JUST A HIPPIE GYPSY

Not Drinking can be Hazardous to your Health

I have given up alcohol for Lent. This is really going to be a big sacrifice. I love coconut rum, and since several of the brands are offering rebates, I have discovered the wide wide world of flavored runs. Stopping the madness is not going to be fun. Yet, as a sacrifice for Lent, I can do it.

Last night Poo-Poo and I go out on the town in Newport. Well, we go out in a tiny spot of the town in Newport. Big Joe Duskin, a mainstay on the Cincinnati Blues circuit, was playing at the Big Blue Fish in the Levee. It was a celebration for his 84th Birthday.

Sounded like a good time, so I drove up yesterday evening for the event. The bar was packed yet we managed to find a spare chair in the back behind the room divider of tropical plants. I was able to see the stage by kneeling on the chair. To say he was terrific would be an understatement. We stayed for one set and then decided to go across the street to Southgate House to see it Straw Boss was playing.

To get across the street, one must cross about six lanes of traffic. One of the oncoming lanes leads to the ramp to cross one of the many bridges over the Ohio...the Mac Bridget I think. We look up to the traffic light, which is about 20 yards away. The light is red and the cars are all revering their engines waiting for the green.

"We can make it to the middle." Poo-Poo says to me as he begins to dart across the street.

I look at the traffic to gage whether I should risk it when I absentmindedly walk off the curb not realizing it. Down I go right on my knees! My reflexes are swift and I was able to get my hand out in front of my as I slammed face first into the concrete.

I was only aware that I was on the ground in front of a qucikly approaching wall of impatient lights! Poo-Poo helps me up..."Walk it off! Walk it off!" he instructs me as if I am a football player.

I am really stunned and in semi-shock. I could only think I WAS ABSOLUTELY SOBER! It is too dangerous for me, being Irish! I need alcohol in my system or the earth is rotating off its axis!

I'm certain everyone in traffic who witnessed the spectacle thought I was drunk. A drunk falling in the street. How crazy is that!

Poo-Poo and I have laughed and laughed about it since. My right wrist is slightly sprained ....jeez.