Childlike Chipperness
You know that time in your twenties where your a cheeky little f**k with an impish grin & the energy of a jungle cat?
Well all happy healthy people retain an element of that into later life. For me it disappeared a few years ago but really it had just been given a general anaesthetic by beer & spirits.
Mid April I took a weeks holiday during which we drank almost every night. Prior to that holiday & during it my inner imp was playing around. But by the end of the week he was going to sleep drugged on alcohol. Then I got back to my usual drinking rules & within a week he was back. But it took a week because like indulgence abstinence has a cumulative effect. It takes time. Especially as you get older.
I missed that little barsteward!
Background Music
Here is an oddity. Before I was (as much of) a drunkard I listened to some very heavy dark lyrics. Take this for example…
‘Oh I remember toronto when mylo went down
And we sat and we cried on the phone
I never felt so alone
He was the first of our own
Some of us go down in a blaze of obscurity
Some of us go down in a haze of publicity
The price of infamy, the edge of insanity
Another holiday inn, another temporary home
And an interviewer threatened me with a microphone
talk to me, wont you tell me your stories.
So I talked about conscience and I talked about pain
And he looked out the window and it started to rain
I thought maybe Ive already gone crazy
So I reached for a bottle and he reached for the door
And I picked up the sleeping pills crushed on the floor
Inviting me to a casual obscenity’
It is from an album called Misplaced Childhood by a band called Marillion whose front man ‘Fish’ was an alcoholic back in the 80′s. While it is very very heavy if you know anything about the man you’ll know he is one eloquent & erudite fellow. I liked his use of language.
I listened to heavy stuff all the time when I was a happy go lucky, fit & full of youthful optimism. Then why got older & life got to be a grind I stopped listening to it & started listening to ‘Thriller’ as a pick me up. Now I’ve got my smile back I find myself listening to Fish’s lyrics again. Singing along with a smile on my face.
Am I built backwards or by some strange prescient instinct did I see it all coming????
