For the Record

I just want to clear something up that may have become confused by my last several blog posts regarding alcohol.  I am not, nor have I ever been, against the idea of drinking itself.  I enjoy my boozing as much as the next person when I feel inclined to indulge and there have been times that I have over-indulged both in the past and, no doubt, in the future to come.  What I am against is acting like inconsiderate fools or being irresponsible, loud, rude, and so on wether they are intoxicated at the time or not.  I do find that there is a direct correlation between how much alcohol goes into a person and how often they put it in themselves and how often they are acting in that particular way - but it is not "the drinking" exactly that causes my displeasure, but the increase in unacceptable behaviours that tends to come with the drinking.

I do think that if you are going to go to a pub you should try the local and enjoy it.  The taps here are the kind that have to be pumped, not like ones commonly seen at home with hydraulic push the button and stuff comes out soda dispenser things.  Each pub has different tap brews that are theirs and then of course the common main brands for the area.  It has been a pleasure to visit and sample these places as I can and I hope that over the course of my being here I will have the opportunity to sample a good number.

Notice the word choices here though: sample, visit, try.  We are talking about the difference between having a drink, or a few drinks, and drinking to get drunk.  One is all fine and well and if you do so even daily or semi-daily you will not hear much from me so long as you can manage yourself.  The other is not something one should do daily or semi-daily (though I maintain that it is not something one must NEVER do strictly - but special parameters exist) and doing so will usually put you on my "avoid" list because being around drunk people all the bloody time looses its entertainment value quickly.

So yes, drinking is not the enemy when I am talking about some of the incidents and instances here at CMRS with the larger group; the inconsiderate stupidity that is enhanced by drinking copious amounts to the point of blind drunkenness is specifically what I have a problem with.  Regular having a drink or two (or four, whatever your personal tolerances permit) in the evening or with a few friends is not something I would frown upon.  I wanted to clear that up because some people who don't know me well might get the wrong idea that I am some kind of Puritan over here, which is a hearty no on that count.