So I’ve been a bit of a busy Prick lately, tied up on a number of fronts and working on a project which I can’t share the details of just yet, and posting has been subsequently light. In any case today it was a train down to Bowral, first class no less (it’s hardly the pointy end of an A380 to London, but we do what we can), where I was confronted with yet another example of the lowest common denominator infantilisation of our society:
Piss-weak dishwater beer in the bar car was the strongest stuff they’d serve. Why? In not so many words, the Country Link guy told me out was to prevent problems with bogans getting on the piss and acting up.
You know what? I’m sick of policies and policy makers using this sort of thinking, if it can be called that, as an excuse to make life marginally less pleasant and more expensive and difficult for the rest of us. If someone acts up on a train, put him off or cut him off. Otherwise, we’re all adults. Let’s act like it, and treat and serve each other similarly.
Prick With A Fork 
At least on civilized airlines, like Thai, you can get a real beer, or vodka or whatever. I wonder how long that will last on flights in and out of Australia.
They even serve serious beers, like “Chang”. which makes most Australian “full-strength” beers seem tame. Though, I did notice that about a year after its introduction, they throttled back the alcohol content about a percent. It is still a good brew. Early in its introduction, the hosties used to keep a small stash in their trolleys and you had to ask for it by name, otherwise it was Singha or Carlsberg, or, heaven forfend, Budweiser or some such. Never mind that a double scotch and soda packs more wallop in a smaller container.
The one instance of alcohol-fueled misbehaviour on a flight involved, of course, a couple of tanked up Oz lads who were pretty well airborne before we left the Bangkok terminal and were seated behind me. I temporarily became a Kiwi. The male Thai steward, who was built like a tank, had a quiet word to the lads and they settled down.
At least you don’t have to submit to sporting veneues here in QLD. XXXX Gold is stuff of choice.
OT – that is the first, and I suspect last, time I have seen “male Thia steward” and “built like a tank” in the same sentence. I have travelled Thai (Biz + cattle) several times and (yes I know this is a cliche) the genders of the staff seemed not to be a differentiatior in the size stakes.
Ditto attending any major sporting events at Olympic Park in Sydney. The strongest ale is an $8 plastic cup of mid-strength rubbish. After queuing for 10 minutes, how drunk do they really think you can get during 80 minutes of football? Particularly as the shut the bar at the 60 minute mark.
Moreover, drinking spirits from hip-flasks or hidden plastic bottles is making a big return, even among the more respectable classes who take their children along.
At age 15 or so, I spent the holidays on a friend’s farm. That involved a ten hour ride on the end of term country bus – the country kids had done it many times before, and made sure I was prepared. Most had a bottle of spirits and a few litres of Coke. Back then, you could smoke too, so we all had a pouch and some rollies to keep us busy (no such thing as a PS2 or Gameboy back then to while away the time). There were a few adults on the bus – they all had brown paper bags as well.
I made the mistake of taking ouzo. I threw up after about 4 hours of putting it away. And then I changed seats.
The back of the bus was pretty much an under-blanket orgy by 10pm. The driver had given in – he had a teenage girl sitting in his lap doing the steering whilst he operated the pedals and had a few beers.
We were a very sorry lot when we arrived at out stop around 2am.
And these were the respectable kids from the best private schools……
For some strange reason, they banned drinking on the buses a few years later. Bastards.
100% with you Prick.
The minority dictate to the majority.