My workplace is, as you will no doubt have heard me complain vociferously if you follow me elsewhere, Cold. I am colder in general in Ireland than I was in Alaska, which Irish people keep telling me is due to it being a wet cold, but as I’m colder inside rather than outside, I think the fundamental problem is a combination of lousy insulation and a radically different idea as to what constitutes an acceptable indoor temperature.
(And the outside door, which I am unfortunately close to, just stuck open. Argh.)
Anyway, having been freezing my teeth off for weeks, I unrelatedly brought some hot chocolate in, and had it a couple of times, whereupon I observed that it had gotten Mysteriously Warmer in the stupid office. Given that it was afternoon both times, I genuinely couldn’t tell if it was that I had gotten warmer, or that the stupid office had actually warmed up.
So, grudgingly, I ran an Experiment. A simple experiment. The kind of experiment that involved finally remembering to bring in a couple of tisanes* that I like (cherry cinnamon, and lemon ginger), and drinking them when I got cold.
My friends, I must report to you that it was not the office warming up, but me.
I am simultaneously glad to have found a way to warm up, and somewhat resentful that the age-old idea of “drink something warm” is in fact an effective way to warm up, and that I apparently had to discover that fact for myself.
*tisane: a pretty word for herbal tea, which I use because I don’t like calling what few herbal teas I like to drink ‘tea’, because I do not like tea. At all. As many of you may know, I also don’t like coffee at all. The major difference between the two of them is that coffee can be rendered drinkable by sufficient application of milk and sugar, whereas absolutely nothing can redeem tea.