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Kyle Walker

Re: walker on hippy crack?

Saw this earlier. Sums up my thoughts too.

http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ous-oxide-uncommitted-generation-laughing-gas

Nitrous oxide perfectly represents today's uncommitted generation

The hippies took acid, the punks had speed, rave culture was founded on ecstasy and Britpop ran on cocaine. So what do today's kids have? Nitrous oxide: also known as laughing gas, "hippy crack" or, in my mind, "balloons". According to the Home Office – generally found in the corner of a hip teen drug party surrounded by a crowd of hangers-on – it's now the second most popular drug among young people.

If the zeitgeist drugs of the past were characterised by intense emotions that require hours of commitment, nitrous oxide is characterised by intense emotions that require about a minute of commitment. It's a fumble in an alleyway, not a marriage. When someone offers it to me, my response is normally, "why not?". After all, it's cheap, pretty fun and in a couple of minutes I'll be back to feeling normal. It's sociable because you don't disappear into your own world for hours, and it feels safe because dentists use it every day and people who are trained to use drills inside people's mouths seem eminently trustworthy.

The thing about "hippy crack" is that it's not like crack and it's not like a hippy drug. That generation's drug of choice – acid – was fitting of a movement possessed by a kind of technicolour idealism that required time and space. In a world yet to be dominated by the incessant rush of global capital, in which education and housing were cheap, and long-haired dreams were there to be dreamed, acid, with its mystical feeling and 8-to-12-hour life-span, was perfect.

Nitrous oxide, consumed in small quantities via balloons, would seem to be totally unmystical and, given the two-minute life-span, isn't conducive to the dreaming of big dreams. You can't see Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young getting too excited at the prospect of ploughing through a canister or two at the V Festival. If the hippy movement felt, pre-Altamont, like it was symbolised by long summer days, our world feels fractured, insecure and vaguely nihilistic, which means that the "why not" quick fix of nitrous oxide suits it well.

While balloons don't conform to the hippy-drug archetype, they also don't fit the inner-city despair we associate with heroin or crack. Crack has a much stronger effect on the body than nitrous oxide, and so perhaps that is where the "hippy crack" term has some legitimacy: you could say that balloons are like crack for soft-hearted drug takers.

In a depressed economy, it would be forgivable to imagine that the latest drug craze would be something that envelopes you, blocks out pain and takes the empty experience of unemployment away: something all-consuming. But the popularity of balloons suggests a generation that is anxious to succeed, a generation afraid to commit too strongly to something that might ruin them and a generation that doesn't have enough money to indulge in more expensive drugs. With balloons, you limit your fun but you also limit your expenditure. It apes our current false economy because you get very little bang for your buck.

Being a little older than the 16-24 demographic that loves balloons, I find myself vaguely scornful of their drug of choice. Laughing gas doesn't seem like a real drug to me, despite a long history of its use. The lack of commitment seems like a problem. It's a quick fix, a YouTube clip of a drug, a BuzzFeed post that comes out of a canister.

Saying this only makes me like any other old person bemoaning the lack of "realness" in younger generations. My father was full of stories about shooting bows and arrows naked while high on acid; the silent implication being that I would never do anything quite as mind-blowing. But I did and maybe the teenagers with their balloons will do too. They just might need quite a lot of canisters to do it.
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

Is this stuff like when you enhale balloon air it makes your voice sound funny.
Nah, that's helium -- or any other gas with a significantly different density from air. Lighter gases make your voice squeaky, while heavier ones make you sound really low down.

I've had nitrous oxide a couple of times, at parties. Yeah, it gives you a bit of a rush, but it's not exactly mind-blowing. It's pretty much the Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi of the drugs world. Or even Diet Caffeine Free Tesco Value Cola. If such a thing exists.

I believe there are problems associated with serious over-use of nitrous oxide, but I think you'd have to be taking significant amounts every day for anything to really happen.
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

Just got back from Bestival, saw literally thousands of people doing this all weekend, some of my pals did it, funny to see their reactions whilst doing it

Not sure a professional footballer should be doing it though, but it is Walker so im not surprised he isnt the sharpest tool in the box
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

This story is headline news on the radio this morning. He did this 3months ago? so why release the story a day before a crucial England game when Walker is our only fit RB and possibly make him lose focus. Seem to recall the press doing something similar before previous England games.

Well didn't Gary Linekar quit one of the newspapers he used to work for because they chose to release a story about the corruption surrounding FIFA only a few months before FIFA were due to announce the hosts of the 2018 World Cup? He felt they could have waited until after to publish the stories.

Don't know if they intenionally set out to undermine the England team, but make no mistake, they want to sell papers no matter what the consquences are.
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

Did he have some the day of the Chelsea home game last season? Would explain that move he made that led to their 4th goal?

Joking apart, doesnt warrant the exposure this story is getting, an Arsenal player or GHod forbid a United player, wouldnt get half as much, but we are bad boys right now for not giving GoldenBales is dream move earlier.

Lots more anti-Spurs press stories to be expected for some months yet....me paranoid...nah.
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

I was more a crystal mdma person back in the day, but this story has made me curious. I need to find some under 25s to hang out with I guess.
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

Or buy your own online... I believe if you Google catering gas that might help.
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

This thread has been entertaining and informative.

The oldies are accusing the youngsters of not being wild enough.
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

Might seem like a bit of a laugh but it can all go horribly wrong.....


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Re: walker on hippy crack?

Hmmm Nitrogen... starvation of oxygen to cells... heightened risk of respiratory and metabolic acidosis... potentially fostering a cell fauna conducive of ill health and disease... reminds me of random :)
 
Re: walker on hippy crack?

I found this more funny than concerning tbh. I tried this a few times in my younger days it is rather pointless. It gives you a slight rush for like 30 seconds tops, the fact that he is doing this in public though is really quite dumb surely he can afford better gear :ross:

Also calling it "hippy crack" seriously almost peed myself from laughter. It is called Whippets here for whatever reason
 
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