Today, its friday again, the day that all my
colleagues adore, and for me, only marks the
end of the week and usually a few days spent
at home.

I am trying to analyze myself slightly in comparison
to what I see around me and the result is quite
startling. I am old and grey. Not on paper, but
let me explain.

This morning one of the colleagues exclaimed:
“It’s Friday, its drinking night”

That little sentence sparked my introvert side
into motion and I tried to figure out why I never
exclaimed the same thing. Well, It kinda starts
with me being more or less a social hermit I guess
and I dont go out of my way to create new friends.
Those that I do make, tend to stay thus and all
is well.

Now, I dont like large gatherings of people in a
normal state, and in an alcohol filled environment
it gets even worse. Regardless if I am the one drinking
or if it is the crowd around me.

Pub life here in Sweden isn’t the same as it is abroad
mainly because of taxes. Around here, you pay about
7 USD for a beer. To you english blokes, I guess
its about 4 quid, and to those that handles euros
its in the range of 5-8 euros. I dont know the conversions
out of heart, so i cant be that exact.

Needless to say, getting yourself hammered at the pub
is a lot more expensive then getting some att the offlicense.

Oh, I forgot. We have government controlled alcoholdistribution.
Theres only 1 brand of store that sells alcohol, no competition
= higher pricing. Just because there’s nowhere else to go.

Anyhow, what USUALLY happens with people my age on a friday
is that they go to the offlicense, buy some beer and hard
licquer, sit at home and get more or less intoxicated, then
walk or take a cab to the pub, drink some, maybe throw
those furry legs about and then go home, unless you manage
for some reason to get hammered enough not to care while
you are at home, at wich point you will be in serious
financial difficulties if you bring your VISA with you.

So, usually when you get to a pub, you actually have the
staggering people that pretends to be sober enough to get
another beer, you have the troublemakers and those that
cant handle their drinking and then you always have the
panic pickups.

The reason I feel old is that I cant really see the reason
to cram myself into that sloppy alcohol mixed mess.

Im guessing you can see my point.

-z-