When in Doubt Brew up!


 
My dad had a copy of the 'When in doubt, brew up' poster which he kept by his computer. It always made me smile. Of course, tea (and coffee, for me) plays a large part in our working day. The kettle is usually boiling in the staff kitchen ready for the next refreshment break.

As a hospitable Museum team, our guests are often offered a drink when they come for a meeting. Some ask for 'Nato standard' a military term for tea with milk and two sugars. Tea is certainly an established drink within the Armed Forces. This is shown in photographs within our collections showing soldiers making tea, whether in Gallipoli in 1915 or Burma in 1944. 

Interestingly, NAAFI (Navy, Army, Air Force Institute) has often been associated with tea. Infact, a few years ago Spar started selling NAAFI teabags to raise money for Help for Heroes. NAAFI canteens could be found anywhere around the world serving a little bit of home to service personnel abroad. Tea was often part of that comfort.

I don't share this fondness of tea as I am a coffee drinker, but I do appreciate the 'brew up' logo. Whenever I am planning or programming at work, I often put on the kettle to make a cuppa. It gives me time to stop and think, re-evaluate and work out what I am going to do next. I am sure soldiers have done exactly the same when they have heated water for a brew to think about what to do next. So folks 'when in doubt...brew up.' Seems a good mantra to follow.


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