This week I'll be mostly running out of tea

"I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea
and I think about leaving the house"
Albarn/Coxon/James/Rowntree 1994

This time last year when Checkers was closing down, we went over on their last day for a bit of legal looting.  The soft drinks aisle was full of hoodies loading their trollies with 2 litre bottles of coke at less than half price.

I was mostly interested in the tea.

I did a quick calculation, and checked the use-by date of every box of Assam they had left on the shelves.  Basically we'd have a year's supply, the last couple of boxes would be just within their use-by date, and it would cost the same as about 6 weeks worth of bog standard tea.  It was a no-brainer.  Wheel the trolley up to the shelf and push the whole lot in.

Here we are 12 months later.  The year's Assam supply ran out right on schedule a few weeks ago.  So we bought some more.  And now that has run out.  And we have to buy some more.

There's something to be said for committing to a year's worth of tea.  There's security in knowing there are plenty more boxes in the cupboard.  But there's a downside.  What if it turns out after a month or two that your tea is a bit dusty?  What if it turns out that the tea bags split more often than can be accounted for by accidental piercing with a tea spoon?  What if it turns out that one bag doesn't make a particularly good brew in a large mug without having to wring out every last drop of flavour?  Yeah, the problem is, you're committed now.

So although we've been caught out with no tea in the house twice already this year, I'm quite looking forward to the civilised experience of standing in the nicely spaced aisles at Waitrose, pacing up and down a bit, reading the back of some boxes and comparing some prices.  And not having to fight my way through the hordes of chavs down the soft drinks aisle on the way out.