Monday, July 28, 2003
Drugs on the slippery slope
The Daily Telegraph has had itself a pun-frenzy with this story of – shock horror – club drugs being consumed and sold in the nightspots of Jindabyne.
I actually found the story slightly educational – the last time I went up to the snow, on a cheap uni day trip a few years ago, I wondered at the flocks of snowboardin’ boyz on the mountain. How the fuck did they afford it? I had just assumed that they were spoilt rich kids in disguise, but, if this story is to be believed, some of them are actually quite entrepreneurial in a self-made way – experts at (ahem) carving the powder on and off the mount.
An angle only obliquely hinted at by the Daily Tele, however, was the affront to an Australian national icon, who has been conferred the dubious honour of having both leading Jindabyne nightspots (and so drug dens) named after him and his literary output – Banjo Patterson Inn and Clancy's bar. (Is there a “Henry Lawson gutter” nearby?)
I’m not sure what Banjo would have made of these youthful new frontiers – even though they still feature snowy rivers and overflows galore.
Update 29 July 2003
One day after the Daily Telegraph broke the story, it turns out that a NSW mob has already dreamed up – and got funding for – a Safe Stoned Skiing program.
I’m sure that the nation’s consumer credit counsellors can’t be far behind, in getting themselves some taxpayer-funded ski-trip junkets – “Skiing can be a Wealth Hazard!” and all that.
The Daily Telegraph has had itself a pun-frenzy with this story of – shock horror – club drugs being consumed and sold in the nightspots of Jindabyne.
I actually found the story slightly educational – the last time I went up to the snow, on a cheap uni day trip a few years ago, I wondered at the flocks of snowboardin’ boyz on the mountain. How the fuck did they afford it? I had just assumed that they were spoilt rich kids in disguise, but, if this story is to be believed, some of them are actually quite entrepreneurial in a self-made way – experts at (ahem) carving the powder on and off the mount.
An angle only obliquely hinted at by the Daily Tele, however, was the affront to an Australian national icon, who has been conferred the dubious honour of having both leading Jindabyne nightspots (and so drug dens) named after him and his literary output – Banjo Patterson Inn and Clancy's bar. (Is there a “Henry Lawson gutter” nearby?)
I’m not sure what Banjo would have made of these youthful new frontiers – even though they still feature snowy rivers and overflows galore.
Update 29 July 2003
One day after the Daily Telegraph broke the story, it turns out that a NSW mob has already dreamed up – and got funding for – a Safe Stoned Skiing program.
I’m sure that the nation’s consumer credit counsellors can’t be far behind, in getting themselves some taxpayer-funded ski-trip junkets – “Skiing can be a Wealth Hazard!” and all that.
