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Harbal
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South Yorkshire
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23-06-2021, 06:24 AM
1

A Teapot of Memories

When you lose someone close, and after time has faded the harshest of your grief, what you are often left with is a collection of bittersweet memories that bring a tear to your eye and a simultaneous smile to your lips. The recollection of the smallest of incidents can sometimes sum up a person far more evocatively than a thousand spoken words ever could. One such recollection often comes back to me.

My mother had been baby sitting our two very young children overnight, and we had returned home mid-morning, the next day. Almost immediately on entering the house, my wife turned on the kettle for a long anticipated cup of tea. Meanwhile, my mother had seated herself at the kitchen table and was part way into her summary of the night’s events. When my wife lifted the lid of the teapot, she made a little exclamatory noise. “What’s happened to the teapot”, she said. My mother then proudly explained how she had taken it upon herself to kill two birds with one stone. The birds she had killed were her false teeth and the teapot; the latter of which she had used as a receptacle in which to soak the former in bleach overnight. Drinking our tea was not the blissful experience we were fully expecting it to be. It took us a long time to get our teapot back to the heavily stained condition that we preferred.

My mother died about ten years ago; she was in her nineties. I do miss my mum when I think of her, and it does make me sad, particularly if I’m in one of those sentimental moods that sometimes overtake us. It is at those extra sad times that I make myself think of that teapot incident, because it’s memories like this that help me miss her a little bit less.
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23-06-2021, 06:37 AM
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Re: A Teapot of Memories

You're quite right Herbal! Memories bring back thoughts which can make us smile or make us sad. My father died at age 55 and my mother at 66. It makes me sad and to wonder why I have existed until 81. Hardly seems fair but I have such fond memories of them and the life I led as a child.
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23-06-2021, 06:37 AM
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Re: A Teapot of Memories

There is something magical about the Character of Characters, characterism is not universally granted, and is missed once recognised.
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23-06-2021, 07:43 AM
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Re: A Teapot of Memories

Thats a lovely story Harbal and quite surprising coming from you .
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Harbal
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23-06-2021, 07:54 AM
5

Re: A Teapot of Memories

Originally Posted by summer ->
Thats a lovely story Harbal and quite surprising coming from you .
The loveliness of the story might, in part, be easier for you to discern because you never drank tea made in a pot that, only hours before, had been hosting a pair of dentures, summer. But I'm pleased you found it lovely.
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23-06-2021, 08:26 AM
6

Re: A Teapot of Memories

Keeping to the tea theme, I remember that we had to buy a new electric kettle because when my Grandad stayed for the week, he got up early one morning and stuck it on the gas cooker.
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Harbal
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23-06-2021, 08:30 AM
7

Re: A Teapot of Memories

Originally Posted by Longdogs ->
Keeping to the tea theme, I remember that we had to buy a new electric kettle because when my Grandad stayed for the week, he got up early one morning and stuck it on the gas cooker.
You don't seem to get granddads like that these days, LD. And the world is a poorer place for it, in my opinion.
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23-06-2021, 08:35 AM
8

Re: A Teapot of Memories

Happy days Harbal...
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Harbal
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23-06-2021, 08:37 AM
9

Re: A Teapot of Memories

Originally Posted by Barry ->
Happy days Harbal...
Indeed, Barry.
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23-06-2021, 08:38 AM
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Re: A Teapot of Memories

Many years ago a friend was pleased that she had finally managed to persuade her elderly mother to switch from loose tea to teabags. The next time she visited her, however, she noticed her mother was back to using loose tea. "Why?" she asked. "Oh I couldn't get on with those fiddly little bags, having to tear each one open to put the tea in the pot. Much easier to use a teaspoon!", was the reply

But.... bleach, Harbal? Seriously, bleach?
 
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