More wine dear

I can't remember the first sip of wine I ever had, however I do remember being given a small glass of white wine at Christmas. The wine was to celebrate the season, and cleanse my palate between bites of Christmas turkey, gravy and stuffing. I may not have realised that at that young age, but this single glass of wine each Christmas day helped shape my ideas about alcohol.

I know that a glass of wine is best enjoyed with a good meal. I do not drink alcohol purely to get drunk, and in my teens I never hung around street corners swigging from a bottle of cheap cider, or stood outside the off-license begging the over-18's to buy some alco-pops. I have had my moments, mainly in University when I've gone over the top, but I can count those times on the fingers of one hand. On the whole I have a relaxed, well-adjusted, sensible attitude to drinking.

So when I heard about this story about banning parents from letting their children under 15 years old consume alcohol, even with a meal, I'll admit my hackles got a little raised. I understand that binge drinking among the younger population is becoming more and more common, but isn't that a sign that we need to change their way of thinking? Teen, and pre-teen pregnancies are rising at an alarming rate despite the legal age of consent being 16, so what makes people think that a blanket ban of alcohol for under 15's will work? How will it be policed? Why can't (sensible) parents make an informed decision about their own children?

In my opinion this idea will not work. To beat binge drinking, attitudes about alcohol must change. If parents want to they should be allowed to introduce the child to alcohol, as I was, at a young age. In this way we can teach how alcohol should be treated with respect. I often think that under 15's are so desperate to start drinking because they see it as a grown up thing to do. If they're used to having a glass of wine every now and again, is it such a grown-up thing to do anymore? Education about alcohol will be more successful than bans will ever hope to be, just look at 1920's prohibition in America and you'll see what I mean.

The best chat up line ever

I promised MB in my comments about my Grand National post that I would reveal the best chat up line I have ever heard.

Unfortunately this isn't a chat up line that was directed at me, a dear friend of mine (and old housemate) had the pleasure of this line. She was sitting down in the University courtyard waiting for a friend when this guy shows up and begins chatting to her. He starts of with the general uni chit chat, and their conversation goes something like this.

"What course are you doing?" he asks.
"Mathematical physics."
"What? With tits like that?"

For some reason this guy believed that intelligent women couldn't have a fantastic pair. How wrong he was.

As for chat up lines directed at me, I don't tend to get any unless I'm in uniform and drunk people are about.

999 Ambulance Lottery

No doubt those of you living in the UK will have heard about this story. A rather one-sided look at ambulances, paramedics and technicians. For those of you over the pond, basically the program is criticising the lack of paramedics on ambulances, and implying that the use of ambulance technicians is putting lives at risk, a very one-sided, sensationalist piece of journalism (Sir Trevor, I'm very disappointed with you!). Ambulance technicians are not unskilled, as you claim. They are not bumbling side-kicks waiting for "Super Paramedic" to come and save them from themselves. There are a few rare situations when a paramedic would be able to administer a drug to better treat the patient, but these situations are not the norm. I would rant on more about this, but Reynolds has already said it a lot better than I could, so here are his words on the topic.

Finally, I just like to say a few words of condolence to those caught up in the tragedy at Virginia Tech, and their families. My thoughts are with them all.

Grand National 2007

Well, the big day of the Grand National arrived, and I blew the dust off my high vis jacket and went along to do some first aid.

Over the course of the day I got hit on seven times, only one of these people was sober. I'm not sure whether that boosts my self esteem or not yet. The chat up lines weren't the most original this year, just the usual "oh I feel faint" or "I need some mouth to mouth". Lads, although Lola isn't really one for chat up lines, a good original one will have her chuckling for days.

I got rather worried when a fight broke out right next to us, we scarpered to a safer spot, although we couldn't actually get out of the enclosure the fight was in. Luckily security contained it quite quickly, leaving us to deal with the first aid related aftermath.

The most pointless job of the day was being called upstairs by control to a lady with a cut foot. As control had sent us, as a response team, we imagined there would be a fair bit of blood. We got there after a bit of directing by stewards, to find a lady who smiled at us and said, "My foot's fine, I just need a plaster." Why she couldn't have gone down to the first aid post and gotten one herself was a bit beyond me.

Despite being an aed and medical gases team, we didn't get called to anything that would require those skills, thank goodness. The weather was lovely, although I found it quite difficult to cope in the heat. Just imagine that the past three grand nationals I have spent freezing cold, in the rain in some years and this year is lovely and I still complain. There's no hope for me.

One of my horses came in second, the problem being that I bet on 4 of them. Ah well, Bewleys Berry was in the lead when it fell, again I'm not sure if that's more annoying than it is anything else. It just goes to show the evils of gambling, I'm sure it won't stop me doing the same thing next year.

Finally on the way home, a couple of gents gave up their seats for us on the train so we could sit down as we had been on our feet all day. Yes, the gents were steaming drunk and sang to us for most of the train journey, but they were nice drunks, and it brightened my day.

Oh Lola, your geekiness is showing

I'm finding myself getting more and more obsessed with Doctor Who. It's a little worrying as obsessions of mine have been known to take over a large part of my life. Previous obsessions have led to me almost constantly thinking about the subject of the obsession, getting fangirl-ish (I can range from crazy to sane fangirl), and the ultimate sign of being obsessed with something, writing fanfiction (yes my fanfiction is online, no I'm not posting the link).

So as you can imagine, I'm trying to keep my cool about Doctor Who (it helps that Mum tells me how sad I am for watching it...). Of course this new interest in the show has nothing to do with David Tennant, or his quirkiness, or his attractiveness, or how good his legs look when he's in drag ahem.

You're not buying any of this are you?

New Blog

I've set up a new blog for UK restaurant reviews, and I've been getting to grips with Wordpress for the set up of it. I like blogger, but if I'd used my blogger account to create it, then people I know in real life whom I wouldn't really want in my little cafe would have been able to find it easily. As I've said before, I'm only semi-anonymous. Anyone I know who finds this blog knows it's mine instantly (a few people I know have already found it through various internet searches). So call me paranoid, but I don't want to link my real name with this blog.

I'm actually quite impressed with Wordpress, but at the same time I really don't have a clue about it. I think I'm safer sticking with blogger for this one.

For anyone who's interested the link is http://goodrestaurantfood.wordpress.com

I'll be linking to it on my page here, but no mention of the cafe will appear on there if that makes sense.

Next post: Is Lola really becoming a Doctor Who geek?