Have you ever noticed, how in certain cultures (mine being distinctly one of them) alchohol and to a lesser degree drugs, are such an integral and important part of social participation that any attempt at isolation from alchohol is in effect isolation from the world...

Well I have. and god knows I'm not some raving anti-alchohol religious brat, in fact I love Alchohol, need alchohol, and I'm convinced there's few things as satisfying as truly pissing the night away....

It just came to me during the latest Maluco, reunion in Israel. There was a barbecue, Nicola and I went with Gali to a friends house. Birthday Party, barbecue, 25 youngsters, maybe 2 dozen beers and a bottle of wine or two. People sitting in small groups chatting away, some having a beer with their food, some a glass of coke. I said to Nicola, "This could never happen in your country or mine" And it's so true.

If I told my mates, let's have a barbecue, drink a few glasses of coke, and talk about old times, I'd probably be eating all the meat myself. Beer, and indeed any alchohol, is an integral part of getting together, of eating together, watching football, partying, sitting on the beach on a hot sunday afternoon. It's just plain old important. What can I say to that?

Nothing, so I won't, just reminding myself that there are places in the world where things are different. But then again there are places in the world where people don't watch the World Cup (or so I am told) and even places where they eat each other, but that doesn't mean I want to trade places, because after all:

BEER IS TRULY A DIVINE DRINK!