In the past I had a best friend who was an alcoholic. She was also the sort of person who would drop me because someone more exciting would turn up, but I did feel very protective of her and her young son at the time - we met in the baby clinic. It was ok while I had money, she would turn up at 11am and ask for wine or sherry and finish the bottle, thank god we lived down country lanes as she would then drive home, but she was so funny. I do miss her, but in the end just couldn't cope with her, Ex was also an alcoholic and two of them around me at once was just too hard, and when I saw she had made friends with someone else with larger house and wine cellar I felt it was time for someone else to be her new Mummy.
She has now married a New Zealand vineyard owner... 