Was that before you started brewing the coffee, as the coffee brewed, or after the coffee had brewed? Such details make a huge difference.

It had brewed.

Yup, that's definitely crazy territory.

Please note that I do not mean that to be condescending as I have often found myself in that same circumstance.

You don't understand Lady Becky's frustration at her husband or her pure, if childish, romantic ideals!

Moi? Not understand childish, romantic ideals? Sir (or is it madam?), you offend me. I have scuttled many a promising relationship with my childish, romantic ideals.

RAW UNEDITED WRITING RIGHT NOW:


"I've just got word from the TAR house my dear, Major Thorne's train was delayed due to that nonsense at New Vic. He'll be round shortly." His legs hissed.

"Be that as it may, I cannot rightfully expect to be calm now. There are still flowers to procure, wines to be brought up, I can't do it all myself! Do you take me for some scullery maid you can-"

A maid entered the room.

"A Major Alistair Thorne is waiting in the palor sir. Shall I send him in?"

"Oh I'm not ready!" Becky gathered her skirt. "Get him some Tea. No, wine! I'll be down shortly." Becky ran from the hall, narrowly slipping on the tile.

If Becky was a sharper woman, she would have used her dishabille to her advantage and if Douglas was a keener man, he would have noticed the look in his wife's eyes. But, alas, they are not, and the moment passed without comment.

I love deadlines.

@The Whelk: How did the coffee pot respond to that?

He thinks Becky is too cartoonish but I think he's a pretentious wanker.

Your deadlines sound a lot different from mine.

Mine sound more like "Using a dashboard approach, the institution will measure success by focusing on user outcomes as evidenced by increased recognition of key terms, repeated content access, and likelihood of peer recommendation."

Yours sound funner.

He thinks Becky is too cartoonish

Coffee is so fucking hard to please.

"I think he's a pretentious wanker." - Show me a coffee pot that isn't!

Show me a coffee pot that isn't!

I once knew a Bunn Brew-O-Matic down at the Shore Maid Diner. She was a pretty down-to-earth gal.

Oh, well, yes, of course. Those Bunns are a stolid bunch.

That's Mr. Coffee to you, Bub.

I had to explain to my mother what a wanker was once. (She saw the word on a local pub's billboard-"no wankers allowed.")

MORE PURE RAW UNEDITED WRITING

"Oh! Another thing." Thorne removed a slender volume from his jacket pocket. "The latest rage in London. " He handed Douglas a green-bound book with a solider draped in
the Colonial Flag on the front. The title read THE SONS OF LIBERTY by John Dowland.

"It's an Alternative Historical Romance that supposes the Colonials fought against the Crown in 1776. They use assassinations and sabotage to force the Crown into
surrender.

Douglas regarded the book with a low frown. "Pure fantasy twaddle. A white man would never behave so cowardly on the field of Mars. But I shall lend it to Becky, provided
there aren't many gruesome or stimulating bits."

"Oh no sir, not many at all."

God help me this is my best