How important is alcohol?

"Driven to the next state each night to get some booze..." sounds like a measure of dependence on it, even if just socially.

I was never a drinker, drank to be "sociable" in company. I can't understand why older people would want to drink, enough to contend with, without adding being tipsy to the equation.

Now on the rare occasion that I do drink, I like the new light wines with fruit flavours.

I usually open a bottle of wine on Friday night and it will last me until Sunday night - then nothing for the rest of the week. When going out I would often offer to drive home because I don't need alcohol to have a good time.

I was totally shocked when I was leaving teaching and all the staff met up at a pub first before going on for a meal. The 3 younger teachers had chosen this meeting place because it was Happy Hour which meant all the drinks were half price and the idea apparently was to get as much alcohol down as possible before going on for the meal.

I like a drink, possibly too much (!) but I found this completely alien.

Alcohol has a lot to answer for in my opinion but that is coloured by my experiences of course. It's fine in moderation but I gave it up to yrs ago and have never missed it. I take a sip of champagne at weddings or special occasions.

I can't see the point of alcohol. It's a poison. People wouldn't willingly swallow arsenic yet they'll pour alcohol down their throats until they don't know what they're doing and then suffer the after effects the next day.

I am not a drinker these days. I like a glass of wine or beer with a meal, but rarely have more than one and only about three times a week. The exception was at a reception at SGS’s uni at the weekend. The wine was complementary and I had my week's worth in one evening and I felt it the next day! The rest of my weekend was dry! My favourite drink is ginger beer - I can happily drink that all day long.

I only drink on birthdays and Ch*%$ even then I'll have 2-3 glasses of wine and then it's soft drinks for me.
If we go out for a meal I'll be driving so no alcohol then.
Alcohol has never been important to me.

I probably drink too much

Phew! Its not just me then who is happy with the odd glass. I've been made to feel such an oddball/spoilsport by others when I've said 'no thanks' to another glass of wine or even just chose a soft drink.

If people make you feel like and oddball/spoilsport for saying no after a couple of glasses, imagine what it's like for teetotallers.

I can't tell you how many times I've been called miserable (and worse) for not wanting to drink or been told I won't be able to enjoy myself.

It's not that I'm anti-alcohol although as I in another post I don't understand why people want to poison themselves. But my real reason is that I actually don't like the taste of most drinks and I absolutely hate the physical sensations of being tipsy.

Also drunk people are unpredictable and that scares me (previous life experience).

I am the same about wine, as at sometime during the last year, I went completely off it. I never was a great one for having a drink, but did enjoy a good red, then I realised that I really didn't like it anymore, and so have not had a drink for ages. Good or bad, I don't know, but I don't miss it at all.( I'm saving it all up for Ruby )

Not had a drink in 34 years !!

I occasionally have a social glass of wine or a cider but otherwise alcohol plays no part in my life at all I ve always found pubs a bit overpowering I m just not that comfortable in a pub, unfortunately you are then classed as a snob which is not true at all ..... it's not that I ve never been drunk I have on occasions when I was young at parties but since reaching adulthood I have never felt the need to look for a drink
They definitely aren't alcohol dependant ....their social lives are dominated by the availability of alcohol ........ummmm do I need to enlarge on those two statements

I will sit with you then gillybob. I love a G&T and a glass of wine or 3 and indulge in both 3 times a week. It is a treat I look forward to. When I had my knee op I didn't have a drink for 6/7 weeks and didn't miss it or long to be off the pain relief but happily embraced it again.
I have several non drinking friends and we happily coexist, especially in times when we used to socialize and they offered to drive!!.

I'm tee total. No objection to people having a drink in moderation, I just don't like any alcoholic drinks.
Like vampire queen people sometimes think I am odd ( probably right in some respects ).
Perfectly happy with my Diet Coke or fruit drink. I have often been uncomfortable in social situations when friends act very differently after just a couple of drinks. I'm sure they don't think they do but I can spot when someone has has just that tiny bit too much.

Hear hear!

For me, settling down on an evening to a nice glass of red, a cold G & T, or a smooth Amaretto (numerous other drinks are available and could be added to my list ) is one of life's many pleasures. I stick generally to the 14 recommended units and have at least two alcohol free days a week, but rules are made to be broken and these go by the board on high days and holidays. I'm puzzled as to why anyone should make non drinkers feel odd - we have several friends who don't drink and I've never noticed this. Of course it works both ways.

I used to have two big glasses of wine a night. Then hubby stopped drinking altogether. Now I have about three g & t's a week. It's more of a treat. Both of us are disappointed that we didn't lose weight cutting down on the booze.

I have been teetotal all my life (Welsh Chapel mother!) until I developed severe osteoarthritis. After a long day in the garden, rather than take painkillers which make me constipated, I have a small glass of marsala and the pain disappears. I only have this once, maybe twice a week and I certainly do not think I am dependant as it is not enough to make me the slightest bit tipsy, but the relief from from pain is wonderful. Nothing else works - I have tried wine but no go. I have never been able to understand how people can be dependant on alcohol but I think I can see a glimmer of understanding. I suffer physical pain some suffer mental pain and alcohol can help certainly with the physical pain.
I have nearly finished all the planting so no more kneeling down for a while. My husband usually does it but he tore a ligament in his calf a few weeks ago and still suffers discomfort.

I stopped going to night outs when I was teaching as the HT used to invite everyone to his house first for drinks. By the time we got to the meal, many of the young teachers were sozzled and I then spent the entire evening looking after them and worrying how to get them home safely. There was no pleasure in it.
I do like a glass of wine, but find myself drinking much less than I used to.
During the week I was out with my retired colleagues. We meet once a month for lunch and usually look for a deal with a glass of wine included. One of my colleagues travels with me and on the last two occasions has commented that she hoped, "she wouldn't have to carry me off the train, due to my alcohol consumption!" I had one small glass of wine! She made me feel that I had an alcohol problem. because I had a glass of wine during the day.
This is the lady, who years ago, who got so drunk on holiday that she nearly missed her flight home.

I believe that alcohol dependency is far more common than many people think these days, despite the protestations about "it's only social drinking". It seems that for many, a holiday in particular revolves around the ready availability of booze. Airports realise this, and the bars are open at daft-o-clock to enable the faithful to start their binge at the earliest opportunity. Bacon sarnie and a strong lager for breakfast? Not for me thanks, but just look at the packed bars next time you check in for an early morning departure. I'm not teetotal, and do enjoy the odd beer, but it certainly doesn't feature prominently in my life. What I do object to is when you're in company and the drinkers imply you're somehow inadequate or anti-social if you don't join them. If drinking alcohol is indeed central to enabling some people to either relax or to enjoy themselves, I find that rather sad. Cheers... ;-)

I know many wines are supposed to mature with age (just like ourselves, of course!) but I'm sitting here in France right now having had the 'immature' local red. Oh boy....... quite wonderfully delicious. I'm a once in a blue moon drinker, by the way.

If I am out and someone is pressing me to have a drink I just say that I am driving and that usually shuts them up. I do enjoy a glass of wine in the evening at home at weekends but certainly don't miss it if I don't have one.

Not important at all - I cannot remember when I last drank alcohol; nor my OH.

I would be legless on half a pint of cider, it made me feel very sick and gave me migraines - so avoiding it was a no-brainer. OH cannot drink because of heart problems.

But we are not a cheap round at the pub - some of the soft drinks are very expensive!