Entire COUNTRIES can be triggers…

Ever been to a London Pub, after ten o’clock at night, sober?  You will be the only one to notice the bar-top is AWASH with spilled beer and there’s no toilet paper in the ladies loo.

A lot of the top drinking countries are in the Eastern Bloc, like Belarus and Bosnia.  I’ve been to Russia a number of times.  I was at a business lunch in Moscow once, with about fifteen people at a long table.  Our hosts began what they described through interpreters as “the tradition of the toast” and I believe it is where the expression “toasted” must come from.  A servant pours a large shot of vodka for each participant, and then all of the hosts and a selection of “special guests” (in predetermined order) give a toast.  Several times.  After each toast, the whole merry group drinks the shot.  And the servant refills.  Let’s do the math – most people I know don’t drink 32 shots of vodka at lunch.  One of the guys at the table, a stiff accounting type, was found (after a haphazard search) passed out in the men’s room, where he had voided into the trousers of his three piece suit…

After lunch, the Russians WENT BACK TO WORK.

I found out later, that it’s okay for women to just sip the shot with each toast.  I was having VISIONS like Rasputin, people.  There is no scenario I can imagine, at a traditional Russian toast, where someone could say, “I don’t drink.”  It would cause an international crisis…

The Social Issues Research Center says, “Alcohol has played a central role in almost all human cultures since 4,000 BC.  All societies without exception make use of intoxicating substances…”

It’s why I’ve decided to stay home today.