Tuesday 15 March 2016

Maxfield Parrish


"I've got two bottles of Champagne - this one, and this one called 'Krug'. Which one shall we open first?"

Well, being innocents, we opened the Krug and glugged it down, thinking it quite pleasant. The other - when opened - was a Big Yellow Taxi experience, and a sharp awakening about the comparative qualities of Champagne. Wrong order.

Someone (not unrelated to this post) gave me a two-pint bottle of Southern Comfort around the same time, but this really needs to be glugged down, which I and a couple of friends did over a one night period. Let's just say that - like Special Brew - it was an interesting experience which I have no intention of repeating.

At this time, I was obsessed with a romantic notion of Greece. Retsina was my wine of choice.

A wine so resinous, that you exuded incense from your very pores the whole of the next day.

I went to Athens and I ordered a half bottle of Retsina with my lunch. It wasn't just awful like ordinary Retsina, it was cloudy, vinegar and undrinkable.

I refused it and asked for a replacement. The waiter returned and said that was the last drop of Retsina in the house. Greece. No Retsina.

I blame Maxfield Parrish.

I am fed up with Google, sick of my acquaintances and tired of the people who profess to be my friends.

40 comments:

  1. Naaaaaasty grrrrrr! This is why I stick to scotch only.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Southern Comfort tastes great with Sprite.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sprite + hydrogen peroxide = high explosive.

      Delete
  3. That's when I tell them to fuck off. I feel like that over here tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel like that tonight...there must be a full moon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In so many adverse things recently, I seem not to be alone. Fuck it anyway, eh?

      Delete
    2. Chin up dearheart!
      Dont let the bastards grind you down

      Delete
    3. Difficult unless I win the lottery.

      Delete
  5. The only thing I ever learned to say in Greek was 'And a bottle of Retsina please'. Priorities.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just beginning to come off a two month battle with IHAYA; not sure I'm ready to give it up just yet, however.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm off to 16th century Oxfordshire this morning to change the course of history using paint and wire brushes.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lay off the Southern Comfort. Content yourself with a cocoa at bedtime and remember all your bloggy friends love you dearly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like the last bit, but the first two are out of the question.

      Delete
  9. Sorry you are low this day, for it is going to be beautiful at the farm. I have an old print of that painting. I don't get the connection - you have to draw me a picture, or is that you lying on the ground?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's an old girlfriend lying on the ground, and another leaning over her.

      Delete
  10. I will always associate Southern Comfort with Janis Joplin. Even though I grew up in the South, I don't remember ever having even a sip of the stuff. My memory could be faulty.

    After staying up to watch televised results of yesterday's Presidential primary elections, I am feeling very dispirited today.

    Best wishes to you on your Oxfordshire efforts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It takes a lot to kill someone like Janis Joplin, but S.C. is quite a lot.

      Delete
  11. In my misspent youth, I once drank a whole lot of Southern Comfort and the first result was a very drunken state in which I made a telephone call I never ever should have made. The second result was that I passed out but not before I was violently ill over my living room carpet. And the third was that the next morning I had to clean it all up...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amateur. Worse - an amateur without servants. Oh well, you must have moved onto something with less sugar, I suppose.

      Delete
  12. Put me right then. Good stuff first, not so good stuff second. A Cana (Wedding at)lesson?
    Mild cheese first then the mighty blue goat?
    They are about to do a new version of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals so Retsina ought to become popular for a while.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Durrells were all alcos and Greece is bankrupt, so I'm not sure about sales of the stuff. Bad first, better second, I think was the lesson.

      Delete
  13. Chin up...this too shall pass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All things must pass - including hangovers from Southern Comfort.

      Delete
  14. I had to be carried out of The Red Lion in Holborn after a Southern Comfort session. After telling the man next to me at the bar that I didn't drink whiskey he told me that I would like Southern Comfort and coke ...... he should have told me not to drink the whole bottle !!!!! ..... I haven't drunk it since !!
    Us bloggers are the best friends to have as we are anonymous and don't have to talk face to face...... I think you'll be OK once Rachel is back from Barcelona !!!! XXXX

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ugh. Southern Comfort. Only for the young and inexperienced. My taste runs more to Lagavulin these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was you who bought me the huge bottle of Southern Comfort. Remember?

      Delete
    2. 1976 - Just before the house fire at Green Park. I drank it with Bill, then the house caught fire, despite him pissing on my bedroom carpet.

      Delete
    3. ... or maybe because of him pissing on my bedroom carpet...

      Delete
  16. Maybe that painting should have been called, 'Waking Up after a Night on Southern Comfort'?

    ReplyDelete