On being drunk at 8.00 am

I travelled ‘Up North’ recently at some ridiculous hour and at each leg of my long journey, many people (mostly men) were carrying large carrier bags and sometimes boxes of beer which they proceeded to drink as keenly as most people drink their first cup of tea or coffee in the morning.  By 8.00 am many of my fellow travellers were “pissed” “tipsy” or other more expressive feelings which they seemed compelled to tell everyone in the train with them.   Why this seemed so important to them was intriguing to me.

However, as a counsellor, and being used to problem drinking, I do get how some people can slide into needing a drink in order to function at this time in the morning.  But this was different.   Was it some code for a ‘badge of honour’ of some secret society?  Was it peer pressure of being “one of the boys”?  Was it the only way to seek fun? Or was it some ritual amongst long distant travellers presumably on a day out?

Being “pissed” at 8.00 am in the morning does not indicate to me a very long day in the land of reality but does indicate a day passed in a bit of a haze.  However if my fellow travellers report back to those for whom they feel it is important to know, themselves included, in the same way that some of my former clients did in their past lives, they will most likely say that they had a “blinding” day.  Isn’t that the truth!!