Any other day this would give rise to images of retirees in fezzes or blue aprons having one wee whisky too many. But it appears a group of farmers in Wheatly River (which I joined on my father's behest to engage in evil things like eating ham salad on white bread with tepid tea to the fragrance of barn boots) is now part of a target for extremists. The Masons appear to be the equivalent of "etc." when used in undergrad papers - that one last thing added to the list of nasties to plump it up. Masons having cups of tea in private has been a matter of concern to the establishment and the conspiracist, the reactionary and the revolutionary - and Latvians! Want to know the secret? It's old men having cups of tea with chums. Getting out of the house once in a while. For cakes. And for liberty, egalitarianism, autonomy and all that, too. Kipling got it right.

I don't go now. The prospects of fancier sandwiches and better tea cups does not attract. However: "dib dib dib...dob dob dob..." Know what I mean?