Apparently the Russians had complained that tea tasted different when it was shipped in by train, having gotten used to tea saturated with the sweat of camels carrying merchants across the Gobi Desert from Shan-hsi.

The Quease, as you will have read, thought this a huge cheek and, as is ever the case with her, was not slow to point it out. She further accused me of treating him as my batman.

Conspicuous consumption is a proof of economic success.

This relegation was not really the cause of the decline of brush-making, which was the town's main industry. That was down to the introduction of nylon bristles.