Change or Familiarity? A couple or two blogs reflecting on some past events. Events both trivial and more thought provoking to myself and others that had/have the onus of deciding what is best.  

Change or Familiarity?

#1……0% Alcohol. Red Wine…….

This photograph. No. Definitely not me above. I took this picture and called it ‘Eating chips with Betty Boo’. Betty Boo, as I thought could be her name, was eating chips. So was I. Hence the ‘with’, although separate nature. Put said chips down, picked camera up, took the photo, camera down, picked chips back up and carried on eating. Smooth as you like. Forgot the photo taking and I thought of sitting and thinking about stuff when you have the additive of bag of chips equivalent. Reflecting on your own life as hot, fluffy, dry, amazingly aromatic slightly salty tasting chips are eaten bringing an episode the equivalent of one brief glimpse of Nirvana. Looking now at this photograph? Betty Boo? Looked like she was contemplating life and the sea was whispering answers to her questions. Seeking her own life’s horizon adventures. 

I recently thought about her thoughts. Changes being decided maybe. A wish for small or massive change. Aren’t we all? Maybe not. Familiarity is an important aspect to life too. My pleasurable sitting of eating chips on the seafront equivalent, as recently as a year ago, was Booze sipped and smoking bonfire aroma rich Honeyrose Baccy in a pipe. Blowing wisps of smoke into the air that brought back memories of childhood November 5^th nights.  Wine, bourbon, rye, Honeyrose leaf partaken of and all whilst sat in the upper garden looking towards the tapestry of the peat bog lands and then onwards to the open sea.

Stopped both the Booze and Baccy for a long time now. The pipe for a very long time. Do I miss them? Of course. If having alcohol problems of drinking too much was problematic, then substitutes must be important. As an ex nurse I obviously support in keeping alcohol at arms length. But I never had problems. Just enjoyment in a relaxation scenario? Recently wanted a system clear out. Done for health reasons and clearing toxins of various sorts from the body like sugar, gluten, dairy, etc. It questions validity of actually stopping wine for months on end. Seven now. Familiarity. Wine and Whisky? Replaced with hot black coffee and some biccies. They’re good familiarity too. But not Booze and Honeyrose Baccy which are good familiarity when the need to sit, relax and ponder is on the agenda. 

Recently? Well, less than a year recently? I’m sitting drinking deeply flavoured, succulent, earthy red wine……… which it isn’t. What passes my lips is challenging my imagination to work in overdrive. What is in the glass is a watery weak alcohol free wine. I don feel anyone has found a good red substitute. This one? If I hold the bottle close to my eye, close the other, (close/close = funny language English isn’t it?) and look through the darkish pinky red? I can see the view ahead as an equivalent of a cheap and poor performing Photoshop changing computer programme, used to adapt the photograph imagery and resulting in creating even cheaper and poorer quirky artistic effects. Sitting in my seat. I’m more focused and agonising on a bottle of non-wine as a Photoshopped equivalent of a bottle of deep red reality. 

Focused on the impact of poor substitution? Focused on Change. Not taking in the beautiful view of surrounding nature. More concerned and involved in a wine conundrum. This isn’t wine. It may as well be a poor fruit juice substitute. At least a rich earthy blackberry or elderberry fruit juice would be nicer. Alcohol free only helps the psyche and placates certain senses simply by having the word ‘alcohol’ on the label. Senses? Maybe ‘sound’ in the act of you pouring it into a glass. And ‘touch’ by lifting the wine glass to your lips as you prepare for a decent red transportation across your palate. However. Don’t open your eyes. Don’t place the glass to your lips. Don’t let the liquid anywhere near your tongue. Because there is no sense that the sight is rewarded in appreciation of the richest ruby red. The smell placated with the synergy of aromatic aromas hitting limbic memory or a new mix of natures‘ offerings that hold different stories to take or leave. The taste explosion that either blows your mind or leaves you slightly disgruntled, but still fairly happy. Simply stop non-wine at the point just before where glass touches lips. Then? Put the glass back down. Halfway into the story and no satisfaction whatsoever. As David Mitchell wrote: 

‘A half-read book is a half-finished love affair’.

What wins this time?

Change or familiarity?

Familiarity.