(Written after having eaten slightly too much at a rich breakfast buffet..)
Sometimes I find myself in situations with unlimited free food. At Swedish Christmas dinners for example, but also other occasions.
In such situations my inner Stone Age Person — an old, atavistic guy who feels absolutely no trust in there being food at the table tomorrow — kicks in. He wants to eat EVERYTHING offered. Which of course would result in paltkoma as the Swedes say.
“Koma” means coma and “palt” is a nauseating Swedish dish made out of blood. (Paltkoma = eating so much you can´t keep awake.) Real cave man food, I think it would put me in coma even without eating much of it.
The Vikings and historic man very probably knew a thing or two about over- and under-eating. Much less about regular, square meals.
Anyway, something similar happens with children of very rich families when they enter a toy shop. You can have anything you want, anything you point at, says the parent. Wow, what a feast!
Sometimes these children grow up to be bibliophiles. A story tells of one entering an antiquarian bookshop, looking around, thinking for a minute, and finally deciding: “I´ll buy that wall.”
Not many of us have had this kind of childhood, or such a frivolously bookish life.
But there´s another example of You can have anything you point at-situation, much closer to us. The Internet.
With the Internet you can go to, visit, save, i.e. download, i.e. take with you, millions and millions of texts, pictures, mp3-s, YouTube videos. From certain sites you can download entire movies, CD-s, books, free (cracked) programs, etc..
In a way Internet IS a toy shop where you can have (“save”) anything you point at, or a Swedish Christmas dinner where you can eat as much as you want.
So Mr Caveman hasn´t really left the building. He is just hiding behind a new mask, a new identity — lurking, waiting for the next chance to overindulge and totally pig out.
