To Drink or Not to Drink

Hee hee, I've got a little Mumble stuffed animal (main penguin in Happy Feet) that came in a box of Persil laundry detergent. It turns inside out-- it can either be an egg, or turn it inside out and it becomes Mumble!!

So, there's been a lot of talk lately about the binge drinking culture among teenagers and young adults in this country. There's been a lot of newspaper coverage, and it has become a political topic, in terms of how best to discourage/combat the binge drinking culture. There's a TV commercial that states on a "good" night out, young adults drink in the neighborhood of 40 units of alcohol, which is 5,000 calories, which equals 5 Christmas dinners. Yikes! Unfortunately, it is true over here that pretty much everything social revolves around alcohol. Whether it's happy hour, a BBQ, getting together to play cards, even going to the theatre (you pre-order drinks at the bar for intermission), everything involves drinking. It's just not a social event unless there is alcohol available. It's almost an equation, alcohol=fun. And it's cultural. Back to what I started with, the binge-drinking culture...on the front page of the free daily newspaper on Monday was a picture of Kimberley Stewart, Rod Stewart's daughter. She is 27 and she's currently in hospital, being treated for liver disease due to her heavy boozing. And there's a quote from daddy dearest: he is quoted as stating that she said to him, but Dad we're Scottish, I thought I could drink, and he told her, no, darling, it doesn't work like that.