So, according to surveys into people's drinking habits, we are only drinking half of the total alcohol sold in this country. This prompts the interpretation that we lie about how much we actually consume, most people feeling somewhat ashamed that they like a glass or three of their favourite tipple to take the edge off as it were.
I like to drink, wine mostly, but when I am out I prefer to drink ale. Units mean very little to me and never enter my mind when drinking. I rarely drink to excess, though for some, a bottle of red wine at a sitting would be seen as such. There have been periods when I have been known to drink on a daily basis, but these days I try to confine it to weekends, a pint with a pub lunch on a friday and maybe a shared bottle of wine on friday and saturday nights and that is generally it. I don't really have a social life as such and that makes it much easier to keep consumption under control. Going without alcohol during the week is not a problem and I know that I could easily do without it if I chose to.
If I go to the theatre of to a concert, I choose not to drink, mainly to avoid the inconvenience of having to go to the toilet during the performance.
It seems though that for many it is not that easy. On monday night I went to the O2 in London to see the Australian Pink Floyd. Actually I went to hear them as for me it is the music that matters. The show started more or less on time at seven thirty and they played the whole of Dark Side of the Moon. I sat at the end of a row, and forty minutes after the start, people were still coming in and struggling to find their seats. Most of them had glasses in their hands and clearly had been unable or unwilling to tear themselves away from the bar. One pair actually took their seats in our row five minutes before the interval. Throughout the performance there was a steady flow of people going back and forwards to the bar and then of course inevitably, to the toilet. It seemed that the acquisition of alcohol was the most important part of the evening for many, regardless of the inconvenience to the rest of us. For me the evening was spoiled by, not just a few, inconsiderate people.
Drink is so easily available and still relatively affordable, and although the pubs are complaining of a drop in trade, drinking heavily at home is becoming the norm. Maybe that is the cause of the disparity in the figures, we all know that drinking at home doesn't count.
I like to drink, wine mostly, but when I am out I prefer to drink ale. Units mean very little to me and never enter my mind when drinking. I rarely drink to excess, though for some, a bottle of red wine at a sitting would be seen as such. There have been periods when I have been known to drink on a daily basis, but these days I try to confine it to weekends, a pint with a pub lunch on a friday and maybe a shared bottle of wine on friday and saturday nights and that is generally it. I don't really have a social life as such and that makes it much easier to keep consumption under control. Going without alcohol during the week is not a problem and I know that I could easily do without it if I chose to.
If I go to the theatre of to a concert, I choose not to drink, mainly to avoid the inconvenience of having to go to the toilet during the performance.
It seems though that for many it is not that easy. On monday night I went to the O2 in London to see the Australian Pink Floyd. Actually I went to hear them as for me it is the music that matters. The show started more or less on time at seven thirty and they played the whole of Dark Side of the Moon. I sat at the end of a row, and forty minutes after the start, people were still coming in and struggling to find their seats. Most of them had glasses in their hands and clearly had been unable or unwilling to tear themselves away from the bar. One pair actually took their seats in our row five minutes before the interval. Throughout the performance there was a steady flow of people going back and forwards to the bar and then of course inevitably, to the toilet. It seemed that the acquisition of alcohol was the most important part of the evening for many, regardless of the inconvenience to the rest of us. For me the evening was spoiled by, not just a few, inconsiderate people.
Drink is so easily available and still relatively affordable, and although the pubs are complaining of a drop in trade, drinking heavily at home is becoming the norm. Maybe that is the cause of the disparity in the figures, we all know that drinking at home doesn't count.
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