COMFORT: CARE: SAFE

January 5th 2011. The New Year period saw frantic efforts to inject joy, optimism and all round good cheer into the uncertain times ahead. A lovely program on Radio 1 on Jan 31st at midday focused on positivity and all agreed that it was good to be positive and great to give thanks. Amen to that.

There are certain things however that create that feeling in us in spite of ourselves. Take the Teacosy for instance. Some Scottish friends of our children came to stay some time ago and were watching our son making tea in a pot with tea leaves. They asked him what he was doing? ‘I’m making tea’ he replied. They were totally fascinated. Making tea in a china pot, how wierd is that, but it was when the Teacosy went on the pot to keep the brew ‘cosy’ that they smiled and smiled and smiled. The teacosy has that effect on people. The humble teacosy, its got that X Factor that makes us all smile in gratitude for all those cosy memories. How simple!

Take our festive teacosy for instance, I picked it up in a craft fair in Enniscorthy one day last year when I was idling time waiting for a teenager. It stopped all visitors in their tracks and they smiled.

A handful of cafes around the country now have teacosys on real china pots – I know all about the practicalities, the breakages, the diffiuclty of keeping the cosys clean, but honestly, do you know any faster way to create a room full of beatific smiles as people of a certain age are lost in a sea of memories. Younger people who are new to them are amazed at the simplicity of their parents lives as they discuss their virtual lives in cyberspace.

Last Summer, 64 people attended an ‘Open your own Cafe/ Teashop Course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School – china cups, delicate teapots, porcelain cake stands, chintz jugs and fluffy teacosys to create a little bit of nostalgic heaven.

Beams of delight bounced from one person to another as they surveyed the kaleidescope of colours at teacosy central.

Have you a teacosy memory? Have you a favourite teacosy? Can we bring back the teacosy to our favourite cafes? How about all those knitters out there, if we can knit caps for bottles we can knit cosys for pots!