By Maranna Gabriel
Avoiding the January gray, and the dreaded perils of cleaning the fridge, I dusted off my pale face and set out on an adventure. And why not? It was to be High Tea at The Empress Hotel in Victoria, of course. Come walk with me.
I wandered past the Parliament Buildings with a totem pole….
along the inner harbour…
past a man who was moved to wear a crown by the BC Archives under a WWll statue...
who for some mysterious reason diplayed this message as he sat cross-legged...
to the Emily Carr statue on the hotel grounds with her monkey on her back…
to where the primulas are planted… or are these called cowslips?
past a grand fountain… and alongside the solarium...
to where a pianist sat and played a merry tune…
... drawn to the fire...
... only to have a white linen napkin swished onto my lap and where I was hovered over by a plethora of servers.
The hourglass timer tells me when the tea is weak, medium or strong.
The conversation quickly turns to lemon curd, this is the clotted cream, and this sandwich over here is made with Coronation Chicken and has curry. All terribly sensible. I was so interested they don't use a tea cosey, but rather the pot is placed over a candle in a ceramic container. Who knew? You heard it here first, don't forget. It was a wonderful tea.
The end. Except for the part about still having to clean the fridge.