11. Down The Dog

 

The noise of the self isolation sirens are dying away. The seriousness that greeted us at the start of the original lockdown has been replaced by a numb mundanity as we await the start of the endgame. We will disembark the Corona-coaster dazed and confused, the shutters will go up again on the high street, but what will the world be like and more importantly what will we be like?

We have been through war style shortages and the good old blitz spirit on our doorsteps. We had false restarts, double standards, corruption, errors and good old human nature which is now bringing us back around nicely to get ready for… for a new age?....a new enlightenment?...a new awareness of the fragility of life?...Or just the pubs to reopen again so we can get slaughtered with our mates and pretend like this was all a bad dream?

The government has given us a road map out of lockdown, a road map that reopens everything back to normal three days before Boris Johnson's birthday. As with all road maps it involves us navigating and driving ourselves out of this mess. Like most reading of maps it will involve plenty of wrong turns and arguments. Big government will recede under the rock it crawled out from and we have to navigate the murky waters of hope and social anxiety.

There is talk of reducing the tax on a pint of beer in the next budget to cap the already fever pitch mentality that is gripping the country. So how did we cope without pubs? I miss them as a place to meet up and I miss them as a destination on a bike ride. Apart from that I haven't really missed them that much as I’ve stopped drinking. Pubs reopening for me is a mixed blessing. The sun was shining yesterday when I was returning from a bike ride. In the old days I would love nothing better than stopping at a pub for a couple on the way home. Maybe pick up a bottle of wine for that night. The feeling was tangible and strong. It is a definite trigger. (Check out blog 4. Trigger and Alarm Bells) I rode it out and did not act on it and an hour later I was in an entirely different mind set. I was glad I had not chosen to have a drink and was settled at home. Those trigger minutes can lead to alcohol hours and for some alcohol days and weeks. They are memories of lost summer days and a carefree feeling that we think only alcohol can bring us. 

Why do we as humans take a summer's day and a feeling of great accomplishment and joy and then want to pour ethanol all over it? Why do we think it will get better when we know it will probably get worse. Worse for mental and physical health and worse for our relationships.

I get that when we meet our friends we may not know what to say at first and alcohol reduces inhibition. But you have got to ask yourself, are these the right friends? Is a friend someone you can’t talk to unless you are pissed? You could always get a dog that seems like an ice-breaker. Perfect strangers say nice things to one another when they have dogs. I have noticed dog-based-banter on the rise the more I go out. (once a day).

The pub does give us that sense of community. It can be a central meeting place and great place to socialize and yes I don’t have to drink if everyone else is. I think what we have all been missing is not the alcohol it is the sense of community and something to get dolled up for. We need community more than we thought. From the days of needing a crew to drop a wooly mammoth to booking a room for our kid's third birthday party. Over the years our TVs got bigger and bigger as our communities got smaller and smaller. It is now difficult to pinpoint what they look like and blink and you may miss them. Communities can offer free help and support to people instead of them relying on large corporations and organizations. The pub gave us this focus and this is what we miss. The pub is somewhere to go other than your living room where you might meet someone that can look at your car or plaster your wall.

The other thing the pub is good for is it gives us a great reason to put different clothes on. Clothes we have only just bought. Clothes that we think are going set the world on fire when in fact no one really gives a shit after saying “Nice top mate does your wife know you have stolen it?”. At least it started the banter. 

I am not saying it is exclusive to one gender but women do love to get dressed up. Men mistakenly think they are doing it for male attention but virtually all women will tell you they are doing it for them. It is a vital part of self healing, empowerment and is a confidence thing. Once the message of the road roadmap out of lockdown was announced the buzz in work was that finally the girls would have a reason to put on false eyelashes. 

The problem is alcohol is the uninvited guest at the party. Like the summers day, like the success at work, like a birthday party, alcohol manages to invite itself along without anyone questioning it. It is so deep in our awareness, but how did it get there? It somehow how sneaked under compounds of our awareness and laid siege to our belief system. It was inevitable that it would appear in the end of lockdown celebrations.

This link was sent me by a friend just this morning onewayroadtobeer.com. It is a bit of fun that is circulating, but it underlines the point I am making. We let alcohol define us and shape our awareness and we don't feel a thing. We all have the ability to fuck ourselves up in anyway we see fit and is our inalienable right. So isn’t it my inalienable right to feel slightly superior to those people who still want to obliterate themselves? I guess not as that would appear I am judging them and as we are all told judgment is bad toleration is good. We are given free will and it is up to us to choose our path even though that path may lead to ill health both mentally and physically.

The system that I've found my own path in is still the system that existed before. I cannot want this to close over because I made it through. I am reminded of the ship in the futuristic film that left an impression on me when I was kid. I saw When Worlds Collide when I was about eleven at Mr. Choen's film club at Castle Hall Middle school in Mirfield West Yorkshire.

            When Worlds Collide

I remember the big spaceship on the ramp ready to send off the chosen few before the earth was destroyed. People fought to be taken aboard. Who would we choose now? Will I be strapping my seatbelt over me next to a non-dairy, vegan whole food high functioning scientist? Or will I be the one bludgeoning him to death with a turkey leg and stealing his passport? Would we take an alcoholic or drug addict? You never know they can be pretty resourceful. It is not by accident that they can pay out enormous quantities of cash and still function enough to seek out and pay for more. Similar things are happening now as Ellon Musk is planning on heading into space. Mars is in the news as our planet is dying. I know one thing for certain: Mars is definitely more dead than here. In fact it looks deader than a night out in Cheadle. If only we could convince all the other meglomaniac wankers to get on the spaceship with him the earth may stand a chance.

I guess we come down to the fact that I thrive if we all thrive as I am part of the whole. The success of a society comes when you take everyone with you, not just the few. When I studied politics there was a great theory that I found it hard to fight. Part of John Rawl’s book Theory of Justice described “The Veil of Ignorance”. This was a theoretical blind fold that stopped you seeing what person you were going to be in the society you wanted to construct. You could be blind, rich, mentally challenged or high functioning and yes you could be sober or a drunk. Given that you had no idea what you would be, would you roll the dice on your existence or do you construct safety nets and protections for all eventualities?

So I get back to the fact we have to do better here right now. We have had a taste of a different life  and we have been given the reset button by a shitty virus but are we all going to restart with the same software installed? I have flourished during lockdown as there has been no pressure to do anything else. I have had the chance to allow myself to be me. I like me now but I am not sure if what I have made for myself is strong enough to withhold the pressures as the dam breaks and the beer gardens fill up again.

It is times like these that I hope for non alcoholic pubs that sell decent priced good food. Where we can meet up with our families and friends in a social environment and not one totally geared up to draining our pockets and brain cells. I welcome the day I set off for the Vegan Arms and grab a board game on the way in to set up waiting for my friends. In the “mind and body” garden a yoga class is on and the sun is shining on a new day and exciting day. So get your best yoga pants out and get your lashes on I’ll see you down the Dog.