What is it with drinking in the UK?

alcoholic yobos the pair of them ....

alcoholic yobos the pair of them ....

   


 

I'm the one who posted about drunken mothers going home to their children. I also qualified in parentheses that I was referring to parents of either sex.

What I was basically trying to point out is that, in my opinion, going out and getting so drunk you make yourself sick is something I associate with teenagers and maybe people in their early twenties living with their parents or at a university.  Not something to be done by people who are old enough to have responsibilities--taking care of a small child was just an example of such a responsibility.

That doesn't mean that an adult isn't allowed to relax and take a break and have fun.  But you can relax without drinking. A comparison was made between going out for a drink at lunchtime and gobbling your food at lunch while answering emails. Well, I usually find a sunny spot outside and read a book. Some people shop, or go to the gym, or get their nails done.

You can also relax while drinking, but stop drinking when you start to get too drunk.

And I was pointing out that older people with children CAN go out without getting plastered...some people can relax and have a drink without it impeding on their parental responsibilities...drinking isn't reserved for the teenager.


I can have a good time out without drinking and I can have a good time with 1-2 drinks ..this doesn't mean that I'm not capable of taking care of my child...that was what I was trying to bring to the table..that there is a wider spectrum of drinkers out there not just tee totalers or the bingers.


chin chin.

I was thinking that, too, Mindy.  

Cafe Pacifico, anyone?  

Affectionately known as "The Scene of the Crime" with me and SO.  All that texting I did that night didn't go over so well!!  lol

Sweetpeach did and that's who I was adressing there in regards to the children scenario...whoa ...get a grip canys_girl

Edit to add the quote:

I have a grip on things, thank you. It takes a strong topic to get me to post my opinion. This was one of those strong topics. I don't take smilies in the context that posters imply them to be taken. An emoticon is easily posted even when the true meaning of the post is completely different. I know this because I've done it myself. The only time I allow myself to make a judgment on what people say is when I'm looking them directly in the eye hearing them verbalize their opinion. I'm not always correct in my assessment but at least I've been given a little bit better material to work with than words posted on a forum.

I didn't use a smilie on that post btw...

I didn't use a smilie on that post btw...

I noticed, neither did I.

and I wasn't addressing you when I posted in regards to the children scenario neither so I haven't a clue what's with the defensive mode*shrugs*

oh well ..life goes on that's what forums are for.


now when is this Cafe pacifico thingy gonna happen...

I'm talking to peedal at this point just incase there's a need for clarification....

Another thing that has occurred to me, not to get back on topic or anything, but the times when I've been most three sheets to the wind drunk while living in the UK have in fact been times when I've been out with other Americans.    

And my experience with drinking in the UK and British people being three sheets to the wind was at my wedding reception six months ago when busines colleagues of my DH's felt the need to:

1. One person got so drunk that they fell over backwards out the fire escape door while dancing. Yippee! This was even caught by my professional videographer who asked me did I want to reproduce footage of it so that my British hubby could take it to work for "entertainment" purposes. Needless to say we both said no thank you. According to DH this is "normal" party behaviour for her. This is the same person that got so drunk at their company Christmas party that she had to crawl off the dance floor while declaring to everybody "I love you all!" I know this for a fact because I was at that party.

2. Four of the women there got so drunk that they started hitting on men and tried to get them to go have sex back in the hotel rooms that DH and I had so graciously paid for. I might add that these were men these women had just met that night. The men were mutual friends of ours that had nothing to do with DH's work, and to top it all off these men had brought their girlfriend or wife to the wedding reception.

*begin sarcasm mode* I want to understand and embrace this culture so much! *end sarcasm mode*

and I wasn't addressing you when I posted in regards to the children scenario neither so I haven't a clue what's with the defensive mode*shrugs*

oh well ..life goes on that's what forums are for.


now when is this Cafe pacifico thingy gonna happen...

I'm talking to peedal at this point just incase there's a need for clarification....

