I am confused and discombobulated. Sometimes you are forced to reconsider everything that you think is true. Today I was quite hungover after drinking too much white wine after my gig last night. I kept saying at the time that I had to get home as I had to finish my script this weekend, but the allure of just one more drink was enough to keep me out later than I should have. I must have been drunk as I stopped off at chicken cottage on the way home, undoing all the good work of my 40 length swim earlier in the day.
So today I was hungover and pretty much incapable of doing anything productive. My throat was dry and my head hurt and the only thing that I could think would really help would be a fruit pastille lolly or two. I had some in the freezer, but they were of the mutant pineapple variety. This was an emergency and I had to have some comfort and maybe I could eat the first four flavours and stop before my taste buds were too comtaminated by the artificial stink of the pastille abhorrent.
But I was so in need of fruit pastille anti-hangover goodness that once I got to the pineapple bit I didn't stop. I carried on eating and I found myself thinking, maybe this isn't so bad after all. I quite liked it. What had become of me?
I had to have another fruit pastille lolly later as the first one had not been a big enough dose to cure my hangover. And somewhere inside of me a voice was saying, "I actually prefer the pineapple to the lemon, certainly in a hangover situation." Yet I couldn't let the voice speak out as I had already gone on record, vociferously castigating Nestle for tampering with what I thought had been perfect.
In this life nothing is worse than changing your mind. No-one can respect someone who doesn't steadfastly stick to their original opinion, even in the light of new evidence. It is strange that this is the case. You'd think you'd admire a politician for saying that he'd listened to an argument and changed his mind, but in fact that would make him seem weak. We admire consistency in this world and thus my feelings of doubt were actually feelings of weakness. I had championed lemon and now like a false lover I was thinking that maybe pineapple had more to offer me. Perhaps looking back I had been protesting too much all along. Perhaps my vehement defence of lemon was quite so rousing because I knew even then that there was something about this strange and seemingly disagreeable new pineapple flavour that I liked, that I admired, perhaps that I could love. Yet to say I loved pineapple would mean that all my years of loving lemon would mean nothing. I had been fooling lemon and fooling myself and had just been waiting for a more exotic fruit to come along and rescue me from my dull and predicatable last flavour on a fruit pastille lolly.
And now I'd written to Nestle and told them that I hated pineapple, but what if a representative from the company came round to discuss the issue with me and saw me with pineapple stained lips and pineapple breath. I would look like an idiot.
Luckily Nestle had just batted back my complaint and told me to contact Richmond Foods (this is what they said
"Dear Richard
Thank you for your enquiry regarding Nestle Ice Cream.
Nestle Ice Cream enquiries are now handled by Richmond Foods plc whose website address is www.richmond-foods.plc.uk/
Their address and telephone number are;
Richmond Frozen Confectionery
Manston Lane
Crossgates
Leeds
LS15 8SX
Tel: 0808 1005656
Thank you once again for your message.
Kind regards
Karen Short
Consumer Services
Nestle UK Ltd
Freephone 00800 637 853 85")
And luckily I hadn't forwarded my complaint on yet, but still I felt bad.
I am not sure I prefer pineapple and in a way I would like to taste a lemon based lolly again to find out if my doubts are justified, but I am starting to doubt everything I ever believed.
Also I didn't get any of my script written and to be frank, writing this nonsense isn't helping. So I'd better get on with it. A fruit pastille lolly might give me the kick that will set me on my way.
