We had a field crew running in the Australian Outback. The party chief was the legendary “Black Jack” Benlow, named for his preferred tool for calming down recalcitrant crew members. Jack had a strong sense for the proper way to do things. At 3 PM the crew would break for tea, which was served on a camp table with a tablecloth, using a silver tea set. On one job they were about 500 miles from the nearest fresh water, so water had to be trucked in once a week. One week the truck was late and Murphy’s Law kicked in because their radio was also broken. After a day at 110 in the shade, Jack prudently started rationing their remaining water.
A couple of days after that and they were down to their last few ounces of water. Nonetheless, Jack insisted on serving it for tea at 3 PM. One of the crew members demanded to know how he could be serving tea when they were a few hours from dying of thirst. Jack’s response was, “Stiff upper lip, Mate. We’re the last outpost of civilization.” Australians may be a bit rough around the edges, but you have to admit that they have a strong sense of the proper way to do things. (Fortunately, a bush chopper dropped off several jerry cans of water later that day to hold them until the water truck was repaired.)