The dangers of not drinking...

..became apparent to me this morning!

I went out last night to the pub that I used to work in to catch up with some friends and the locals, who I miss more than I thought I would when I rang the bell behind the bar for the final time earlier this year.  They are an eccentric, wonderful bunch of people who are generous in both buying me drinks and their time, conversation and laughter.  But this is how I discovered the pitfall of not being a regular drinker...I just couldn't keep up.  At one point I had 4 vodkas sitting in front of me.  Not only could I not keep up, I got a teensy~weensy bit drunk and the truth is, relative to the people I was drinking with (with the exception of my friend L who I was with...sorry P, but you're a far more experienced drinker my lovely (compliment)), I hardly drank.

I also seem to have lost the knack of getting a round in.  This isn't because I'm tight, but because you have to be really fast and sly, really sly.  The men who drink there (it is predominately a blokes pub) are not very good at letting 'burds' (women) buy drinks.  If you offer, they will shoot you down.  So the trick is to slyly, without anyone noticing, get the barmaid over and order the round.  Once the drink is put down, you're ok.  You're a 'cheeky wee besom' (pronounced 'bizzum'), but the drink will be accepted.  I did manage to get one round in, but to be honest due to the amount I consumed (relative to my normal consumption - I'm not called 2-gin-Jo for nothing) I wasn't as sharp as I needed to be to pull off this no mean feat!

Another pitfall of not being a regular drinker (or perhaps a pitfall of drinking whether regular or not) is the post-drinking-hungar!  I ended up going into the Chinese across the road from the pub and ordering.  Now, for 'regular, normal' people this is a great idea....helps to soak up some of the alcohol.  But if you're wheat & yeast intolerant you need to be careful what you consume...I thought I'd ordered well, but my body tells me otherwise =(  And the mess I left in my kitchen...sight for sore eyes this morning that's for sure!

So, taking this lesson on board, I have arranged to meet some friends tonight in the pub (will stock up fridge with appropriate food prior to going out).  Well, I don't want to make the same mistakes - that would just be plain stoooopid!