There’s no meal quite so English as afternoon tea. And according to Hunter S. Thompson, there is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge.

You wouldn’t think that these two scenarios are natural bed-fellows but the owner of this establishment clearly thought the traditional tea and cake would be complemented by a “little something for medicinal purposes”.

Afternoon Tea with Ether

Afternoon Tea with Ether

There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge.  It makes you behave like the village drunkard in some early Irish novel… total loss of all basic motor skills: blurred vision, no balance, numb tongue-severance of all connection between the body and the brain. Which is interesting, because the brain continues to function more or less normally…you can actually watch yourself behaving in the terrible way, but you can’t control it.

Hunter S. Thompson

I imagine the tearoom sees scenes like this on a regular basis.