Man and the moon
Friday night is always a pretty good bet for going out with one’s mates, drinking one’s body-weight in cheap alcohol and carrying on like a bit of a tit, but I think Friday night of next week will be especially good for that sort of thing.
You see, Friday 2 February is a full moon night. Now, I don’t usually go in for New-Agey beliefs -“ horoscopes and whale songs and the healing power of crystals and all that sorta shit -“ but I’m prepared to believe that there’s something about the full moon that makes some of us go a little bit crazy.
Mainly because there’s something about the full moon that sends me completely insane.
In the days leading up to a full moon, the symptoms are always the same: increasing insomnia, deteriorating concentration, and a burgeoning desire to just generally go out and boogie. Also, I get a horn-on that threatens to go off the chart.
But according to that oracle of patchy misinformation, Wikipedia, the jury is still out as to whether there is any such thing as a full moon effect.
The Wikipedia entry on the subject states that research into the matter has to date yielded inconclusive results. Some studies of dog attacks, for example, have shown that dogs are more likely to bite human at the time of a full moon, while other studies have shown that dogs bite humans at a pretty consistent rate throughout the lunar cycle.
But where research fails, anecdote flourishes, and thus myths are born. We all know the stories about werewolves and vampires, but full moons have been associated with a lot of other crazy stuff over the years, including increases in mob violence, madness, migraines and murder.
Beyond that, full moons have also been linked to increased fertility, lowered inhibitions, rises in risky behaviour, busy nights in hospital emergency departments, taxi drivers acting like Latin lovers -¦ and a lot of really sensational parties.
That brings me to my point.
Looking further ahead, I’ve just noticed that the full moon after next will take place on the night of Saturday 3 March.
In other words: Mardi Gras Saturday.
It should be a night to remember.
