NEED – A SMOKE
LIFE is the best teacher it is said, so when writing the segment on addiction in my last post, ‘Need’, I wrote from experience. I would like to elaborate for those who may be interested and tell my true life tale of the battle against and the victory over the dreaded ‘Coughin’ Nail’.

Although suffering from bronchitis from early childhood, I began smoking at 15 (very intelligent I must say) and continued to puff for the next 30 years. At 45, I was a supervisor in the coal mining industry, which required mining staff to have a medical every couple of years, if I remember rightly.

One Friday, the doc politely informed me that there was no need for more checkups as If I continued smoking I would be very lucky to live for another 5 years. I was expecting him to say something like that so was not at all surprised, but something happened inside of me – a decision was made that at the time I did not realize.

I smoked and drank heavily over that weekend and on Sunday night, I said to my boss, “This is the last cigarette I will ever smoke.” His big belly started to violently vibrate and he shrugged me off with a mighty ‘Haw Haw’ and left.

 That was the last cigarette though that I ever did puff. I did not suffer from withdrawal symptoms, no crankiness, no hypertension, no frequent patting of the shirt pocket, no impatience, no nothing. I was instantly a non smoker.

That was over 21 years ago. In hindsight, I now realize that what happened at the doctors surgery was, that to save my life, something had removed that addictive ‘cigarette pleasure image’ from memory, so I had no reference, no image for my ego to recall, so no will power was needed. I simply didn’t smoke anymore.

I chatted with some workmates a few months later and one said that he gave up the smokes for 10 years but still wanted a puff for all that time. Eventually he took up smoking again – the strain had got too much.

He had spent years constantly using his willpower, years of nervousness and anxiety caused by the simple fact that the offending ‘I want the pleasure of nicotine’ image was still there in his egos library. I felt lucky.

If only medical science could work out a way of removing those images that trigger addiction, a lot of people’s lives would be much easier to handle and crime rates would lessen as less people needed to feed their drug habit. Maybe that is a step that is coming soon in man’s evolution. Let’s hope so.

NEED – A DRINK
AS I wrote in ‘My Pal AL-Cohol’, I like a tipple or two so when I read the following article in my local online news, I just had to relay it to you. I have the same method of choosing a wine as he does apparently. The price is irrelevant, in fact my favorite Shiraz costs a whopping A$4.30 a bottle – and even cheaper when it’s on special. It’s still a bloody good drop though.  Have a read and see if you agree – price or taste?…..

EVEN at $599 a bottle, wine lovers this week still rushed for the 2006 vintage of Penfolds Grange, the beloved Australian classic red. But the fanfare was lost on one Brisbane man, whose preference was a bottle of $4.99 Cock ‘n’ Bull 2010 Shiraz in a blind tasting.

The iconic Grange, one of the world’s most sought-after reds, was pitted against the Cock ‘n’ Bull and a $37 Peter Lehmann 2006 Eight Songs Shiraz. The bottles were wrapped in silver foil to disguise them and a panel asked to rate each drop.

But the Grange held no special allure for the Aussie bloke who, after much sniffing and swirling, gave his vote to the Cock ‘n’ Bull. Did he not note the intense berry flavors and silken tannins of the Grange? He just shrugged. Me too!

MEGA EGOSTORE
Another interesting article that came to me via email was the following. Although I usually take little notice of media advertising, this one took my eye. If you have not seen the ad, then it is worth the look. The lead up is…

Across Germany’s northern-most border with Denmark you’ll find an incredible superstore called Fleggaard. There, you can buy everything you need – tubs of gummi bears, cases of wine, industrial strength dishwashing soap – at prices 30% cheaper than you’ll find in Denmark …  It is Denmark ‘s Costco, packaged as a German loophole. This is their advertisement!

The 100+ women do stunts in the air – while free-falling – holding hands to spell out “Half-off on Dishwasher soap at Fleggaard.” You’d be hard-pressed to find a man in Denmark who hasn’t seen and fallen in love with that commercial.  Click FLEGGARD to view.

Dan’s Quote: “Egotist: Someone who is usually me deep in conversation.”

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