Spirit Animal

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I note with some amusement that up until tonight's, ie. this, post, I have hitherto 'created' 2050 previous scribbles over the past five years or so. This made me ponder that by the year 2050 - should I still be physically around, capable or otherwise, I'll be ninety-five. It'll be a nice trick if I can pull it off, despite my best lifestyle efforts to make it probably unlikely. When I made the - admittedly rash - promise to post here without fail at least one jotting a day, I had little hope of so doing, let alone reaching the point at which I find myself presently. It is, to be frank, still a bit of a chore, a rod for my own back; a self-inflicted wound: but I would not wish it otherwise, lest my mental state deteriorate as a consequence of the inevitable inaction that would follow should I stop. If I'm to advance in any way, shape or form towards my nineties - and I've yet to negotiate my current decade: it's just beginning, anyway - I need to remain as far this side of gaga and putrified as I can, for as long as I can.

Whilst having spent a large slice of my life as a barfly and chaser of - exactly what, I'm not sure: there was never a plan - that personal solitudinous space that is the realm of the lone drinker [that is when not partying with a multitude of kindred spirits or at the very last being a responsible parent], has always attracted me from a very young age. My spirit animal for a very long time was - and to an extent still is - Jeffrey Bernard. I'm just a tad more controlled in my excess these days: certainly more controlled than ever he was - although doctors would beg to disagree vis-à-vis alcohol, of course - but I don't suffer from diabetes, my blood pressure is normal and my resting heart-rate is 55bpm. I put most of this down to having had a very active youth as a keen swimmer, cyclist, and a subsequent lifetime of walking, drinking red wine, eating good food [not exclusively] and simply not giving too much of a fuck about stuff. It's worked for me for seventy years: it might not work till 2050, but there's no way of knowing, nor would I wish that otherwise either. Keep you posted, until inevitably, I don't... 

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