Tea Parties - a very civilized way to protest!

One of my favorite clients and I often have conversations about interesting things that normally I steer away from in the massage room - politics, religion and the like. She's one of those special people that you can discuss such things with since she's so open minded.

Today she brought up the fact that there was a local tea party where people were protesting the government's handling of the economy. So, in my head I'm thinking "That's pretty darned civilized" and I'm imagining people sitting around with their bone china cups and saucers, maybe having scones with jam or pastry, picked off a lovely cake stand, all sitting on lawn chairs under a marquee. And then someone standing up, teacup and saucer in hand and having a wee rant about stuff. Lovely. I want to go to one!

It wasn't until the end of the conversation that I realized that an AMERICAN tea party is WAY different from an Irish one. My vision was totally squashed when she said that the tea party had caused a traffic jam that even made the traffic report on the radio. "People with teacups out on the middle of the road? Ohhhhhh.....THAT sort of tea party - Bostony type of tea party!". (You can tell I haven't been watching the news lately!)

Gaelic lesson #33 "cupan eile tae", pronounced "cup-on ay-ya tay", meaning "another cup of tea"