"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it anyway", so said Mahatma Gandhi. Presumably he hadn't spent all nearly all weekend and a Monday evening watching episodes of 'Hustle' on youtube which, while entertaining, does seem almost like I've been wasting a lot of time. But I must say I find Gandhi's quote an encouraging idea, an idea which perhaps justifies some of the hobbies I have.
I didn't spend quite all of the weekend watching Hustle - and, for those who haven't seen it, check it out it's great! - and managed to spend much of yesterday evening drinking with friends in Brighton, and had quite a few ales in the end. This served as an interesting prelude to the radio show I heard this evening where former MP Anne Widdicombe was investigating the effects and possible solutions of a binge drinking problem in our society. This seems to be the latest in a long line of reports in the media on this subject, which tends largely to be damning against those who go out and drink to excess.
Now, I agree that in some cases that binge drinking is a problem, but I don't think it is as large a problem as is generally perceived. There are always comparisons to places like France where people, apparently, enjoy drinking in a more 'cultural' and 'reserved' manner - and this seemed to be the largest argument in this show tonight, that we should be more like that here in Britain. There is also the fact that alcohol abuse causes so much spending on the NHS, where perhaps there could be money saved if the drinking culture was changed. I agree with many of the points these kinds of shows make concerning the issue, but I think they all seem to miss the fundamental point about why people go out on a Friday and Saturday and drink heavily and to excess - they do it because it's fun.
If they didn't enjoy it, people wouldn't do it. And it must be enjoyable, otherwise people wouldn't give themselves the awful hangovers the next day if they didn't think it would be worth it for the night out. Although, if I'd known I was going to suffer from the other side effect of a night on the beer - terrible wind the next day - I may have drunk a little less last night. Was in so much agony today, just about managing to hold what felt like several cubic tons of fart gas inside me for he benefit of my colleagues. (For reference, I think Fart Gas is somewhere between Helium and Argon on the Periodic Table.) The more I listened to the show, the more I wanted to take Anne Widdicombe out one night and get her really drunk - although not for romantic purposes. She could even teach me a few of her famous dance moves.
Right, back to Hustle I think. Imagine in this episode Mickey Bricks and the gang will manage to set up some witless thug in a mind-boggling con that will look like its sort of gone wrong until there's a big reveal near the end and they all end up in Eddie's Bar at the end and have a good laugh about it. Like every week.
Glad I've discovered this programme, otherwise I could easily just be wasting my time.
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