Short Takes

Edited by Judith Kitchen
W.W. Norton, 2005

Includes ”Afternoon Tea,” a passage from South of the Ultimate Thule by Emily Hiestand

”Invigorating creative nonfiction gathered by the co-editor of In Short and In Brief

The roster of contributors includes writers Verlyn Klinkenborg, Emily Hiestand, David Sedaris, Salman Rushdie, Jane Brox, and Terry Tempest Williams, among others.

Afternoon Tea
A passage from the travel story “South of the Ultimate Thule”

By rights, tea would have been the first and frequent subject of this story, for it is the daylong companion of the Scottish day, and each inn where we stay, however modest, stocks its rooms with supplies for what are called “brew-ups.”

In every inn, we find an electric pot for boiling water, a ceramic pot for brewing, china cups, small tea–creamers, and a raft of teas, along with honey, fresh milk, and lemons. This is a delight and astonishment, for very rarely, if ever, is there such attention to tea in American hotels. Home is a fluid place: each day at four o'clock, I could easily be an expatriate. 

One cloudy afternoon around two o’clock my Mum and I are poking up the rocky coastline from Black Craig north to Brough Head on Mainland, the largest of the Orkney Islands. This western end of the island has a cascade of bays, headlands, caves, and the invasions of ocean into the land called geos. We wind slowly north toward the Brough of Birsay, stopping to walk Marwick Head. The wide plateau at the summit of the cliff tilts toward the sea, perpetually wet and glistening with cold water pools that dot depressions and fissures in the rock. As ever in the Orkneys, a wind is blowing in steadily from the sea. 

We’re here to visit the home of the largest, most spectacular seabird colony on Mainland; some thirty–five thousand Guillemots, ten–thousand Kittiwakes, as well as Fulmars and Razorbills who like the eroded flagstone ledges for nesting and the abundance of shoaling fish for nourishment. The Guillemots (endearingly clumsy on land) huddle along the rock cliff. 

I have never before or after seen as many birds in one place at one time. For my Mum, this seabird colony is a high moment of birdwatching. For me, her joy in the arctic birds is something for my life list. We admire the activities of the massive colony for a hour and would stay longer, but the weather has grown stormier.

As we drive slowly away from Marwick Head, it is nearing four o'clock in the afternoon and sure enough, parked just off the road on the top of a cliff overlooking the tidal flats, we come upon a small caravan camper. Its double-wide door is open and we have a glimpse inside.

An older Scottish couple is sitting at a folding table, taking afternoon tea and biscuits. She is wearing a print dress and a cozy cardigan. there is an electric kettle on the table, and a plate of something on the table. This is Scottish tea time and domesticity being blithely carried on in a storm, in a cold wind, near the edge of a cliff. Respect!

Read the full travel story “South of the Ultima Thule,” gratis, on this site.