Ladies and gentlemen, this is the closest to an inebriated blog I am ever likely to post.
For I do not drink and I do not inhale, and I am usually in iron control of my faculties.
But a good doctor with a bow tie and a miracle cure for migraines has changed everything for me, and I am far too hippie-chick happy to debate whether this is an actual bona fide side effect of the medication, or whether I am just demob happy after two score years of bondage to headache hell.
I have just dropped Felix off to football, and on reflection I don’t think I shall take one of those pills and drive in the future.
Not because I was not safe behind the wheel, but because the impulse to test the car’s stereo volume to its outer reaches simply overcame me, and I have polluted my home town and its genteel sister-village with some simply classic Peter Gabriel at what must have topped 150 decibels.
Soon the local council will need to equip themselves with patrol cars to flag me down and enforce a 100 decibel ceiling on my mobile disco. It is a measure of my current state of mind that I am wondering idly what colour its flashing light might be, should it ever materialise.
Rainbow coloured, of course.
Pete Gabriel puts me in mind of three days long ago, when we were young and men were winsome long haired neo-romantics like Robert Smith.
I was a cub reporter with a mind of her own. My exasperated editor needed me on hard news, but I would keep wandering off to the Arts Section, where they would let me write anything I liked.
In those days the mansion I later managed was a bright spark in London’s outer halo, and it had caught the eye of the Great Gabriel himself. WOMAD – a world of Music and Dance- was a regular squatter there, and as local reporter I got a press pass.
Oh, Reader, it is so very rare that the world comes to camp on one’s doorstep. But for me, it happened. Overnight, our slightly shabby mansion became filled with tie-dye and dreadlocks, and every flavour of music under the sun.
Everywhere one walked there were exotic kaftans, nose rings and raffia sandals. The languages and dialects would have graced Babel. I wandered and listened and wondered and danced and marvelled.
Night time was illuminating. Lanterns? You’ve never seen such lanterns. Aladdin’s cave could not have boasted more colours. The stalls glittered with bling from every corner of the globe.
You may notice I have avoided talking about the evidence of my spacious and voluminous nose.
And for good reason, for it is the finale of the tale. For about the magical mystery scene hung a Tennysonian haze whose olfactory roots Alfred Lord Tennyson might not have recognised.
But Sherlock Holmes would have loved it, had he been anything but fictional. Just walking through this mist of mellow fruitfulness was enough to render one peaceful and eternally content.
Tomorrow simply did not matter any more, which was a shame, because it was deadline day, and my editor would not appreciate any hallucinogenic excuses for a dearth of lead story.
The mist hung quite low, and I was quite tall. If I stooped, I could take long drafts of this distinct atmosphere. It was a magical evening.
And now here I sit with similar euphoria. Because just hours ago I was contemplating three days of relentless grinding pain, and now life looks rosy.
There is a riveting piece of footage taken of British marines in 1964. Someone determined that they should help demonstrate the effect of LSD on troops. Within minutes of their doses, given in a glass of water, the radio operator could no longer send messages and a marine escort had to be directed to HQ, which loomed up in full view in front of him.
The unit’s commander was forced to abort the unit’s mission when a soldier climbed a towering tree to feed the birds. Once the mission was over, the commander lay down, there in the woods, to take a nap.
It is a startling loss of focus. And it’s very funny. But is it just me who views it very differently, from this distance?
A Fleet Street photographer of the time, John Hopkins, likened the widespread use of LSD, or Acid, as an act to open Pandora’s Box. Some argued those who used LSD crossed new boundaries in creativity and the arts. Others blame it for poor mental health, accidental deaths and suicides.
Whatever your opinion, LSD was a one-way ticket, a journey of no return. And if ever a man expressed that with incredible delicacy and insight, it was JG Ballard.
‘The Kindness of Women’ is the second part of Ballard’s autobiography. And while Empire of the Sun is a vibrant piece of focus, this follow up is a wandering reflection on a very different life to the fiery opening years of his life.
Such a complex man, Ballard had at his heart a very male paradox: a need for cataclysm, and a yearning for the parochial.
In The Kindness, Ballard created a ‘fictional autobiography’: he made up events and people to represent the significant milestones in his life. Who knows where story ends and reality begins.
From his house in Shepperton, he was close to the middle of the revolution LSD brought in its wake. He had friends who examined its effectiveness and he lost loved ones to its thrall.
He had seen the very extremes life had to offer, and this was just one more.
What is extraordinary about this man is how he took the whole culture of his time and said at the end of it all, with very little in the way of judgement: we are tired. We are exhausted from our experiments.
It is much, much later now and I have emerged from my migraine medication free of that headache which could have decimated three days.
