BEST DEFENCE IS OUR FENCE

I am not sure exactly how long Hugh the Neighbour and I have been enjoying a beer on a Sunday afternoon.

The practice certainly pre-dates this column by a good number of years. In fact, you could say that the column is a result of drinking rather than the other way around.

Last Sunday, for the first time in at least a decade when we were both at home in our respective houses, we chose not to get together for a tasting because of the omnipresent coronavirus.

We live on acreage blocks, our children have all moved away and we are really certain none of us have the bloody disease.

But it just didn’t seem to be worth the risk. In a time when people are dying, so many sick and isolated, still even more staring at an extended period of unemployment, splitting a six-pack and eating cheese and bickies just didn’t seem the right thing to do.

St Paul may indeed tell us in 1 Timothy 5:23 “No longer drink only water but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities”, but it is drinking in the company of others that may well bring our infirmities to the fore.

While age is easy enough to judge from a quick glance, we have no real way of knowing who of our mates has underlying medical conditions from an immune-suppressed system to diabetes. Don’t put anybody at risk.

Having spent years encouraging everybody to get and enjoy new and exciting beverages with friends, both HTN and I say this is the time to just stay home.