Sorry, I'll make sure and look for my name in yours posts from now on.

so far the US military has embraced it hmmm...another thing that the British create another country beats them to it :

Alcohol Abuse Costs DoD Dearly


By Staff Sgt. Kathleen T. Rhem, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2000 -- Twenty-one percent of service members admit to drinking heavily -- a statistic the military hasn’t managed to lower in 20 years -- but service officials are determined to change that.

“If you look at heavy use of alcohol, drinking a lot in a short span of time, we tend to have a higher prevalence than the civilian community,” said Lt. Col. Wayne Talcott, an Air Force psychologist. Young military people between 18 and 25 also tend to do more heavy drinking than their civilian peers, he noted.

Speaking only in terms of medical care and lost time at work, alcohol abuse costs DoD more than $600 million each year, said Navy Capt. Robert Murphy, a medical corps officer. DoD spends another $132 million a year to care for babies with fetal alcohol syndrome -- sometimes-serious health problems related to their mothers’ heavy drinking.

Talcott and Murphy co-chair the relatively new DoD Alcohol Abuse and Tobacco Use Reduction Committee. Their goal is to reduce the prevalence of heavy drinking within the military by 5 percent a year by changing DoD officials’ focus on alcohol abuse from treatment to prevention.

“We have very good treatment programs, but they’re very expensive and don’t reach a lot of people,” Murphy said. “We’re focusing on prevention. We’re certainly not opposed to alcohol use, but we are trying to reduce the prevalence of alcohol abuse.”

“We’re trying to prevent people from having to see a specialist,” Talcott said. “If you want to decrease prevalence, you need to have policies and programs in place across the spectrum to discourage heavy drinking.”

As some colleges do with their students, Talcott said, the committee wants to help service members understand the liabilities associated with heavy drinking. “We want to help them understand if you drink this much and you drive you’re going to be under the influence, or at this level you’re impaired,” he said.

The committee also aims to better track alcohol-related adverse events, such as incidences of driving under the influence, suicides, crimes and domestic violence, Murphy said. He explained there’s no centralized DoD tracking system, though the services collect data that can be collated into DoD-wide figures.

Recent civilian studies have turned up some frightening statistics, Murphy said. Thirty-one percent of all occupational injuries are alcohol-related, as are 23 percent of suicides and 32 percent of homicides.

Talcott said senior officials have likened DoD's new approach to preventive maintenance. “You maintain a jet engine so it doesn’t fall out of the sky,” he said. “We need to begin to look at where there are risks to the human weapon system and how we can build a system that protects our people.”

This is very different from previous approaches, he said. “You typically have program offices that largely are designed to treat people with alcohol problems,” Talcott explained. “Rather than waiting for people to develop
severe problems, we want to build into the system ways to get the right messages to help our young people make better decisions about their drinking behavior.

“It’s not the use, it’s alcohol abuse that gets people into trouble,” he said.







Information Courtesy of American Forces Information Service
 

so far the US military has embraced it hmmm...another thing that the British create another country beats them to it :

I know for a fact from being associated with the military for 20+ years that they don't "embrace" it. It's a problem that they would love to eradicate but they can't figure out a way to do it. Embracing and admitting are two different things.

they have adopted it perhaps they've learned that behavior for those pesky Brits

And my experience with drinking in the UK and British people being three sheets to the wind was at my wedding reception six months ago when busines colleagues of my DH's felt the need to:

1. One person got so drunk that they fell over backwards out the fire escape door while dancing. Yippee! This was even caught by my professional videographer who asked me did I want to reproduce footage of it so that my British hubby could take it to work for "entertainment" purposes. Needless to say we both said no thank you. According to DH this is "normal" party behaviour for her. This is the same person that got so drunk at their company Christmas party that she had to crawl off the dance floor while declaring to everybody "I love you all!" I know this for a fact because I was at that party.

2. Four of the women there got so drunk that they started hitting on men and tried to get them to go have sex back in the hotel rooms that DH and I had so graciously paid for. I might add that these were men these women had just met that night. The men were mutual friends of ours that had nothing to do with DH's work, and to top it all off these men had brought their girlfriend or wife to the wedding reception.

*begin sarcasm mode* I want to understand and embrace this culture so much! *end sarcasm mode*

Why did you serve alcohol at your wedding if you feel strongly about this?