Fare

I’m *hick* having trooble righting this *hick* column because I’ve had too much to drunk. I can’t talk ploply, I’m photocopying my privates and bumping into lampposts like a pin-ball. But I’m Australian, so that’s funny, right?

Well, as funny as the behaviour of the three Welsh tourists who woke up in their Gold Coast hotel last week to find Dirk the penguin in their room. Though the men’s wrists will be slapped, our culture is incredibly accepting of alcohol-fuelled larrikins. But if you drink to the point where you can’t remember your actions, surely your hobby is nothing less than amnesia.

Dirk remembers and if Dirk could speak he too might have phoned in to the radio station I recently heard inviting callers to share the most unusual place they had woken up after a big night out. In prison, on the roof of a car and in the middle of a roundabout were some of the improvised beds the everyday Aussies had occupied. Park benches are only for full-time drunks it seems.

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  • Cynicised says:

    06:01pm | 02/05/12

    I’m a nurse, jimbo and have seen the worst of alcohol and drug abuse too, but that still doesn’t make me a wowser. I suppose it’s because I do not believe that everyone who drinks is going to do something stupid or criminal,as goemez12 says. Believe me, I have never… Read more »

  • I forgot my name says:

    06:04pm | 01/05/12

    Are you throwing the baby out with the bath water ? Read more »

 

FARE is a small organisation with a dream. There is no denying that FARE has taken on a cause of epic proportions – a shape-shifting entity that is hard to define because its boundaries are constantly changing. Alcohol is a central part of Australian culture, and it crosses demographic, geographic and social divides in a way other cultural activities don’t.

No-hoper booze hounds like this guy will never get anywhere. Photo:AFP

Drinking alcohol is for the young and old, the high achievers and under achievers, the wealthy and the destitute. For most Australians, drinking alcohol is a choice that doesn’t devalue their lives. It is more likely to add entertainment, experiential or leisure value.

How do we view Australia’s drinking culture? Is it a glass half empty, or a glass half full?

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  • Utopia Boy says:

    04:12pm | 23/11/11

    It was disgusting to think this organisation linked the abuse of children to alcohol, just so another alleged statistic could be rolled out and make us gasp in horror. People who abuse children don’t deserve sympathy, don’t deserve recognition as humans, and don’t deserve to be allowed to stand behind… Read more »

  • subotic says:

    08:01am | 23/11/11

    @iMitchy, stop making total sense ya bugger. You’ll frighten the locals with logic y’know…. Read more »

 

Mineral water, sparkling wine, sauvignon banc, chardonnay or pinot noir. That was the dilemma I faced last Wednesday night as the guest of FARE, an independent and charitable foundation set up to ten years ago to help prevent the harmful use of alcohol in Australia. 

I'm feeling rundown so I'm sticking with light beer.Photo:News.com.au

Don’t be afraid to have a drink tonight, urged our generous host. But while I sipped self-consciously on my mineral water I did start to wonder where this night would end up.

After all, as their slogan proudly says, FARE are committed to “changing the way we drink”.

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  • Butch says:

    03:22pm | 23/11/11

    Great article but it didn’t have eevrythnig?I didn’t find the kitchen sink! Read more »

  • Robinoz says:

    08:25am | 19/11/11

    You can’t put an old head on young shoulders. But eventually we all get wise, probably because after having dozens or hundreds of hangovers, we realise there is an alternative. Maybe it’s just that as we age, it takes longer to recover from a piss up and more pain begins… Read more »

 

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