27 Comments

As a Brit (though living in the US now), I can attest to the fact that half of what we do while British is make and drink tea.

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I think that’s a fairly worthwhile way to spend one’s life.

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As a born and bred American, living in American, my tea is called coffee.

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I think my window for becoming a coffee addict passed. I'm firmly in Camp Tea now. Maybe I should immigrate.

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Aug 14Liked by Robyn Ryle

Haha I came to the comments to say practically the same thing. I can confirm as a Brit, making and having a cup of tea is a legitimate activity and can happen as often as you like in any given day. Especially in the holidays!

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Oh, this is good to know. Making the first cuppa is really what gets me out of bed in the morning.

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I always gave myself about 2 weeks of doing nothing but reading non stop light fiction at the end of every semester because I knew that eventually I would get bored (or to put a positive spin--my body and brain would finally get rested) and then I would start to do things. Never as much as I hoped, but at least some of the things were on my to-do list. Often I would take out my novel that I worked on for twenty years), or my lecture notes (I had a friend who was constantly revising her lecture notes, so I would feel that I should at least give this a stab over the summer), and without fail this would cause me to go clean instead. Like the kind of cleaning where I took everything out of the kitchen cabinets and washed them. Again, I knew this was going to happen and had resigned myself that at least I could get some cleaning done. I think that if I had a substack at that point, probably I would have done that and to hell with the cleaning. So maybe it was a good thing for my husband's dust allergies that I didn't back then. Because now that I am "retired" and writing is my full-time job so I work 12 months of the year, it seems it has been years since those kitchen cabinets got cleaned, and instead, my distraction from writing has become writing my substack posts and reading and enjoying the substack posts by you and others. But now I promise, I am not going to read any other posts or make any comments until I spend at least 30 minutes editing the current novel...or starting on my daily post. Or maybe just stare out the window at the house finches chasing each other off the bird feeder. oh how I miss cardinals!

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My husband would be so happy if I turned to cleaning in this weird, in-between time! Gardening is much more likely for me, hence the poison ivy.

Oh, wow, there is no way I could edit lecture notes right after the semester ends, even though it's absolutely probably the best time to do it, when my sense of what worked and what didn't is still fresh in my mind. But I want to be done. I can barely make myself grade. The most I can manage is to make some notes on the syllabus for what I might want to change next semester.

Thanks as always for commenting!

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Apr 22Liked by Robyn Ryle

I don't understand college semesters/terms. How can you be done in April?

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I’m just lucky like that. Hanover has a weird system of two 14-week semesters (the second of which ended April 12) and then a month-long spring term in May, but I have a leave for that so I’m done until August, hurray, when are we having drinks on the patio?

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Apr 23Liked by Robyn Ryle

Soon. Checking weather for coming week.

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I would like an "end of semester" break! I think transition windows are totally to be expected before shifting gears. You should be taking time and not doing all the things and doing other things instead. I understand spending too much time thinking about another cup of this or that and setting up tracking sheets and systems. Other things are percolating. Give yourself time to just enjoy a bit of break before you dive in!

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Thanks, Amy. This all sounds right. I know on some levels the end of the semester will be like this, then I always manage to forget. I also try to remind myself that I'm not a machine. I don't have to be productive. If I accomplish nothing at all in a day, that's totally okay.

Everyone should have more breaks, definitely! And sabbaticals and just more time to rest.

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Apr 22Liked by Robyn Ryle

Sounds so very familiar! My list just continues to grow.

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It does that. Sometimes I add things after I've done them just for the satisfaction of crossing them off.

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Lounging, casually watching the birds bird-out, thinking about incidentals… that’s a pretty chill circle to loop around and around.

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I cannot complain.

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I also fondly remember the original Shogun—Richard Chamberlin played the Anjin. I am unaware of ever having seen this version’s Anjin before, and I am relieved that I am not the only one that hates his face. However, he sounds like Richard Burton, so that is some compensation.

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Oh, my gosh, Teri! This is exactly what my husband said--he sounds exactly like Richard Burton. Like someone told him, "Hey, just do a Richard Burton impression and it'll all be good." My husband is disturbed by the historical accuracy. A pilot on a British ship should be quite wiry--the rations weren't good, but they worked their asses off. Anjin is way too doughy. Also, they spent all their time in the tropical sun. He's too pale. too. I'd add that a navigator would not have an upper class accent like Richard Burton.

In sum, everything about the Anjin is wrong.

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I can forgive a multitude of sins for that voice. I am such a sucker!

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I watched the first episode. It makes no sense that this British guy is screaming in everyone’s face and still kept alive for no reason. While a baby is killed because his father spoke loud in meeting 😒

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It is certainly hard to watch that happen. It's hard to understand a culture where everyone seems to want to die, or maybe that's not accurate to the culture in this particular time and place but just bad writing?

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Apr 29Liked by Robyn Ryle

Doing nothing is underrated.

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Agree 100%.

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Apr 30Liked by Robyn Ryle

Enjoyed the ⭕️, you both are not alone anymore🤣😂👍💙 loved the article though. I think it embodies typical America. Nice to have a list though.🤩

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There is no upper limit to the amount of tea that can be consumed in a single day. :)

Also a big fan of flying around in circles and waiting for whatever will happen to happen...

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That is excellent news re the drinking of tea. It also provides a nice break to get up out of my chair to make my next cup of tea. In fact, pretty much everything about the tea-making and drinking experience is lovely.

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