We never missed a single pub

William has pointed out some apparent inconsistencies in my approach to Homeopathy. Let me explain.

Better still – let Ben Goldacre explain.

“Most people know that homeopathic remedies are diluted to such an extent that there will be no molecules left of it in the dose you get. What you might not know is how far these remedies are diluted. The typical homeopathic dilution is 30C: this means that the original substance has been diluted by one drop in a hundred, thirty times over. In the ‘What is homeopathy?’ section of the society of Society of Homeopaths’ website , the single largest organisation for homeopaths in the UK will tell you that ‘30C contains less than one part per million of the original substance.”

Ben goes on to say that this is something of an understatement and explains that this magnitude of dilution is actually one in

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
I submit that there is not much chance that a substance diluted to that level is going to do much of anything useful.

In fact Ben notes that “American magician and ‘debunker’ James Randi has offered a $1 million prize to anyone demonstrating ‘anomalous claims’ under laboratory conditions, and has specifically stated that anyone could win it by reliably distinguishing a homeopathic preparation from a non-homeopathic one using any method they wish. This $1 million bounty remains unclaimed”

Now I also submit that my Schuessler Salts while being “homeopathic prepared” are not in fact typical homeopathic remedies. To quote from Wikipedia on this:

“Biochemic cell salts aka Tissue Salts or Cell Salts are alternative remedies based on inorganic salts elaborated by Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich Schüßler (1821-1898). Although moderately diluted (3X-6X), they are not classed as homeopathic, because they are not purported to act according to the "like cures like" principle of homeopathy.”

So – there may be some useful material in the Schuessler Salts that are providing me with some benefit.

Alternatively – I may simply be benefiting from the Placebo Effect – about which Merisi has commented and also about which William has written an excellent blog today.

Either way – a few weeks ago I could not walk without limping and after taking the Schuessler Salts I can – and at no stage did I pray to Mary MacKillop.

Back to Copenhagen.

We did quite a bit of exploring. It is delightful city and was good for us because there was lots of snow and ice. This did mean that the canals were iced over and we could not go on a boat trip – but were happy to trudge around. We were quite taken with the whole place and decided we would like to live there.

I mean one day they are going to have a Queen who was born in Australia – I have never had my own Queen and all my life have had to borrow the English one. She is not a bad old stick - but she is not mine.

We could have inspected the place where Mary and Frederik are going to live but I did not want to pry (or indeed line up for an hour in the freezing weather).

By the way – she is Mary to you and me but to the Danes she is ‘Hendes Kongelige Højhed Kronprinsesse Mary af Danmark, Grevinde af Monpezat.’

I could mention that Frederik and Mary met during the 2000 Olympics at an establishment in Sydney called the Slip Inn. This used to be the Royal George Hotel - which in the early 60s was a typical Australian pub with tiled walls and floors.

It was the watering hole for the Sydney Push which included a whole bunch of writers and poets and academics – and famous people such as Clive James and Germaine Greer. I used to drink there every Saturday night – but at the other end of the bar.

I was much younger than any of these people – and was unusually dim for my age – and was inevitably inebriated by the time I got to the George because I had started at the First and Last at Circular Quay with my mate Mal Cannon when we got off the ferry from Manly.

We then progressed very slowly up George Street – taking care not to miss a single pub - and finally at about 11:00 PM got to the Adams Tavern where we attempted to remain upright while listening to Graeme Bell and other legendary Australian Jazz players.

Afterwards we would fall down the long flight of marble stairs and catch the last ferry home to Manly.

Where was I – oh yes – Roskilde – Viking Museum - bomb scare - I will tell you tomorrow!