewed as a drink nearly five thousand years ago in China. Whether or not that’s true, it’s indisputable that tea played a critical role in Europe’s and Britain’s-economic history.”
Flick watched patiently while Paco took several close-up shots of the antiquities on display
Paco wanted to photograph Flick in front of the display of tea-drinking teddy bears, while Harry’s preferred backdrop was the bookcase full of tea-related novels, cookbooks, and music CDs to play during afternoon tea. Flick talked them into using the shelves that held more than two hundred kinds of loose and bagged teas produced around the world. Harry asked Flick to describe her favorite items on-sale in the shop.
“We sell all of the things our visitors need to brew and serve a perfect cuppa,” she said. “Teapots, tea filters, teacups, teaspoons, tea mugs, teakettles, tea cozies—the list goes on and on. But I’m most proud of our selection of teas grown on five continents. Our visitors can take home some of the rarest teas in the world and also some of the most unusual.”
“That looked perfect through the camera,” Paco said. “Ditto from my perspective,” Harry said. “Where’s the nervousness you promised us?”
Flick pointed to her throat. “Right here—waiting to come out if you ask me a question that I can’t answer.”
Paco turned to Harry. “She’s confused us with a real investigative reporting team. Why not tell her the truth—that we never ask tough questions?”
“Well— hardly ever,” Harry said to Flick, finishing with a big grin.
“We’ll start at the rear of the ground floor, with the Duchess of Bedford Tearoom,” Flick said.
“I trust the food is good,” Paco said hopefully.
“I’m sure that we can get you a scone or two to munch on—in the spirit of assisting editorial research.”
“I knew I was going to love this assignment.”
The next hour sped by for Flick. She escorted the two BBC visitors around the museum and spoke briefly for the camera at each location.
The Tea Garden:
“Yes, the walled-in patch of land beyond the tearoom is our tea garden. I wish that I could take you out there, but the police have asked us to keep the access doors locked.”
And: “The garden is heated by subterranean hot-water pipes. On a sunny winter day, it can feel almost tropical.”
And: “You’ll have to ask the police whether or not our tea garden is the scene of the crime. All I can tell you is that we found Etienne Makepeace’s body buried in the garden.”
The World of Tea Map Room:
“The large floor-to-ceiling maps show the major tea-growing regions of the world—which are mostly in Asia. The smaller panels depict the journey tea takes from Asia to our grocery stores.”
And: “Most of the antique maps on display came from the collection of Commodore Desmond Hawker—one of the great nineteenth-century tea merchants, a man who built a huge fortune importing tea to Great Britain. As you may know, the museum has undertaken to purchase the collection from the Hawker estate, following the recent death of Dame Elspeth Hawker.”
The Commodore Hawker Room:
“Commodore Hawker used much of his personal fortune to establish the Hawker Foundation early in the twentieth century. The Foundation subsequently established the Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum to celebrate the importance of tea in Great Britain, to honor the commodore’s memory, and to house the family’s many tea-related antiquities. The Commodore Hawker Room is an accurate reproduction of Desmond’s business office—down to the antique fountain pens that he purchased around 1890.”
The History of Tea Colonnade:
“This is the museum’s most popular gallery. Visitors love the large diorama that recounts tea’s long and fascinating history. Legend says that tea was first brewed as a drink nearly five thousand years ago in China. Whether or not that’s true, it’s indisputable that tea played a critical role in Europe’s and Britain’s-economic history.”
Flick watched patiently while Paco took several close-up shots of the antiquities on display
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