The Husband was talking to my mum this morning while I was making lunch.
She was telling him how, as a child, one of her sisters had low blood sugar. She said that whenever her mum (my grandmother) took her and her 3 sisters out to town to go shopping, as soon as they arrived, they'd find the nearest café and order tea and cake all round – primarily for her sisters low blood sugar.
The Husband began to smile as mum continued telling him that when my brother and I were children, we did exactly the same thing i.e. Get to town, park the car, find the tea and cake.
We didn't even go into a shop first, tea and cake was top priority. She noticed The Husband, now laughing.
'So it's YOUR fault!' he laughed
'What is?' said mum
'It frustrates the hell out of me, we only have to park the car and she's already thinking about where to have tea and cake...we can't go ANYWHERE without tea and cake!'
It's true. By the time we've driven to town (30 minutes) I'm thinking 'cake' and if The Husband tries to pull me into department store on the way to the cafe, it all ends in tears.
It turns out my brother is exactly the same and my sister-in-law has identical frustrations to The Husband. My brother can't shop first, he heads for the tea and cake shop...it's simply tradition!
Until today I assumed the tradition started with our Mum and Dad, but no, it started with my grandparents and my low blood sugared auntie.
The only problem now? My brother has passed the tradition onto his daughter, my two year old niece ,who whenever she pulls up in a car park in town with her mum, her first words are 'Can we have tea and cake?' Poor sister-in-law...she has no chance of breaking the Allen family tradition and neither has The Husband.
Husband...put the kettle on!
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