[jambutty]

I was 11 when alcohol first passed my lips. It was in the middle of the winter of ’47 on a train with no heating and several hours to our destination. My uncle poured a tot of Vodka into a cup of lemon tea to warm me up. It worked. Not only did it warm me up but magically shortened the journey. Or was that because I went to sleep?

At 16 the Australian Inn supplied me with my first half pint of mild.

Until my 20th birthday, when I got my first tot of Navy rum, it was generally mild but not much of it or down south Watneys.

The Navy rum was something to behold and it was issued at 12:00 noon after being drawn from the rum locker at 11:00am to the pipe of “Up Spirits”. Although some wag would sometimes add, “Stand fast the Holy Ghost”.

We, on the lower deck, had our rum watered down with two parts of water to one part of rum. That might sound a bit weak until you consider the strength of the neat stuff, how much we got and when we got it. The neat rum was at least 150 degrees proof (some say it was as high as 180) and each tot was one eighth of a pint. Watered down our tot of rum ended up as three eighths of a pint of liquid around 50 degrees proof and on an empty stomach. Imagine the effect.

Ashore Woods’ Navy rum at 100 degrees proof with two parts of coke added made a pleasant drink if a slice of lemon was added. Black Cat rum obtainable only down south had the same taste as a neat tot but not the strength. As did Old Mariner (in a square bottle) available up here only at Thwaites’ pubs and off licenses.

More than two years in Capetown introduced me to Brandy and Canada Dry ginger ale (horse’s neck) and white wine, the drier the better.

Although I had my alcoholic moments I was never a drinker as such and quit completely after my second heart attack.