Never doing that again

I'm sure even with my reduced intake of alcohol in this second half of my first century on the planet I'd get bad marks from the doctor.

So, of course I'd lie.

It pales in comparison with that first year of apprenticeship though, the rapid growth curve of alcohol consumption and the embracing of the lifestyle of a binge drinker.


Newcastle Brown Ale was eighteen pence a pint at the Polytechnic Bar, Best Bitter a penny less, the Lacy Lady had Thursday night happy hour where, shots and mixers were ten pence, not to mention Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Green Man, cheap beer and cream cracker eating contests.

The dangers, of occasionally being hit on the temple with a pickled onion, driving a Humber Sceptre around the rugby field or hijacking a double decker bus to get home had little effect, even an hour in the trade school toilet the following morning listening to a loud high pitched whistle in your head would do little to dampen the enthusiasm for the next pub night.