Do You Want a Coke, Dave?

     One of the things that has always made me different from most other people was my choice of drink.  While all my friends, were reaching for a beer, or a glass of wine, I was always reaching for a Coke.  People would often kid me for my choice, but they always accepted it, and after a while, they began having a Coke ready for me, when we visited.   I would often get Coca-Cola gifts, because they knew I liked to drink Coke.

    All of the cans you see in the photo were gifts.  The thing on the right is really a pencil sharpener, next to it, is a Coke from Thailand, that the daughter of a friend brought back to me from her trip there.  The big “Coco-Colo” can is a light from China, and the Coke can on the left, I don’t really remember who gave it to me or what country it originated from. 

    Stored in my shop, I have several of the shapely green Coca-Cola bottles, one was from under the ocean in Hawaii.  I have an old Coca-Cola tray from the early 1950‘s featuring a girl running along a beach, holding a bottle of Coke in her hand.  I also have a miniature Coke bottle that hangs on our Christmas tree as a decoration.

    I guess by now, you get the picture; that I have always been a Coke drinker.  In the early 1970’s, I learned about the “Cola Wars”, and how whenever the Republican’s came into office in the States, they immediately changed the pop machines in the White House to Pepsi, and made sure they took Pepsi along when they made foreign deals (Nixon, holding a debate with Khrushchev in front of a Pepsi display).

    The Democrats were always making sure that Coca-Cola went along with their foreign interactions.  They made sure that servicemen in WW II were always within arm’s reach of a Coke.  As a result, they spread the drink throughout most of the world, during the 1940’s.

    Being on the left side of politics, Coke was always my choice.  I was never one to drink it daily, but I sure looked forward to having it to wash down the pizza, we made, every Friday night.

    Several months ago, after reading about all the harmful effects of fructose, I just decided that I wasn’t going to drink Coke any more.  I was never keen on Diet Coke, so I just decided not to drink, any carbonated drinks.  My friends are all puzzled, and wonder what happened, but I have been pretty hard core about not drinking it any more. 

    I must confess, pizza does go better with Coke, but as I get older, I have decided that even though I have spent a lifetime guzzling the stuff, it would probably be  a whole lot healthier, if I stick with a big glass of water.

To read older blogs, or to view my paintings, go to:  www.davidmarchant.ca