Whilst wandering around and getting lost in the Dark Forests of Internet Car-Dorkery, I stumbled on this vision, the Maserati A6/54 2000 Zagato Spyder:
It’s not too horrible from the rear, either:
And its interior is blissfully simple and devoid of modern geegaws, like airbags and seatbelts.
It was made in 1955, and even if you were to win the biggest lottery around, good luck finding it. “It?”
They made one. One.
On one of the days this past weekend, I wanted to serve Whisky Macs to my guests because a) it’s a warm, festive drink and b) why should I be the only one to suffer the next day?
For the uninitiated, one makes a Whisky Mac (back story is here) with these two ingredients:
Of course, the Scotch was no problem, but the Stone’s Ginger Wine…?
Nowhere to be found. Some bastard must have crept into my house unnoticed and drunk it without my noticing him. I had to resort to serving the usual (gin, single malt, wine, etc.) but I was mightily embarrassed, I can tell you.
Which is bad enough, but the thought of New Year’s Eve without a Whisky Mac… [shudder]
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the range — and then the liquor store.
As I’ve often warned: because our governing elites are in thrall to things that Europeans do — just off the top of my head, socialism, government-run medical systems, Corona cops and Scandinavian-level tax rates — what happens Over There often repeats itself Over Here.
Hence my bile directed at this latest little bit of Nannyism from Britishland:
Supermarket promotions of unhealthy food will be curbed as part of the Government’s war on obesity.
‘Buy one get one free’ deals on fizzy drinks, crisps and fatty foods will be banned in medium and large stores, as well as on websites, from April 2022.
And free refills of sugary soft drinks will be prohibited in restaurants and fast food outlets.
I know that we’ve seen examples of this before — once again off the top of my head, Malignant Dwarf I mean Mayor “Mike” Bloomberg’s ban on Big Gulps in NYFC a few years ago — but make no mistake, there is no part of your life that Bug Gummint isn’t interested in sticking its fat, snot-dripping wart-infested nose into.
By the way, I was in the restaurant business many years ago, and the “no free refills” is easily bypassed by asking customers if they think they’ll need refills, then adding a 1-cent surcharge onto the bill, making refills no longer “free”. The cost of trying to police such practices makes the game not worth the candle, even for Gummint.
And as a one-time supermarket guy, let me assure you that any restriction on BOGO offers (or BOGOF, as they call it elsewhere) is just as easily circumvented in the scanning system — and that’s impossible for Gummint to monitor.
More Big Gummint bullshit, this time from Ozland:
Partygoers heading out to celebrate New Year’s Eve in two of Australia’s most populous states have been told by government officials what’s good for them, being warned against any random acts of affection due to the risks posed by the coronavirus.
In the southern state of Victoria, the government wants no displays of physical contact such as kissing despite the state going 59 consecutive days with no locally acquired coronavirus cases.
The state government has issued guidance for people not to kiss anyone outside their immediate family, to prevent celebrations becoming a super spreading event.
Victorians are also being advised to take hand sanitizer to parties on the night and use it liberally on anyone they come in contact with.
So, you wayward Aussies, your government is telling you there’ll be none of this:
…or this:
…or gawd forbid, this:
…just plenty of this:
No wonder people are becoming home-drunks.
My old Dad always used to say, “If you want a job done quickly and efficiently, ask a lazy man to do the job.” I bet this guy’s real lazy.
Kentucky man drinking a beer, smoking a cigar and wearing a bath robe uses a flamethrower to clear snow from his driveway
The pictures are priceless.
As the West descends further into Covid Madness, articles like this (via Insty)are becoming more common:
During the pandemic, alcohol has become an easy way to self-medicate, aided by the fact that liquor and wine stores were deemed essential services from the start. Many even offer delivery, with apps like MiniBar filling in the gaps. New Yorkers who ache for fresh air and company have been able to order cocktails to go from restaurants and enjoy them on the sidewalk.
[Aside: sorry about the NYfT link, but it’s necessary this once.]
It’s not just New York, of course, which is suffering from pandemic alcoholism, as they call it. (Much as New Yorkers like to think that they’re the only people on the world, or at least they’re the only people in the world who matter, they aren’t.) In fact, this is happening in London, Berlin, Sydney, Paris and pretty much in all large cities suffering not only from fear of getting the Chinkvirus and dying, but from autocratic politicians who are intent on putting everyone under house arrest out of fear — fear that if lots of people start dying on their watch, they may be blamed for doing nothing. (The more cynical may just think that assholes like MichGov Wilmer are doing this stuff just because they can, but let’s ignore that for the moment.)
Any time people are imprisoned, or feel like they’re being imprisoned, all sorts of bad behaviors start to emerge, of course, and boozing is just one manifestation; rampant sexuality and domestic violence are two others.
Actually, the situation of women drinking too much has been going on for a long time — far earlier than March/April 2020, for sure.
New Wife and I have been watching modern Brit TV dramas — especially crime — for a while now, and if there’s one thing you can bet the house on, it’s that whenever the female lead or heroine arrives home in the evening after a long day of catching murderers / treating patients / dealing with sexual harassment at her place of work / [insert your favorite example of female superiority here], there’s going to be a glass or bottle of wine waiting for her when she walks in the door. I know it’s fiction, but entertainment reflects the Zeitgeist, and women drinking alone or on a regular basis when coming home is pretty much ubiquitous.
These days, there is a general, distorted sense of what healthy and acceptable drinking is, Dr. Kirane said. “Responsible drinking is reinforced by structure in people’s lives — going to work, taking their kids to school, interacting and maintaining a home,” he explained. “The pandemic has turned such boundaries on their head and created more space for alcohol.”
I really have no opinion on this issue, because it’s one of those “If A then B” facets of the human condition. Nor, of course, am I going to pass judgment on people who have become hopeless drunks, because there but for the grace of God, etc. etc.
I am, however, going to suggest that the motherfucking control-freak politicians and medical charlatans who are ultimately responsible for all this foolishness should be tarred and feathered, but that reason is just the latest in a long line of reasons, as appear on these pages on pretty much a weekly basis, for such an action.
