Michael Nobbs

Risking Cold Tea

A warm, early-morning bedroom scene lit by a small reading light illuminating a tray on a crocheted blanket. On the tray — which is illustrated with Moomins — are a jug, a mug, a dish holding a used teabag, crayons, and a sketchbook open to a drawing of the mug, teabag and Moomins from the tray. A book rests behind the tray, and the light casts a soft glow across the scene.

Back to the much more familiar this morning — drawing with the light on and drawing my Go Gently Louise mug on my Moomin tray.

I was awake VERY early this morning (about 2.00 am) and couldn’t go back to sleep, so decided to make myself a mug of tea.

I need everything to feel as familiar as possible at that time in the morning and so, as I boiled the kettle was picturing my routine of taking my tea back to bed, reaching into my drawing bag and pulling out my sketchbook and Lochby pouch containing my very stubby Blackwing 3 stub and settling down to draw.

In that mental picture I saw not my new orange insulate mug on my tea tray, but rather my friendly old Louise Go Gently mug. Likewise, my tray wasn’t the large chicken one with the new tray mat on it, but my comforting Moomin tray.

These choices would dictate what I would draw this morning. Familiarity stacked on top of familiarity. Lovely!

The text in the drawing reads:

As much as I like my new insulated mug, I realise that I’ve been missing my Louise Go Gently mug. So I’m risking cold tea and having it on my tray again this morning.

A close-up of an open sketchbook resting on a crocheted blanket. The pages show a drawing of a mug and a dish holding a used teabag sitting on a Moomin-themed tray. The drawing is made with pencil and the tray is coloured in olive green crayon. At the top of the drawing is handwritten text about missing a familiar mug. Part of the real tea tray with a mug, jug, and teabag dish is visible at the top edge of the image.

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