At what age do you think bragging about how much you drank the night before stops sounding like youthful indulgence and starts to sound like alcoholic dependence?
I happen to work with people who like to go on and on (and on) about their supreme abilities to drink vast amounts of Rum/Vodka/Wine/Lager and their accompanying exploits thereafter. When I hear this, I tend to raise one eyebrow in such a way as if it say, “Oh, my child, you just wait. I too was like you – drinking double vodkas and tequilla slammers until the early hours, even on a ‘school’ night. But, the day you turn thirty, on that VERY day, a wicked witch will cast a spell on you and you will become outrageously and embarassingly drunk after just half a glass of wine, will throw up spectacularly after two glasses of wine and will need hospitalisation if you get anywhere close to finishing the bottle. And did I mention the hangovers? Oh my GOD – too horrible to describe – you just wait and see, because it WILL happen. On the plus side, you will be a cheap date and you wont feel so hard done by when it’s your turn to be designated driver.”
I may be less of a party animal now, but you should see how I conga after a pack of wine-gums!
2 Comments
Lysseus
10 May 2006 at 06:23The drinking culture is quite different in the US. I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that, unless you live in a college town, you really can’t walk to a local pub. American drivers aren’t that skillful sober, you’re really taking your life in your hands on the road with them.
Red wine was part of the lifestyle I had in the UK with my ex-wife. One or two glasses a night were pretty common. I also took to drinking Harvey’s Bristol Creme and Baileys. But it wasn’t that we got pissed, it was part of the meal, part of the ambience of our lives. It gave Christmas that warmer glow, and we thought nothing of having a wine or beer with lunch.
Once we moved (for me, back) to the US things changes quite a bit. Wine wasn’t as cheap, and there weren’t the friends we had to sip it with… and the effects were somehow different. At first my ex would fall asleep after a couple of glasses. Later, as my marriage fell apart it brought out the demon in her. We’d go to a restaurant and have a glass, but inevitably the waiter would bring her a second one, and uh-oh! I began to want to go out to eat less and less. Shortly before I moved out I downed a whole bottle of sherry, but it didn’t seem to phase me.
That was 3 years ago (how time flies!) Living on my own I hardly drank at all. Now I’m living with my fiancee and I have the odd coctail at a restaurant (I don’t drive), but the bottles at home go months without being touched. I turned 42 last year. You might be right about the witch, but at least chocolate’s been immune to her magic.
Random Girl
11 May 2006 at 07:27I agree! I used to be able to function on a hangover and zero sleep. Now if I go out and drink water I feel hungover. It sucks!