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B] 6SZZ O\R 0OQY continued from page 33 He knew his life could end at any moment. It was 1983. He was a cameraman and photojournalist on assignment for Independent Television News (ITN) of London, filming rival PLO factions slug- ging it out with one another using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns for control of what was left of the once-beautiful city. He had captured good footage that would give viewers in the United Kingdom a sense of the chaos raging in a country caught in a spiral of violence and bloodshed. Rich was not politically motivated, but that didn't matter now. When he heard footsteps coming down into the basement and then saw the AK-47s, he knew his life was on the line. Without a word, one of the men put the muzzle of his rifle to Rich's head and pulled the trigger. He died. Only he didn't. His captors had decided he wasn't a threat. The grim mock exe- cution was intended merely to terrorize him. It worked, but only up to a point. After a few moments, one of the men brought him a cup of tea as a peace offering. No hard feelings—just business. But Rich wasn't feeling charitable. "I threw it in his face," he says. For this, the man bludgeoned him senseless with the butt of his Kalashnikov. Hard feelings after all. Eventually, Rich's captors turned him over to the British Special Air Service for a ransom of $50,000. These days, the marketing of tea has a very specific and limited storyline: Tea is proper or Zen, a path to enlightenment, at home on a silver plate or Xijing pots, served according to ancient rituals, enjoyed in silence, reflecting the perfection of an ordered universe. basement. He remembers the blow he received for his defiance. And always it comes back to the tea. Whether solace or stimulant, tea becomes an indelible reminder of the moments of our lives. RESILIENCE IN A CUP The story of drinking tea in tough places is an ancient one. But one of its most stirring and illuminating chapters is, not coinci- dentally, from London. During World War II, waves of German bombers, "flying bombs" and V-2 missiles reduced large parts of the city to rubble and ashes. Between 1940 and 1941, more than 43,000 civilians perished in what was the first sustained aerial assault on a great city that Europe had ever witnessed. The carnage was as devastating emotionally as it was physically. But the inhabitants refused to crack. Tea was an important part of the Londoners' famed resilience and high morale. It seemed to incarnate the national virtues: thrift, perseverance and solidarity. But with so many kitchens destroyed, how were Londoners to get their tea? The answer came in the form of "tea cars" donated and often operated by the Canadian YMCA. These simple Ford vans followed the flames, provid- ing hot tea and food to anyone and every- one—especially the injured, the bombed- out and rescue workers. Soon there were more than 1,000 tea cars in Britain, with tens of thousands of volun- teers engaged as driv- ers and servers. The tea cars could TAKING TEA: The mountains of Afghanistan have been home to the extremes of both war and peace. But tea has always been at home in the world. And this world can be a messy, unpredictable, lethal place. In plenty of dire situations around the globe, tea is taken as found, bagged or loose, while duck- ing mortar rounds or incoming sniper fire, on the run, in the dark, cupped in hands shivering with cold or fear. Tea can be a moment of escape, but it can also be a lubricant of involvement. It can preface a meaningful event, when anxieties must be stilled. Or it can honor an accomplishment, after the adrenaline subsides, soothing the nerves and deepening our ability to process an experience. Sebastian Rich remembers that cup of tea in Beirut, the hands that brought it, the cup shattering on the concrete floor of the !" TEA ALMANAC 2012 TEA ON WHEELS: The Canadian YMCA used "tea cars" to distribute the drink in World War II London. not get to every Londoner. But the Women's Voluntary Service made sure that everyone was served, bringing tea to those living and working in the tun- nels of the Underground. They also provided the cuppa to rescue workers and firemen in the immediate aftermath of the air raids. Sometimes, tea was the first "medicine" administered to civilians trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings or air-raid shelters. As the bombings spread to other parts of England—Coventry, Hull, Portsmouth—so did the tea cars and other means of deliver- ing the drink to a nation in need of courage and comfort. ALONG FOR THE RIDE Sebastian Rich grew up in London in a world of tea and art, and continued on page 36 IIAIN COCHRANE BY THEIR WORKS