I drink quite a lot of tea, about six or seven mugs a day, most of these at work. I've got a jokey mug that I got from a treasure hunt with chilledchimp. Our friend Jon has run seven of these around London, the Strand, the City, Mayfair, the Inns of Court, the Barbican and Kennington and we usually do pretty well, finishing in the top three out of fifteen or so teams. I think this one must be a souvenir of the Inns of Court because it has a series of cartoons of an aging lawyer with the legend, 'Old Lawyers Never Die, They Just Lose Their Appeal'.

At home I have a slightly smaller mug that chilledchimp's dad Eric got me as a present from Ireland. It bears the Dempsey family crest, a lion rampant between two swords on a red field. Don't mess with us, we'll bite you then stab you with pointy things it says.

Funnily enough, my favourite tarot card is the two of swords, the Rider-Waite version of which is a blindfolded seated woman. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she holds two swords up at an angle. I'd never made the connection before. I think I was aware of tarot before I got the mug, but deciding that this was my favourite card postdates the gift. The card supposedly indicates a choice, possibly a difficult one and is often associated with indecision although it doesn't say that to me. It seems more mysterious than that but that could just be me trying to be interesting. I'll think about it.

Both mugs, mystical or legal, bear the shame of my tea drinking, namely brown stains. This is caused by the local hard water depositing limescale which is stained black by the tannin in the black tea. Occasionally flakes break off and skulk at the bottom of the cup. I don't suppose it does me any harm but it certainly causes distress to anyone else who sees it.

Tannin is a natural antisceptic so it's probably keeping the mug germ-free and any staining that is absorbed by the limescale is not getting into me.

But perhaps the tea is having some kind of effect, that would explain the freckles.