Just One More

Friday night. Pay day. Good weather. Perfect storm.
Frankly I could end this blog here and you'd have enough to form a clear mental image. I have to be honest and admit that the subject of alcohol and its cost to society is something that puts a dent in my otherwise libertarian persona You see, I get to see it from a fairly unpleasant angle, and over time I've grown weary of the same old problems and the same nonsense. Want to cut crime? Encourage people to drink less. Want to see fewer domestics? Encourage people to drink less. Want to improve the health of the nation? Get people to, oh you get the point. Now I'm not advocating abstinence or prohibition, but I'd love to see a change in the culture. Wouldn't it be nice if we could walk home at night without having to worry about the louts by the kebab van? Wouldn't it be refreshing if casualty departments were absent drunken and vomit stained fools awaiting stitches from either a stumble or a brawl? I have to be honest, I really don't get what inebriation brings to the party anyway? It makes you neither smarter nor any more attractive. In fact I'd argue the opposite; it actually turns you into a bore and a self obsessed one at that. Strange how the world begins to revolve around you? How you feel that bit braver? that bit more secure? At the risk of alienating a fair percentage of the nation I don't understand what having a skinful achieves? And at the end of it you've gained what? A hangover? An empty wallet? Bad breath and sweaty clothes. I guess I must be sounding a real killjoy, but that's not my intent. I love a drink, and in the right company I'm the happiest bear in the woods. And by the way, I spent years 17-20 doing the kind of things I now grumble about so I'm a hypocrite, too. Actually no, I'm not a hypocrite. I've just recognized that there's a better way. I don't want to deny you your personal choice, and if you really get your rocks off by necking booze by the bathtub then I won't stand in your way.