Alcohol

I drink like an Italian, but in two weeks time, I shall be in Rome, where I will drink like a native of Portugal.

I miss having a drink as I have been unable to have alcohol since being struck down with severe chronic gastritis in November 2016. I have not had a drop since and being unable to share a glass of wine with family and friends still feels a bit anti-social.

I never needed a drink as a confidence booster or to enjoy a good time but I liked the taste of a nice cold chardonnay and the social interaction. It just doesn't feel the same with sparkling water!

No one needs to drink alcohol, or smoke, or eat chocolate, biscuits, crisps and cake, or spend hours at the gym or hairdressers, or watch television all evening. Most of us like a bit of a treat and we have different ideas about what is the treat. Do what you do, unless it harms someone else in the family, such as children, and leave everyone else alone seems the best idea.

Addiction – whether to drugs, alcohol or something else – is another matter.

I like to have a drink now and again - I enjoy it. It is quite possible to drink in moderation, and I feel like gillybob that in certain situations it can have a relaxing effect.

What I do find annoying is the depiction on TV and radio of excessive drinking being the only way of celebrating or dealing with difficulties. On an episode of Holby City a couple of months ago, after a particularly challenging day day Serena persuaded Rick to go to a bar so that they could "drink our weight in alcohol". And on news programmes when reporting, for instance, a sporting triumph there are always jokey references to the almighty hangovers that the team are bound to have the next day.

I agree with Scribbles - it's not just drink advertising that people are susceptible to, it's all kinds of advertising. And I expect that though many people deny they are influenced by advertising, they probably are. Companies wouldn't spend millions on marketing if it didn't work.

I’m French but it also said I drink as heavily as the Spanish.
Does that mean I’m French or Spanish?
I’m a little confused, better have a little sit down and a glass of wine to mull it over.

I drink like an Eritrean, but probably less than that, I rarely drink, last Sunday night I had one port and lemonade whilst out, and a glass of pear cider with my Sunday dinner, that`ll probably be it for a while, apart from my pear cider on Sundays.

If I've managed the link, here's the comparison test to find out who your drinking compared to.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30500372#share-tools

Cheers GrannyG you deserve it.

The only alcohol I will drink is gin. I have to say that I do like a good G&T when I can get one. I don't drink very much in the house though.
According to the article I drink like someone from Tonga.

I have been to a pre-school tv character show this morning, a Pre-teen cartoon movie this afternoon. Have GC overnight (just fed them), I am also making chutney and about to start Husbands and my dinner.

I shall have a glass of nice cold white wine at 6pm, whilst GC are watching their tv program and Husband and I are watching eggheads in the kitchen !

But I went out twice so probably drank a glass of spirits when I wouldn't normally.

I'm French!
which is not as bad as it sounds apparently

I drink like a Micronesian! Obviously a microscopic amount.

Why is everyone so judgmental these days, if people enjoy drinking in moderation why does it matter why they do it, who influenced them and what they drink etc etc, they are enjoying it and surely that's all that matters.

Yes it's banned in Kuwait. Though some people manage to make homemade beer.
Acc. to son who lives there.

Hmm! I thought that too Maggie. 100 units a week would take some doing wouldn't it?
Apparently, I drink like a Kuwatian.

He's just discovered he was drinking up to 100 units a week? How could he have missed all the publicity that there's been about units, about having two alcohol free days a week, etc? You'd think the vast majority of responsible people know what the (admittedly arbitrary) limits are, even if they don't always stick to them. Though there are probably a lot of men who haven't realised the guidelines for them now match those for women.

According to the article I drink like a Haitian. I think that's a fairly good thing.

Adrian Chiles has admitted today that he's horrified to discover that he's drunk between 80 - 100 units of alcohol a week (the recommended amount is 14). He has never been drunk, unable to carry out his job or made a nuisance of himself. It's just that the amount of alcohol he's taken has slowly increased and now he's shocked at how much it's actually increased to. This BBC article has a link that you can enter the amount you drink to check for yourself.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45258081

I stopped drinking alcohol over a year ago as I just stopped enjoying it. I did like it when I was younger but made it a rule never to have a drink if I felt I really "needed" it or was miserable. I only drank if I was already happy as I was afraid it could become a crutch. ...Now if I had to give up tea that would be another story!

Talking of tv advertising, does anyone remember the Stella Artois beer slogan - Reassuringly Expensive?

I love it. Someone must have come up with that slogan at the Advertising Agency, and obviously managed to convince the bosses that they should go with it!

It's a brilliant sort of reverse psychology!

I don't sit down to drink my wine. I drink it as I cook our dinner!

Though I suppose I use cooking a soothing thing at the end of the day.

I completely agree with you Joelsnan

I have said for years that I think alcohol is more of a problem in society than drugs, simply because alcohol is seen as socially acceptable, whereas of course drug taking is not.

Wine glasses have got larger and larger over the years, so often people just don't realise how much they are drinking.

The other point is a lot of people are not aware that alcohol is a depressant, so to drink while feeling down is completely the worst thing they should do.

The one drawback though for someone like me who doesn't drink is that when we eat out with the family, which we do quite often, I am always the one who has to drive home!!

Or large bar of chocolate (in my case).

I always think that the link between having an alcoholic drink and relaxing is a bit like pavlov's dog. It got food when a bell rang so when it heard the bell it salivated, even when the food was discontinued.

We connect sitting down and having a drink with relaxing so assume one causes the other. For some years my DM would sit down with a cigarette when she came home from work. She said it was relaxing. It wasn't, the relaxing bit was the cigarette making it necessary for her to sit down for 10 minutes when she got home from work. It is the same with alcohol. Sitting down and relaxing works just as well with a cup of tea, an ice cream, a long cold drink.

Realise I sounded a bit prissy in my last post. I'm not against alcohol at all just when it's used in a bad way.