Another blast from the past.

Being on a budget does not mean you are deprived of variation.  Having gin regularly can wear your tastebuds out.  There are days when I would have cheap brandy that I would get for around the same price as the cheap gin.  I would mix it with mango nectar in a scotch glass filled with ice and voila!  We have the best tasting juice with the right buzz at a low cost.  We would get the bottle of brandy and can of mango nectar from the shop down the street and take it to the food joint where we always have lunch.  The owner knows us so he allows us to do as we please as long as we do not break stuff.  He would even lend us whatever we need for a successful afternoon.  The ice tubes come free with the meal that we pay for.  Since we get mango concentrate instead of regular mango juice, a 500ml can goes a long way.

If our artist friend is not free, this generous man would allow us to have a table at his food place for as long as we want.  He would lend us a pitcher for our alternative mix of gin.  We would have 500ml of water in a pitcher and half of the gin with it.  We would add powdered fruit juice of any flavor except orange because it will only end up tasting like awful cough medicine, and shake it.  After it has been properly mixed, we empty the concoction into the pitcher, light it up and dunk it right in.  The alcohol in the pitcher reacts to the fire in the bottle, chasing it right in and that is how you mix the cocktail.  The liquid in the bottle will pour itself out into the pitcher and the drinking can commence!  It is ultimate betrayal in a pitcher.  It tastes just like fruit juice and before you know it, you are dead drunk.

Ahh, those were the days.