Aweh fellow Ruminants & Groupies in day 451 of Re-Modified Lock Down Currently Level 3.
Period as a semi-retired pensioner: 77 days
The topic of our search for meaning and substance abuse is the topic for today’s Ruminant Pink Friday ™. The puritans among you may think that you find your best inspiration when you are not intoxicated and are as sober as a judge. This also seems to be the scientific and medical consensus and medical advice suggests you are better off without any alcohol, marijuana or illegal mind-altering drugs. On the other hand, psychiatrists and doctors routinely prescribe a wide range of stimulants and mind-altering drugs many with complex and dangerous side effects.
There is no doubt that addiction and substance abuse cause a lot of human misery, illness, and death and yet it is pervasive and has been part of human history for millennia. No amount of legislation, education, criminalisation, or any other authoritarian measure has been successful. The war on drugs is an epic failure. There simply is no substitute for each person finding their own path. Some are not going to succeed, and their health and wellbeing will suffer, and some will die. Such is life and no tut-tutting Mother Grundy’s or war by the authorities is going to change that.
And yet some our most memorable occasions involve intoxicating libations. This brings me to the campfire at the annual meeting of the Wilderberg club. Every year several bottles of bakleiwater are carefully procured. Bakleiwater is an Afrikaans term which can literally be translated as “fight water”. These are kept in special glass cabinets for discerning customers in the bottle stores in Hoedspruit and Phalaborwa.
A couple of years ago Barry my Afrikaans speaking friend and I walked into the bottle store in Phalaborwa and Barry asked the tannie behind the counter, in his finest Afrikaans, if we could see their brandy selection. We were taken to the shelves where there was a motley selection of half jacks, Klipdrift and pre-mixed brandy and Coke. I then said to the tannie in the Queens English, “Is that all you have Madam?”. Immediately realising that she was now talking to a man of the utmost discernment and taste she apologised profusely and led us to the special glass cabinets where the artisanal pot still brandies were housed.
After dinner against the backdrop of the Milky Way reminding us of our humble position in the universe the bakleiwater starts to flow. Things start slowly at first with a few micro aggressions but then these are dispensed with, and the macro aggressions start to flow freely. One memorable year the starting bell was rung with one of our members proclaiming, “its f***ers like you that f*** up the f***ing fabric of f***ing society”. Now we are talking! More bakleiwater, more free and frank exchange. Society is soon rescued with more bakleiwater.
The more timid among the group start thinking about that 05h30 wake up call the next morning and slink away quietly. This then leaves the creative hard core drinking out of enamel mugs after everything else has been cleared away.
I lean back slightly too hard in my camp chair, while emphasising a very important point, and I topple over backward. I stare straight up into the moonless night into the disc of the Milky Way. I can clearly see the black hole at the galactic centre. For a brief moment I understand everything.
Thank you for all the helpful suggestions and comments. Please keep them up.
Regards
Bruce
Ruminant Pink Friday 