On Drink by Kingsley Amis, author of a magnificent magnum opera, including The Folks That Live on The Hill http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-folks-that-live-on-hill-by-magister.html 10 out of 10

 On Drink by Kingsley Amis, author of a magnificent magnum opera, including The Folks That Live on The Hill http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-folks-that-live-on-hill-by-magister.html

10 out of 10

 

 

It is testament to the greatness of The King – I have just learned that friends called him King or Kingers , and readers, fans might as well refer to him as ‘The King’- that one could enjoy one of his masterpieces, even when the subject is of little, or no interest to him, her or they – by the way, I wonder what he would make of the phenomenal changes in the moeurs of the present, notions we find in the Co-Winner of The 2019 Booker Prize Girl, Woman, Other http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/girl-woman-other-by-bernardine-evaristo.html by Bernardine Evaristo

 

After all, The King complained about the transformation of the pubs, from places where men (mostly) could chat and drink, to locals with slot machines (or something like that) with children in attendance –he invited the audience to send letters in response to the articles he published and in response, there was a winner of the three liters bottle of Scotch of Whiskey (in this opus we see that the e makes the difference between the Irish and Scottish products,  among other valuable information that is imparted here), who had been a landlord and he explains that with women working, they want to bring children to the pub, and the other changes have been brought about by financial pressures.

If not exactly a teetotaler, I abstain from drink, because with great pauses, of some years in between, when there is a beano, then the chances are that I will pass out – there is one celebration today, happy birthday Hunter, and I do not know if I will be in attendance, fearing that I will be drunk, seem to have a cold, there are some ruffians there that I do not particularly long to see again, it is at the other end of this large city and I do not enjoy drinking, the end result is often pleasant, though my spouse keeps banging on about the last time, when I called her to drive and bring me back home from the street near that party, and once in the mansion, I just passed out on the mattress of the dog…well, one of the five borzois which she had planted on me at the time…no wonder I tried to find refuge in absinth…

 

There are many recipes that are perhaps the main point of the book, which I will never try, how could I, seeing that I stay away from the simplest of tipples, make the effort to squeeze oranges, lemons, put glasses in the fridge – indeed, there is also a list with the necessary, and a serious drink man has to have his own fridge, perhaps with a lock on it, otherwise the spouse will start filling it with rubbish (aka food) and this brings us to the reason why reading The King is so exhilarating, exalting, it is because he has a fantastic sense of humor, directness, honesty, and a mind like no other…well, Marcel Proust would be an equal http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/un-amour-de-swan-by-marcel-proust.html

Somerset Maugham is another absolute favorite of this reader http://realini.blogspot.com/2012/12/rain-and-other-south-pacific-stories-by.html notwithstanding the fact that Kingsley Amis may have been less enthusiastic about the novelist, he mentions an interior in jest, saying it looked like one from a novel by Somerset Maugham, maybe as an irony, I am not sure

 

It could have been in I Like It Here http://realini.blogspot.com/2012/12/rain-and-other-south-pacific-stories-by.html where the protagonist moves to Lisbon, at a time when poets and literati could claim they have no means and then they were allowed to eat free (I can’t remember about drink) and Amis says this is a measure that could not possibly be envisaged in Great Britain, something to do with bankrupting the state I guess

The author makes sure that he does give the advice in the most responsible and mirthful way – stating that he does not want to be blamed for the use of the recommended drink, especially in court – and repeats that one cocktail or another must be taken with caution, admitting to limitations in this vast subject

 

He has not tasted the drink made from fermented mare’s or camel’s milk in the Mongolian steppes (incidentally, it must have been in The Russian Girl http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-russian-girl-by-magister-ludi.html the sublime jest, when something smelled peculiar, we hear it must be Eau d’Ulan Bator) and the drink man has his preferences, not so much a fan of wine, albeit he lists the advantages, the fact that people expect to have it (or did some decades ago) women will ask for a glass of white wine – a small one, as if this would diminish the trouble to get to the fridge, uncork the bottle, pour it and come back, just as other guests are arriving…evidently, this and other episodes would be under heavy fire in our age, alas, I am not sure how much people read any more, and Kingsley Amis in particular

Much, if not all of the advice is useful for hosts, such as the suggestion or imperious demand that we do not overspend when we intend to make cocktails, because the refinement of the wine is lost in a concoction, we must not be stingy – in the introduction, we hear that at one party, Kingers dropped his glass and broke it, saying ‘oh, so good it was empty’, making a point, for there are hosts who do not provide enough booze, and then this is the book to consult, to see how expenses can be limited, with maximum success.

 

The Magister Ludi dismisses wines from the Balkans, often, when an example of something really nasty, he mentions Bulgarian, wines from Cyprus (he does not even deign to mention the products from our realm, albeit they have invested a lot and I would be curious to know what he thinks now…I have met at the sauna Downtown a man from…Chile, one of the most developed countries in the world, a leader in Latin America clearly, who was here to work as a wine expert, in one of a dozen new vineyards, wine producing enterprises, with serious ambitions, they would not bring and pay somebody to travel all across the globe, just to have fun) and there are plenty of examples of cocktails, some the creation of the divine author, that will be of great use, if only the reader is also a drink man, and even more if he has a habit of entertaining, having people over to imbibe, talk and enjoy the benefits of alcohol…beer is also present and praised, I think Carlsberg is the favorite of our guide, there are articles on what drink is suitable for what food, and English menus are better suited with beer http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world