How important is alcohol?

I think drinking at homem has always existed. My parents always had a few bottles in the cupboard, but it was very much only drunk on high days and holidays. A glass of sherry before lunch on Christmas Day, New Year and possibly a birthday. They never ever went to a pub.

I do not particularly like the taste of alcohol, or the effect it has on you when you have a drink too many, or afterwards, but, I enjoy a glass of wine if we go out for a meal and a glass of shandy in the summer and casual social drinking seems perfectly normal.

What I find incomprehensible is the drinking to get drunk. The feeling is horrible (I, too, have made my mistakes); at the time, unbalanced, foggy minded and discombobulated and even worse the following day. So I find the 'open a bottle of wine when I get home from work each night' drink odd but what totally defeats me is the thinking it fun to go out and get totally wasted so that you cannot walk, cannot talk and are in danger of being mugged, beaten up or worse.

So true , thank you Gilly

This song by Brad Paisley pretty much sums it up.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3zkkLckeyM

My parents never ever drank alcohol in the house. My mum never drank alcohol at all, ever.

I wonder when/how it became the norm to drink at home? rather than going down the pub occasionally?

We were discussing this last night, over a few whiskies! Decided that the average price of alcohol has gone down. In the early years of our marriage if friends came round we would have to go out and buy a bottle of wine, very rarely spirits. We could not afford to keep alcohol in the house. Now we do have a fairly well stocked cupboard. Yes, we earn more and a bottle of decent malt will make us wince, but we have a much more casual relationship with alcohol.

As with many things in life the vast majority are able to manage alcohol safely and sensibly but for the minority who are not able to, for varying reasons, the consequences are awful.

I do think that when, as a younger person, alcohol had to be bought at the 'offie' or pub and you had to look 'old enough' to buy it it did delay the early consumption that can lead to dependency.
Drinking alcohol has gone from "occasional social" to an "acceptable everyday" activity which, I think, does make those who are vulnerable to dependency more at risk.
However the drinks manufacturers have a strong pull on the powers that be so I do not expect any legal challenge any day soon.

Nanmcgeek, thought your post was very good.

I suppose alcohol is part on the European make up. Water wasn't safe so our ancestors drank small beer. But the alcohol content of day to day stuff was low. Even in our life time a 'normal' wine can now be 14/15% when in my teenage years it was 10/11%. And, as has been said wine glasses are now more like tumblers. I don't believe pubs serve 125ml of wine anymore. I like alcohol, and when younger drank much more, but I do find my consumption is petering out with age.

In the past, I have been rather dismissive of those who don't drink, thinking them to be a bit unsocial. Not that I have been a big drinker but enjoyed a glass or two of good wine with a meal, cracked open a bottle of Champagne for a family celebration or enjoyed a G&T to relax after work sometimes.

Since we brought my adult alcoholic son home from hospital to 'recover' we don't have alcohol in the house, and although I have had the very occasional glass of wine when meeting friends at a pub, I feel guilty and disloyal for doing so.

With new understanding, I have realised the extent to which alcohol dominates our culture in the UK. If you watch TV, cooks add large amounts of wine to their dishes, travellers always seem to include visits to vinyards and distilleries, and many programmes seem to end with a presenter sitting outside with a glass of wine as the the sun sets. Watch a film or a few hours of television and count how many times alcohol appears in the scenes. There is nowhere (at least around where I live) that is open in the evening to go and meet up with friends except a pub.

If you haven't seen alcohol dependency and its effects, your relationship with alcohol may be casual and comfortable. Or you may be like many of the posters above who don't like the taste or how it makes them feel. But there are a those like my son, for whom drinking the smallest amount of alcohol again would send them back to the hell they once descended into and who are trying to rebuild their lives in a culture that celebrates the use of alcohol.

We all have used fire to provide warmth but some have been burned. It's the same relationship with alcohol.

I haven't bothered with alcohol for years now, I used to enjoy it when I was younger.

There are occasions when I do really enjoy the relaxation that an alcoholic drink provides. My body responds quickly to drugs (prescription!) and to alcohol so one or two glasses at one time is quite sufficient for me to feel relaxed & happy but not pissed! We don't generally drink during the week. I drank more alcohol when I was younger but have become less able to consume in any quantity.
I appreciate that too many people are over dependent on alcohol and that the dreadful curse of alcoholism damages so many lives. I have a good friend who drinks more than is sensible. I suspect she is alcohol dependent but is not yet at the stage where she drinks alone or in secret. We all try, as a group of pals, to stop her drinking too much when she is with us and have said to her outright that she drinks too much. She just says we all have to die of something and now she is 71 she will choose!

Very sorry to hear that wot.
Good point wildswan. Glass sizes can be huge these days. My friend has one that can take a whole bottle. Our 'wine' glasses were my grandmother's and seem tiny in comparison to typical glasses these days.

I think the most important thing is to have achol free days n a week. My lovely niece usedto drink a little every day and she died last summer of a wrecked liver.
W

Everyone must make their own decisions about the amount of alcohol they drink. But I do think a lot of people drastically underestimate how much they take over the week. Glasses, like dinner plates, have almost doubled in size over the last twenty years.

I like a drink at the weekend, one of lifes little pleasures.
I work from home so how else would I know it was weekend...LOL.

I rarely drink alcohol during the year as I'm just not interested in it, although I like an occasional baileys with lots of ice at Xmas. My husband hasn't drunk alcohol for more then 20 years.
Interestingly, we visited some friends for Sunday lunch a few weeks ago. The couple (he's 81, she's 79) were clearly disappointed that none of the younger guests (50's&60's) wanted any wine or spirits with their lunch. Luckily, they did provide plenty of soft drinks (which they hadn't expected to have to open).

I do provide good quality wine when we have guests but if they only drink half the bottle, I either get them to take it home with them or it gets chucked into a stew.

I have attended many al anon and A A meetings , alcohol dependancy in on the increase , it is as serious as drug addiction, increases attendance at A & E

It is socially acceptable and so is dismissed with a joke.

If there was a thread on smoking with posts saying - a cigarette relaxes me, there would be countless posts condemning .

no one , when they start having a drink , knows if they will become addicted , no one chooses to be an alcoholic but so many who are alcohol dependant use the same explanations for what is in truth their addiction

Oh yes indeed.

I agree.

If alcohol was invented today it would be banned. The amount of touble it causes, the crimes committed by drunks, etc. makes it more trouble than it's worth.

When I was on Champix to give up smoking, it put me off alcoholic and coffee too. It was as if it switched of enjoyment of anything addictive. Except GN!

If I drink before eating, it kills my appetite right off!

I enjoyed drinking, one evening after a couple of sips I felt as though I'd downed a whole bottle! After 10 years there's been no improvement in that I just can't drink. I try the odd sip now and then (like I said I enjoyed it) but i feel dreadful. Think drink gave me up :-)

I like the taste if alcohol but hate the effect. So one glass whilst I am cooking/eating dinner. If any one complained about my lack of drinking they would not be friends with me, I do what I want.

I've always been tee total and in my younger days was frequently accused of being miserable; didn't know how to enjoy myself; a party pooper etc. I've even had my lime and lemonade spiked by "friends" who decided that I wouldn't be able to tell and that I would "enjoy myself more". It actually makes me violently sick, not just for the time that I need to get rid of the alcohol but for a couple of days afterwards too. I used to make excuses like, I'm driving or taking medication but now I just say no, and make no excuses at all. I've also changed my circle of friends. I always have alcohol in the house for visiting friends but never touch it myself.