Just beyond these tulips is the 18th green of the Fraser View Public Golf Course. Which means that I, and some friends, were sitting at the 19th hole, doing what people at the 19th hole traditionally do - we were enjoying beverages. And, yes, those beverages contained alcohol. And, also possibly traditionally, we went on from here to more of the same. With very good pizza, I might add.

And, just to allay the fears of other friends in other parts of the world, no, we hadn't played 18 holes of golf previous to enjoying our beverages. Being efficient, we simply eliminated those nasty hours spent flailing away at a far-too-small bumpy ball, using much too expensive hardware to do so, and cut straight to the actual good part. Yep. We went to the golf course, ordered drinks, and enjoyed the view. Much better.

Now, you might be thinking that, because of this alcoholic interlude, you'd be able to get away from this thing without some deeper message being imparted. Well, sadly for you, you're wrong. Damn. Wouldn't you know it?

So - alcohol dehydrogenase - the enzyme in your liver that detoxifies alchohol (it is toxic, you know) - why do people of European descent have a very efficient version of this enzyme, while people of Asian descent (among others) don't? Have we Europeans had a drinking problem from time immemorial? What selective advantage does it confer? And why was it evidently unimportant in other parts of the world?

And, by the by, "Hi" to a bunch of important (to me) folks in various parts of the world - some near, some not so much. (See? Alcohol makes you sentimental. Or is that my Irish heritage showing?)