Kim du Toit’s Daily Rant makes a lot of sense to me.
The Englishman reminds my American Readers just why it is unwise to confront Brits in their place of business after lunch:
“My dear boy – in England some of us still have a drink or two at lunch even on a working day. I know the last alcoholic drink during work in America was on 19th March 1987 but here we aren’t all Puritans. And mix a few pints with some Cockney Barrow Boys, sprinkle with Aggro and the fun starts.”
I personally believe that when the Fall of American Civilization is chronicled by future historians, they will put its start date as March 19, 1987 (as per Tim).
This reminds me of an incident a few years back when I had just moved back to Joplin and was starting in the real estate business. I went to lunch with a couple of old friends, guys I had known since elementary school and who in their day could drink me under the table. We were having burgers at a pool hall. Certainly the place was known for good food like burgers, nachos, chili, etc. but good food of the type you find in a bar. I ordered a beer, because, frankly, a burger in a pool hall with iced tea is just food, a burger in a pool hall with an ice cold beer is a bit of heaven right here on earth. (Or as Franklin said with regard to wine, it’s “proof that God exists and he wants us to be happy.”) My friends ordered soft drinks with comments about how it must be nice to have a beer in the middle of the day. I suppose I have no shame, I drank my one beer and wondered what an awful life to be so scared of your employer or your wife that on a relatively infrequent occasion fo lunch with your oldest friends you couldn’t enjoy one beer.
And, for what it’s worth, Oliver Cromwell drank ale. America’s nannies of the left and right aren’t Puritans – they’re much worse.
(Note: The libertarian diet is meat, fat, salt, hot peppers and alcohol. More about it here, here and here.