Dingo the Dissident

THE BLOG OF DISQUIET : Qweir Notions, an uncommonplace-book from the Armpit of Diogenes, binge-thinker jottings since 2008 .

Monday, 11 November 2024

After ten hours' sleep

and interesting, rarely unpleasant, dreams
I wake up in the morning
worrying needlessly, regretting that
and wondering why I'm still alive.

In the early evening (after a third of a bottle
of wine) I go to bed feeling quite cheerful
that I so easily and painlessly survive.


10 comments:

Jindra K. Hrdlička said...

I regret that alcohol must be avoided. And you, Antoníne are having three bottles of vine ?

Wofl said...

Only half a bottle! As we get older, the less alcohol we consume. But I could never drink more than one bottle of wine or a litre of beer (half-litre of Guinness). I have been drunk only twice in my life: it is not at all a pleasant state.

Martin said...

I’m glad Jindra asked the question I was curious about too, and I am surprised to learn that you have never really indulged in the nether realms of ethanol, Anthony.

I once spent a long time contemplating how often getting drunk was actually worth it and memorable. I could only think of a handful of instances, all from a very long time ago. Nevertheless, I still habitually consume somewhat hazardous amounts of beer and wine. A friend of mine, who considers being intoxicated a primitive state of mind, once asked me what I liked about getting drunk. It could best be described as (un)comfortably pillowed depression.

Yours,
Martin (finally "travelling" again)

Jindra K. Hrdlička said...

I love your definition Martin. Once someone asked me that if I drink, I feel that I’ll become more interesting. On the contrary, I drink to make other people more interesting.

Wofl said...

Well, I consume things only because I like them. I am not particularly fond of beer (I'd drink it only two or three times a year at most) and I don't care for pubs and bars (which I have frequented only when travelling or - long ago - when cruising), but I like wine, both red and white. Otherwise I wouldn't drink it. I also like very special spirits - 25-year-old Calvados, top quality cognac and eau-de-vie de marc, one or two Speyside whiskies and even Irish whiskey. My favourite alcoholic drink is Krug Brut champagne...which I last drank in 1987, and for which I now substitute bubbly wines from Alsace, the Loire or Gaillac made by the same old method. I can get quite good ones for under €10 a bottle.

I also love freshly-pressed orange juice.

I used to love smoking a pipe, but I gave up because I was getting addicted. Though, a few months ago I 'had a puff or two' to revisit the pleasure.


So now you know me inside-out.

Happy travelling...to where ? Kosovo ? Armenia ? Tajikistan ?

Wofl said...

JINDRA: they rarely do get more interesting. Probably because I'm getting more 'limited' myself, I find people pretty boring and with only the most superficial differences.

Martin said...

No exotic destinations, for I am both a bore and a coward! I have been in Copenhagen for about three weeks now, but I have mostly spent my time inside my brother's flat, sleeping too much and walking around town too little. Also, the city is kind of bland, to be honest, but that might just be my psyche and not exactly being keen on the "things of Man" anymore.

I might visit a friend in Oslo next week and then hike along the west coast of Götaland—which won't exactly be a joy either, given it will be nearly December then.
Originally, I meant to have a grand journey, visiting the Scottish Highlands, the Nuraghe of Sardegna, and getting to see Germany on foot after almost an entire sedentary decade. But of course, none of that has ever materialised.
I am a bit at a loss on how to proceed, but as a friend of mine remarked about me: I am like a turd, sticking to wherever I have been dropped.

A friend of my brother suggested I move to Greenland, as they basically live for the day there and don't like things being complicated.
Just a bit ago the local downtrodden Inuit started shouting again. She has been doing that every night since my arrival, if I am not mistaken.

Wofl said...

I loved Copenhagen in the early sixties, even before Christiania replaced the old naval site on Christianshavn. You could 'shift your ass' as the Americans are wont to say, and take the ferry to Rønne, Bornholm for the weekend. The round churches are rather beautiful. You could check an address for me in the town. I stayed a few months on Christiansø which is a piece of rock to the North-east. Travel was by very smelly fishing-boat, but that was 60 years ago and now it's almost certainly a hydrofoil or very fast Fährschiffchen (lille færje på dansk).

I had my first (very daunting) vaginal penetration on Christiansø. I didn't manage orgasm for either of us !

I used to travel in the winter, with the boat tossing about, lots of spray. Inside the cabin was stiflingly hot from a stove; outside on deck was a bit alarming. But Bornholm itself might be pleasant this November... Say hello to Kierkegaard's ghost, and to Tygge Brahe's splendid tower from me, not to mention Vor Frelserskirke. I first heard a Carl Nielsen symphony (the fourth, den Uundslykkelig) in the Tivoli concert hall.

I have forgotten most of my Danish, but sometimes a Danish word comes to mind when I am searching for a French one.

Jindra K. Hrdlička said...

I enjoy reading about your travels. Last year I was in Halifax and had lobster in a restaurant called The Bicycle Thief. Named after a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. One of my favourites. The name is great but the lobster wasn’t.

Wofl said...

The Bicycle Thief is a great film. (You can download it via torrent/P2P from rutracker.org - my free source for dozens of great films...from Romania, Slovakia, Iran, Ireland, Argentina, Finland, Belgium, Czechia (as it is now called), Britain, Ireland and Iceland. But you have to czech for appropriate subtitles and remove Russian dubbing.)
It's much more usual that a film is a degradation of a book than that a restaurant is a defamation of a film!