Like Ballard, the high was nice. Actually, it was funny. But now I’m just tired from my adventures.
What I need is rest.
Find the British marine exercise at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-rWnQphPdQ
Kate Shrewsday 
I’ve seen that video before — really fascinating — but what they don’t mention are the hundreds of LSD tests the US Government ran (Project MKULTRA?) on unsuspecting subjects, many of whom were given too high doses and were permanently injured. It’s hard to get solid facts though when most reports come from Sharpie-d govt. memos or conspiracy theorists.
Anyways, I hope LSD was not your headache cure though Hugh Laurie did use it as such in an episode of House.
Mescaline, on the other hand…
No, not LSD. Miraculous, though, and very funny for a short while:-)
Glad you’re feeling better Kate. It certainly seemed like a pick-me-up and a half after a long day at work!
It was touch and go there for a while, Libs…
Anything that releases you from headache hell is worthy of a 150-decibel celebration. I’m truly, truly happy for you. And I hope it’s available over here.
I hope so too! Thanks Kathy. I will endeavour not to repeat the celebration for the sake of my town. You’re early – hope your fingers had wings as they flew over the keyboard today:-)
Migraine for three days… horrid prospect.
Mine are fairly rare, shorter but pretty disgusting (.. numb half of face and tongue, fizzy hand, change of vision and bounding headache, inability to string a sentence correctly… )
It seems you have found a miracle cure. Can you share the name?
Tryptin I think, Pseu….may edit that once I’ve checked the packet. Apparently migraines happen as a result of an excess of seratonin and this inhibits it. You don’t even have to digest it- just dissolves under your tongue. Amazing.
I used to have ergotomine, but overall it didn’t help!
Triptans: These are prescription drugs and come as tablets, injections and nasal sprays. Triptans relieve pain and other symptoms by constricting blood vessels around the brain and by correcting seratonin imbalances. These drugs rapidly relieve pain, nausea and sensitivity to light in sufferers, and are considered as drugs of choice for those with severe migraines. Sumatriptan was the first drug in this class, others are fovatriptan or zolmitriptan. You may need to try different types to find the one that is best for you.
http://www.familyhealthguide.co.uk/migraine-headache/treatment.html
The side effects are listed here
http://headache.emedtv.com/triptans/side-effects-of-triptans.html
I have a feeling what you experienced could have been euphoria at not having to suffer three days of pain, rather than drug side effects!?!
This is possible:-) But it was very nice indeed…and I don’t think I’ve ever posted a blog quite like that before. Maybe they haven’t tested it on bloggers yet….
Glad the drugs freed you from the migraine. They are pure misery.
So am I Susan, so I am I….after forty years too! Sometimes science really does come up with the goods….thank you:-)
Glad the meds worked Kate, what a trippy post.
I took acid once; it had no effect on me whatsoever. The lady at the restaurant table next to mine though … whoo, those snakes she was eating with her chopsticks and the flowers sprouting from her ears … she must have had some real strong drugs …
It was a lot trippier before my friend and unofficial sub editor Jan read it through…
That was some restaurant you were eating at, Cindy. Our British ones pale in comparison!
Last nights drugs were so strong I was unable to think of a witty enough rejoinder for the peerless Lulubelle/Raisin post. It was total genius:-)
Hi Kate – great news that the doctors have found something that helps with the dreaded migraines.
Re the mind altering drugs theme, you’re up to the minute and topical as always. There was a piece on the news last night about a new exhibition starting at the Wellcome Collection called “High Society” which is all about this.
http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions/high-society.aspx
Miff, you are a fund of useful information, thanks so much! I’ll check it out!
Migraine aura is a bit of a trip all by itself 🙂
Glad you are duly drugged girl.
My dd bought me a lovely glittery bag for my druggy bits- so I can get a bit of a rainbow effect, even before I’ve taken them.
As an older lady once said to me (fine advice imho) “Take lots of drugs dear, take lots of drugs.”
She was actually talking about how I should give birth…but I believe it has universal appeal as advice.
A lovely bag sounds just the ticket. Those drugs are charming as long as it’s one every now and then, but a daily regime does make one rattle so. I hope every day brings a few honest, life-induced rainbow colours. From your posts, I would say that is probably true:-)
I am glad that I have never experienced what I must now term a REAL migraine. As for the threat of a mild migraine attack, my mother put me onto the answer. THE VERY MOMENT the little dither appears at your focal point LIE DOWN and relax completely for 20 minutes or until you feel 100% OK. And cut out margarine and butter and stuff like that for a while. Your type must be a much worse beast. Sorry to hear of it. Glad you fixed it.
Cheers Cyquick 🙂 MIght follow up on the butter thing, its one of my favourite things and I eat way too much….