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Getting your tea, the Marcel Marceau way

Stivandrer

Perambulating & Curious. Rep stravaiging offender
Time of past OR future Camino
I´ve got Camino plans until 2042,
- or till I fall flat on my face, whichever comes first !!
Many have lamented on tea being served in any other way but in smallish cups.
I simply have to alternate between coffee and tea at each pit stop, in order not to over-caffeinate!
This is what I do !
I am prostate operated upon and need stops every hour for, like an old steam locomotive to to get water in, while getting some out...And you must pay ½ Euro to just use the toilet, at least, that is the polite way ...
I absolutely adore the Cafe Cortado too, but I´ll get too many of those.
It took me some effort to get the sort of tea serving that I would like, and it involved a lot of mime !!
Miming makes the world go around and you´d have to be willing to look like a fool, but it is worth while.
I worked 18 years in a asylum seeker camp under the Red Cross and I have developed my very own sign language, some for every occasion!! Mime & smiling with your whole body and you have communication...

DSCF4516.JPG

I point to the long slender glasses that they have, indicate that I would like a tea bag and into that glass, please, and then under the steam pipe of the espresso machine, if you´ll be ever so kind!!!.
Now follows a pantomime of expressed horror from the staff at my suggestion, they are afraid the glass will crack, they even put a long spoon in the glass to avert disaster, eyes to the sky....Gringos !!
I egg them on, promise to pay for the damaged glass in case.... ( point to my palms of my hand )..come on, it´s a doddle!!
I even offer to pay double, if only...

In the end, however I end up with 400 ml of hot tea. We all know where the tea bag content comes from, it is not the best quality but the scraps at the bottom of the pile.... But this beverage can be the best you will ever need in the day of a wanderer.
- They will ask when you are going to take the bag up, but you answer that it is the bitterness that quenches your thirst and that´s how you like it...Notice now how the surroundings blend into oblivion...
Fine ladies at the other table sip at their minute cups with bags that have merely been dipped in the hot water, and off they go quickly, while I sink into deep satisfaction at the bowl that I have obtained.....

Then you take a picture , like I did , so next time you can present an example of your wishes.
Let´s make a movement !
 
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Indeed, Stivandrer is so right;
when all else fails the commonality is pantomime! After all you do not enter a bar/cafe to buy a used car. My worst mis-understanding
was ordering by pointing to what I thought would be a starter and a main plate and ending up with 2 different tureens of soup! Thus it was a very watery meal!
 
Example; day three on my first Camino; wanted two fried eggs, no habla Ingles, nais pas parlez Francais....

- took two paper napkins, rolled them up into two smallish balls, produced these as from my own backside, cackling like a mother hen, flattened them onto the zinck plate bar with a sizzling sound...
- ahh Senor, dos huevos fritos, con bacon ?

Needless to say I was starving and the locals was having a wee laugh !!
Reminds me, I really must learn more Spanish...
 
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...one day as I was ‘getting my tea’ by spangling tunes on la fete de Muguet a mime appeared amidst the flowers inviting me to dance.
Is there a photo? Je ne sais pas...

Toulouse, 1 May 2012.
sur le chemin ...
 
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Munro = Scottish for mountain ...Yes! to many mountains under the belt but none in Scotland.

Lovingkindness
pèlerine de la musique
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
If only, if only, the above posts were accompanied by videos!

On second thoughts I'm on the "quiet carriage" of an interurban train, so video + shrieks of laughter might get me thrown off :(
 
At last someone who is not wanting to import tea bags into Spain and realises tea bag content comes from the bottom of the pile. When in Spain do as the Spaniards do.:rolleyes:
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery

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