Silence the hammer in your head

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34041, 3 January 1976, Page 17

Silence the hammer in your head

(By

FELICITY PRICE)

The party season is well under way, and there will be few people who do not suffer to a greater or lesser degree for their excesses the night before. Hangovers happen to the best of us. Especially at the festive season. There is nothing worse than waking up to a throbbing headache and a distinctly seedy feeling. And to make it even more frightful, one’s hazy remembrance of what happened the night before usually brings forth a waking blanket apology, the words, “I’m sorry/’ permanently formed on one's lips. The problem is that, having been so easily acquired, a hangover is not so easily shaken off. Many people, convinced that there is just no way to get rid of them, adopt an ostrich attitude and spend the day in bed, with curtains drawn and a deathly hush around them. Some, however, are forced to have to get up the next morning and struggle oft to work or to some prior commitment. There are, for these unfortunates, several ways o.f alleviating the pain and seediness that accompanies the awful morning-after-the-night-before feeling. Aspirin and pain relievers, even when taken in large doses, are generally ineffective against the stubborn hangover headache, and they do absolutely nothing to help the nasty feeling in one’s stomach. In England, publicans sell a small bottle of foultasting stuff over the bar for patrons who overindulged the night before. Unfortunately, it is so foul-tasting that many seem to feel that it is preferable to keep the hangover rather than down the stuff. But, according to reputable sources who were desperate enough to try it, it does work. Apparently it contains such things as eggs, milk, salt, vinegar, and a large dash of alcohol. probably Scotch. There is a saying that the best cure for a hangover is the “hair of the dog that bit you,” and it

is, in fact, quite true. One has only to overcome the appalling nausea that one feels at the thought of touching anything idcoholic the morning after. Once this has been mastered, a quick quaff of spirits, diluted if necessary, is sure to do the trick. But if none of this works, one can always plead frailty and spend the day in bed. .The good thing about hangovers —

and it must be about the only good thing about them — is that no matter how bad they are, they are pretty sure to have disappeared by the evening, leaving one free to start all over again. But the next time, try to have a bit of forethought and. before going to bed, drink a pint of milk. It will make you feel a lot less seedy in the morning.