Stream of Consciousness: Clipper Tea

• "1872 Clipper Tea Co." As a child I had one of those picture books that had a picture of the Cutty Sark. For some reason I read that one little factoid over and over again - the Cutty Sark, tea clipper, fastest merchant vessel in the age of sail.
• I have too many Patrick O'Brien books and not enough time to finish reading the whole 20-book series. The last time I read one was in Cambodia - in between visiting temples at Angkor in the morning and late afternoon, the unbearably hot noon-time was spent sitting reading the adventures of Aubrey and Maturin, about as different from the tropical jungle environment as you could get.
• Aubrey was based on a real life character - Thomas Cochrane, though his ship was called Speedy, rather than Surprize.
• Zefrem Cochrane, of course, is the inventor of the warp drive in the Star Trek universe. I was rather disappointed with the way he was portrayed in First Contact: it didn't seem to concord with the way he was depicted in the original series episode where he first appeared.
• I don't normally drink English Breakfast Tea - I used to drink Darjeeling, but have eventually moved to Earl Grey - inspired in no small part by Patrick Stewart's "Tea - Earl Grey - Hot" from the ST:TNG.