My love of Whisky

The warmth I knew

As winter days and nights go, the joys of central heating could be such fun to keep warm. Like my apartment in Amsterdam where the insulation and heating was such that one could traipse around the rooms naked without a care in the world.

This was fun until the very last few months when the clatter of my teeth was the makings of an industrial machine, the warmth had left with impending departure.

One desperately tries to keep as warm as possible in England; thermal underwear, scarfs, leg-length socks, sturdy shoes with all-weather grip soles and leather gloves.

My love of Whisky

This time, I have a companion, his name is Whisky, he stays close, offers amazing warmth, lying on my chest, or grabbing my sides in such intimate embrace that no winter night goes without the love.

Flamboyant in dress, receptive in gifts, many a pain he has soothed almost better than a masseuse, deft and dainty, professional and knowing how to knead those achy parts.

He head is screwed on, yet his dexterity feeds my imagination with utility I cannot demand of any other friend. He can’t be shaken and he melts the ice, such is his warmth that is quite hotter than Adonis at the first touch.

I love you Whisky, never leave my side.

Refrigerant notice: Take dog to vet and dig hole for man

Drink like the last

I was offered a glass of coca cola after a long day in the heat wave that has engulfed England for the past few weeks.

Cool it was, especially that it contained ice to lower the temperature of the drink and give it the semblance of refreshing refreshment that I needed.

From the first sip, I noticed the ice was not melting as one would expect, rather, it was as if a new state of water was being synthesised in my glass, somewhere between solid and liquid, small globules of ice presenting a form of gel.

A new state of water

I started asking questions, about the ice as I downed the refreshing cola wondering what could have given the ice such a characteristic I had never observed before.

When I finished the cola, it became evident that this was not ice as I had always known it and perchance I happened on the packaging from whence the ice came, a product it was and the small print read, “Not for human consumption and not good for the dog either” or as I read it, take to the dog to the vet and dig a hole for the man.

Apparently, unbeknownst to my host, an ice pack had been crushed into my drink, the ice pack being colourless rather than having a blue tinge meant we were no wiser about it.

Refrigerant for the cool

Then I was on the Internet to find out what I needed to do, have the nurse perform the Heimlich Manoeuvre by putting his knee into my back, sticking my finger up my throat unhinging the peristaltic stability of what I had ingested or just wait it out.

Thankfully, the refrigerant component of the ice pack was not harmful and did not present a medical emergency of any sort, there was no need to panic and I was not on the verge of the discovery of a new state of gelatinous aqua much as I kept my calm not to be driven to the histrionics of suggesting I was about to be poisoned.

Makes for a good story though because, for my afternoon drink I asked for some refrigerant, what the heat will make you do, the consequences are yet to be imagined. 

Thought Picnic: The sands of light

A longer walk than most

On my walk to the beach which took probably twice the time it takes for people to cover the distance, I decided to do it in silence, in contemplation with deep reflection.

Thinking about how fortunate I have been in my life and experiences even when things have seemed so seriously out of control and beyond me, there has always been some hope, some inspiration, some angling for change and possibilities that in the depth of those situations is far from view.

The grains of sand that make up the living dunes of Maspalomas revealed a part to them that I had never before noticed. Innumerable as they are and brown as they seemed, in the high sunlight of the day grains glistened and reflected back the sunlight in thousands or more of mirrors.

Each had a light for me

All those evident from my moving through the dunes, as I looked in every direction there was a flicker of light and I could imagine there could be millions of reflectors reflecting heat and light at my body from all angles just because I was there.

The grains were self-existent and mutually supportive creating this amazing landscape constantly sculpted by winds and other weather conditions the dunes experience.

In general the grains would remain unmoved and untouched except when affected by external stimuli which includes the many feet that walk those sands creating tracks some well tread and some very new soon to disappear as if no one was ever there – a clean slate every few days that would make a novice of an expert bush tracker after a while.

Dunes of memory

And so, I wondered about how we live our lives sometimes not affecting or affected but there for circumstances and situations to give meaning to our existence as each grain of sand became a reflector to me even though without my noticing this before, the grains were reflecting regardless of what I thought about the composition, the refractive index and all other optical components of sand and silica.

Each significant bit becomes part of the whole and so does the memories of the many who have come and gone, who have touched my life in many ways innumerable to mention, they will not be forgotten but each reflection and thought is replayed over and over again forming the dunes of my own personal experiences and more.

Tone blind

Beat the heat

Were now experiencing a major heat wave in Europe. The mercury is playing on the 90s Fahrenheit and on some places would exceed a hundred.

We can expect 35 Celsius in Utrecht which just about 40 kilometres from Amsterdam such that it is a blessing to be in an air-conditioned office.

Those have their dangers, only last week a good 5 days were expended in finding source of an outbreak of Legionnaires disease, which end up in the cooling towers of Post CS, the building temporarily housing Stedelijk (Town) museum. That resulted in a fatality.

Generally, I wear a suit to work, but never in this kind of weather, my full African garb consisting of a white guinea caftan with trousers to match and a traditional Yoruba cap is good fashion against the heat and the sun.

Whereas this offers an opportunity to dress up or dress down depending on how you look at it, the amount of exposed flesh observed on others sometimes leaves much to be desired.

The tone of a raccoon

As I waited at the bus stop, there were signs of what that sun and more at done to many; people who take off their sunglasses and you see the facial equivalent of a panty-line the barely tanned eyes in the collage of a face that makes the people look like happy raccoons.

Somehow, everyone wants a tan of sort regardless of the risks, even if they have slapped on gallons of sunscreen.

The converse is the tone, darker skinned people who attempt to lighten up using chemicals that are probably better tested on gullible humans than helpless animals.

A lot can be done to tone skin and other exposed parts of the body like the legs and the lower arms.

Knuckles, Elbows, Knees all darker

Summer however affords the opportunity to dress light, expose more and in effect reveal the stubborn dark parts that the creams could not lighten.

This lady in front of me as I tried to board the bus had been at it, and her elbows so contrasted with the general skin tone one would have thought those were tailored patches.

Another stubborn region is the knees and the knuckles; I would not make too much fuss about palm prints.

Vitiligo might be the haven for some, but the uniformity of skin discolouration would leave one rather suspect of that diagnosis, but with goes without saying that when these issues come up, Michael Jackson is a full appreciation of bigger considerations as your pigment deserts you.

Reference

Skin Bleaching vs Tans

Skin Bleaching/ Lightening & Its Dangers