Calculating the Cups

Alexander McCall Smith
Author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
series

Yesterday I ended my post with a question:

How many cups of bush tea will it take before all these dilemmas are sorted out?

The person with the dilemmas is Mma Ramotswe, owner of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency in The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith.

When I posed the question about the tea, it wasn't until later in the evening that I turned the page and discovered the very next chapter was called "How Many Cups of Tea...." in which Mma Ramotwe and her assistant Mma Grace Makutsi discuss that very question on their way in the little white van to the edge of the Kalahari to find the matron of the children's orphanage.

They start to count the number of cups of red bush tea that Mma Ramotswe drinks each day. Turns out it is about ten. And that is before the evening tea, so about fourteen cups each day. Mma Makutski quickly calculated and rounded that out to one hundred cups of tea per week.

"One hundred cups," repeated Mma Ramotswe. "That will be doing me a lot of good. One hundred cups of red bush tea, Mma. The bush tea is full of good things. It will be making me very strong." She paused. "I am not ashamed of all that tea, Mma."

"Of course not," said Mma Makutsi. "There is nothing to be ashamed of in drinking one hundred cups of tea a week, Mma. Which is..." She paused again. "More than five thousand cups of tea a year. That is very impressive."

I am happy to report that the tea works; all the problems were sorted out.

Now, I will be drinking tea while waiting for the next installment in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

A Cup of Bush Tea Soothes the Nerves

Things are not boding well for Mma Ramotswe and her people in Gaborone, Botswana. The owner of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency faces many troubles in the latest adventure, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection.

On a good note, she and her assistant/secretary Mma Grace Makutsi receive a surprise visit from someone they greatly admire and never thought they would meet.

On a not so good note, one of Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's apprentices finds himself in a spot of trouble with the law - of course he is innocent, but will the court see it that way? And, the children's orphanage is facing big changes that are not really for the good of the children but perhaps more for the good of the pockets of one of the members of the board.

Oh dear, oh dear. Precious Ramotswe has her hands full. Her spirits are down and it is hot. How many cups of bush tea will it take before all these dilemmas get sorted out?

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection

"In Botswana, home to the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency for the problems of ladies, and others, it is customary - one might say very customary - to enquire of the people whom you meet whether they have slept well. The answer to that question is almost inevitably that they have indeed slept well, even if they have not, and have spent the night tossing and turning as a result of the nocturnal barking of dogs, the activity of mosquitoes or the prickings of a bad conscience. Of course, mosquitoes may be defeated by nets or sprays, just as dogs may be roundly scolded; a bad conscience, though, is not so easily stifled. If somebody were to invent a spray capable of dealing with an uncomfortable conscience, that person would undoubtedly do rather well -- but perhaps not sleep as soundly as before, were he to reflect on the consequences of his invention. Bad consciences, it would appear, are there for a purpose: to make us feel regret over our failings. Should they be silenced, then our entirely human weaknesses, our manifold omissions, would become all the greater -- and that, as Mma Ramotswe would certainly say, is not a good thing."

Ahhhh. It is always a good day when Mma Ramotswe's newest adventure shows up at the library. I have had The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith on hold for months and then, joy. The book is now in my hands.

The quote above is the first paragraph of the first chapter.

I know that there will be puzzles and philosophy to ponder. I know that while being in the company of Precious Ramotswe, her dear husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and her assistant Grace Makutsi,  my breathing will slow down, my heart rate will drop, and my blood pressure will fall. Such is the peacefulness that overcomes me when I read the books in this series.

Even the chapter titles encourage calm: Chapter One - "On a Hot Day We Drink Tea" or Chapter Four - "I Shall Simply Look Up in the Sky".

This is the thirteenth book starring Mma Ramotswe. I trust that it will not bring bad luck.