Being that Pisshead (pros and cons)

There are some people that find the best way to start their day is to pour themselves a nice tall glass of whiskey or a nice cold beer. Some of them in fact, carry a little travelling device in order to help them continue doing this throughout the day which in English is called a “flask”. Now I personally hate starting the day with a drink because it just makes me fall asleep but some people love it, maybe they even find it a way to express themselves. Who knows? Well I have had the pleasue of working in many bars when I was young in order to pay my tuition fees, so I have met many “lovers” of the sauce in my life. In this Bob the Meerkat blog I would like to take a look at the pros and cons of being, well you know, that “drunk guy”. I know this is a serious issue and many people may find this article offensive. So please, if you have a relative that is affected and your feel sorry for alcoholics, stop reading now. 

Honestly, if you live in Great Britain or a handful of other countries and have a love of the drink there are many advantages. Firstly, the government treats “alcoholism” as a serious disease even to the point that the “pissheads” get a payed-for place to live and a monthly salary. What I witnessed was the contrary to the assumed sad depressive life they live, sure there were some, but they took pride in waking up at 8, putting on a suit, and started a day with a nice cold pint. In fact, if it wasn´t for the fact that they were destroying their body from the inside, they seemed quite pleased to talk about football all day, harass the bartenders, and stumble home. Sometimes, one would pass away and they would hold something similar to an Irish“wake" and find another reason to raise their glass... Their mate's death!

Now, since a drug addiction is not a funny thing, I would like to talk about the cons of being an alcoholic. First of all, it destroys families. Whereas, some of the pissheads were alone and their loved ones had all passed away so their best source of company was other lonely football viewers, there was the type who had families, wives and children. Sometimes I witnessed wives or husbands of the alcoholics coming in to let go of a little steam and rant and rave at them for missing an important event. In fact, there was many who told stories about their loved ones who refused to speak to them on the grounds that they gave preference to the bottle, understandable really. Furthermore, what the drink does to someone´s body and mind is unbelievable. Now I have met some smackheads and pot-smokers in my time, but I don´t think there is anything that does such damage as excessive amounts of booze. They seem to lose all track of time, age, reality and tend to repeat themselves… everyday. At least a pothead brings a new story or two.

In conclusion, I guess it depends on the person and your perception of the situation. I know although alcoholism is not something to take lightly, I have met some fully functional happy drunks in my life. And in spite of the horrible damage it does to the body, is happiness not the important thing? Ask the old guy in the queue for a John Smiths and you´ll get your answer.