I M not sure if one can enjoy a red letter week or just a day, but if the former is true then I feel that I have just done that – in part anyway. And I am very glad to say that my colleagues benefited from it – although I must warn them that the first eve

I'M not sure if one can enjoy a red letter week or just a day, but if the former is true then I feel that I have just done that - in part anyway.

And I am very glad to say that my colleagues benefited from it - although I must warn them that the first event which triggered this may come around only as often as the second.

Let me enlighten you. I may have mentioned before in this column that when I started work one of the duties of the most junior reporter in the office was to make the tea. It was rare for anyone other than the rawest scribe to brew up for the assembled hacks.

One looked forward to the time when a senior reporter left for pastures new and a replacement - a junior - was employed for that was when the tea towel was passed on.

Sadly, the tradition has faded into history and now there is no pecking order for tea making.

Now, anybody does it. Or, as my colleagues sometimes point out, everyone except me does it.

When the murmurings become a little louder, I usually manage to calm them by claiming that I am much too busy to stop for tea (making).

They are very good about it.

But there comes a time when a man's got to do what a man's got to do (which as a matter of fact he gets quite a lot of practice at home).

The occasion which prompted my thankfully short stint in the office kitchen was Hannah 'Last Word' Gray's birthday on Monday.

Unfortunately, she has a good memory and remembers me recalling once that the last time I made tea in the office was the last day of Comet employment for Claire McGlasson who can now be seen on the small box reporting for Anglia TV. That was well over two years ago.

So Hannah, who went to college with Claire and has discussed the matter with her, felt it was high time I repeated the event - and so provide her with the novel experience of a cuppa Adams style.

It was strange how all my colleagues gathered outside and clamoured for a view through the reinforced glass wall of me doing an expert bit of juggling with the kettle, tea bags, cups and milk.

Our photographer, Alan 'Flasher' Millard tried to take a snatch shot but I waved him away.

Anyone would think they had never seen someone make tea before. Actually, most of them had not seen me do it.

So there it was, everyone who wanted one was provided with a container of wet, brown liquid to savour. What was all the fuss about?

The second red letter event was a bit of a let down after that. It was my birthday yesterday (Wednesday) and all I had to do for that was spend a few pounds on yummy cakes. Someone else made the tea.

Roll on next year.