Silly Lilly, Houses & Tea

Just a few stories to share with you...

Lilly Allen apparently thinks private schooling for her children is a waste of money and she would rather move to the catchment area of a good school. I am still trying to work out how she equates paying a premium on house prices in a good catchment area vs paying school fees, unless of course the two figures are substantially different!

Richard Hammond has made a mistake with his new house. Within 70 hours he decided the change in lifestyle would not suit his family. An expensive mistake, quoted at £40k. Well, that all depends on whether you think that people factor both stamp duty and agent/legal/removal fees into the price of a property accurately, in which case it is the seller who bears the costs!!

And, courtesy of a friend of mine,  I discover the International Standardization Organisation has a standardized method for brewing tea. I kid you not, ISO 3103! Go take a look for yourself. Go on. Oh all right, here it is...

• The pot must be white porcelain or glazed earthenware and have a partly serrated edge. It must have a lid that fits loosely inside the pot.
• If a large pot is used, it must hold a maximum of 310 ml (±8 ml) and must weigh 200g (±10g).
• If a small pot is used, it must hold a maximum of 150 ml (±4 ml) and must weigh 118g (±10g).
• 2 grams of tea (measured to ±2% accuracy) per 100ml boiling water is placed into the pot.
• Freshly boiled water is poured into the pot to within 4-6mm of the brim.
• The water must not be hard.
• Brewing time is six minutes.
• The brewed tea is then poured into a white porcelain or glazed earthenware bowl.
• If a large bowl is used, it must have a capacity of 380ml and weigh 200g (±20g)
• If a small bowl is used, it must have a capacity of 200ml and weigh 105g (±20g)
• If the test involves milk, then it can be added before or after pouring the infused tea.
• Milk added after the pouring of tea is best tasted when the liquid is between 65 - 80°C.
• 5ml of milk for the large bowl, or 2.5ml for the small bowl, is used.