The Brits and their Beers
I just read a simultaneously disturbing and hilarious article in the Times about the national drinking crisis now facing the English, as well as the Irish- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/international/europe/22bing.html.
It really made me feel better about my daily drinking habits when I read:
"government statistics show that Britons on average drank the equivalent of 8.6 liters of pure alcohol each in 2001, nearly double the rate of 1951. That translates into more than 86 bottles of wine, or 350 pints of beer. Young women on average now consume about 12.6 drinks a week, an increase of 66 percent since 1992."
But the best part is near the end, when the article discusses the recent termination of the Saturday night train from London to Aberdeen because no guards were willing to get on board-
"It was like an alcoholic bullet flying through the night," one guard told the newspaper. "The buffet car was a cesspool. They were climbing into the berths with Christ knows who. It was madness. They'd pull the emergency cord. They'd vomit. Break guitars over each other's heads. You can't be having that on a nice train."
It really made me feel better about my daily drinking habits when I read:
"government statistics show that Britons on average drank the equivalent of 8.6 liters of pure alcohol each in 2001, nearly double the rate of 1951. That translates into more than 86 bottles of wine, or 350 pints of beer. Young women on average now consume about 12.6 drinks a week, an increase of 66 percent since 1992."
But the best part is near the end, when the article discusses the recent termination of the Saturday night train from London to Aberdeen because no guards were willing to get on board-
"It was like an alcoholic bullet flying through the night," one guard told the newspaper. "The buffet car was a cesspool. They were climbing into the berths with Christ knows who. It was madness. They'd pull the emergency cord. They'd vomit. Break guitars over each other's heads. You can't be having that on a nice train."