"... then taking oneself back to 1850 , muttering
old canaller's songs whilst getting full of briars/brambles..."
Jerry, Where I come from, we call this "geezing." As in, "Poor old Jerry, he just sat there mumbling something about Mellotron this and Mellotron that as we had to powder his ass and fit him into a fresh pair of Depends. He was geezing badly, I suppose. I guess this comes with his advancing age. He is, after all, a geezer."
Luv ya buddy,
Soon they'll be wiping the drool off yer face.
Frank