Cheap Drunks

Being on a detox means that, on a night out, i have the pleasure of watching other people spiral into the sort of drunkenness where the embarassing becomes commonplace. It reminds me somewhat of when i used to work in Brannigans bar in Manchester - except over here, i don't have the safety of a couple of feet of wood in front of me. Anyway, Friday night and i was heading off downtown for a couple of 'drinks' and to meet a couple of friends in one of the local bars here. Of course, a big advantage for me living downtown is that i can walk there and back, whether i'm drinking or not.

Now, about halfway between me and the downtown area is the College of Charleston - and a lot of student housing in the surrounding area so i guess you can imagine that it gets pretty student heavy around there on a night. This particular night was quite typical in the sense that there were a lot of student groups milling around doing the whole noisy, drunken laughing and shouting. Except this was about 11 in the evening whereas you would probably normally associate this with 2-3am. At least in the UK. When i asked my friends about it, they said that a lot of students have very low alcohol tolerance on account of the fact that they're not allowed to drink it until 21 - but most do anyway beforehand. Thus, sometimes being within smelling distance of a pint of beer (not that they do pints over here!!) is enough to send them a bit tipsy. To say the least. Still, i guess it saves money, eh?