This cup hasn't been washed in 8 years

Every afternoon at work I have a cup of green tea after lunch to help avert a mid-day stupor. This is the cup I have been using for nearly the past decade. It has never been washed!

I got the inspiration for not washing this cup from an old Ironside TV show in the late 1960s starring Raymond Burr (aka Perry Mason) as the crippled Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside. Though a brilliant crime-solver, he had a nasty temperament and very strong opinions about most things. He was notorious for making his coffee in a beat-up tin pot and insisting that the pot never be rinsed or washed between makings.

Of course this grossed out his fellow detectives and became a running joke thoughout the series and you could count on Ironside's explosive temper getting the better of him if anyone came near the pot with soap and water.

Yes, my cup has gotten the stink eye from several co-workers and some suggeset that it could be harboring all kinds of nasty microbes. I counter with the fact that I seldom get sick, which may be attributable to the resistance I've built up against nasty microbes in general based on drinking from a filthy cup.

But here's the news. I have retired the cup. Recently my group moved to a new building--a brand new building in Newark. A spanking clean, pristine high rise with ultra modern conveniences and state-of-the-art amenities. As the most veteran member of my department, I'm not sure that his dog quite fits in at our new digs. But I do know that my cup doesn't.

I guess its time to make changes. I have a new cup for my daily tea, and I'm not sure if I'll wash this one either. If I don't, it might be a little charming to have a grungy little fixture in my current antiseptic environment. Or maybe I should get on the stick and make it as sparkling clean as everything else around me.

I'm torn.

As for the old cup, I was thinking of a ritual smashing. But it has served me well and it still doesn't leak. At this point it is unclean-able. Maybe I should plant something in it. A mini tea-tree?

My new cup