Richard vs Richards

For the first Monday in a while, I feel great. No hangover, and I went through a whole day at work without itching to wrap my hands around any of my Planning colleagues’ neck.

So it’s back to writing about what I love more than a whole lot of other things. Here’s two icons of the music world who are still alive and kicking, one through mostly clean living (surprisingly rock stars do that?) and one surprisingly through raising hell.

Vocalist Harry Rodger Webb, otherwise known as Cliff Richard (that’s Sir, to you) is 75 years old. After selling 250 million records and a career spanning 50 years, he’s still rocking. But he’s also still single and living a clean life hanging out between homes in Barbados and Portugal.

Guitarist Keith Richards on the other hand who survived  5 drug-related charges in the 60’s and 70’s, falling out of a coconut tree in 2006 (on his head), is now 71. And no doubt he’s still leading the rock star life, hanging out between Weston, Connecticut and a private island in Turks & Caicos.

Being about a quarter century away from reaching this age group, there’s a few things I can aspire to. From Cliff, I’ll take being single and healthy… and looking Posh. From Keith I’ll take the hard living… and an island of my own.

The occasional Friday post: A cure for hangovers?

Over my many years of binge drinking I’ve suffered through some pretty awful head clangers and gut busters.

I’ve tried the occasional hangover cure punted by fellow guzzlers who always swear by its efficacy, like I’m sure many of you have too… and none of them work, as I’m sure many of you have discovered to your dismay also. Off course there’s the infamous “stay drunk,” which assumes that you never have to at some point rejoin the human (rat) race. And I have even seen a claim of a scientific cure, but it’s obvious that Professor Michael Oshinsky’s rats have not partied like a mofo.

Most of us have consigned ourselves to just facing it; although I’m almost sure none of us actually think too much about the consequences. However new research suggests that there may be a way to beat the hangover, but  you may not like it.

Initial research carried out at the University of Southern Denmark and published in the journal, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, seem to indicate that older people (60+ years) were less likely to experience a hangover than younger people (18 – 29 years). In other words there is a distinct correlation between age and being and victim of the dreaded hangover.

However, as you may well know correlation is not causation, but on a personal level, I can attest that I do suffer less hangovers as I approach 50, but that may well be due to my choice of classier beverages, as the study also concedes.

So, all in all I find it quite amusing that the cure for hangovers is simply “grow the fuck up.”