pogofish

That remains contentious' date=' at best. It isn't just drunken violence tho. Alcohol has [b']all sorts of other ways of harming.

Nah, wasps are ok! Grey squirrels are nasty little buggers tho, get rid of them!

I'd contend that it is considerably worse. What are the UK figures? Somewhere between 300 & 15,000 depending on whose case against passive smoking you choose to believe, compared to a minimum 250,000 secondary sufferers of alcohol. I'd say that the real problem is being avoided?

Maybe not but it makes it much more likley to kick-off. Anyway, being beaten-up is only one aspect of the possible harm. As for assessing it, ask thise who look into these things. FWIW, my time working with troubled-kids turned-up many instances where something negative happened that would probably have not if one or other of the parties involved had not been drinking. It may not have been the direct cause (altho it often was!) but very often it was unquestionably the catalyst. As for plain-old neglect, we had more children of alcoholics on our books than any other form of addiction.

Obviously' date=' except that you don't find that out till they refuse you. As for why they refuse, of the places that gave a reason, [b']none of them gave me any reason to doubt that the culture/status of booze goes far too deep in some people & yes, I'm well aware that there is no financial advantage - most pubs make more off soft drinks & indeed, many are on mixer deals/promotions with the suppliers which mean that they often get soft drinks for next to nothing at all. Surprisingly, it is not illegal to refuse water but many (but not all) licencing boards have put this requirement it in their standard licence conditions instead. I can't remember if they have here.

Yes. I'd normally never darken their door again except under protest or unless the place changed hands.

Then you would be very wrong. Admittedly tho, this has not been a problem in the last few years so I'd accept that attitudes are beginning to change. It is however still not that unusual to get a look of surprise/suspicion or a "you driving?" or similar when I ask for a soft drink.

I agree that most smokers were more than willing to accept greater restrictions & a solution that offered much greater choice for non-smokers but the political will was for something else entirely.

Last time I saw Aberfeldy, I got dumped the same night. Think I'll give this one a miss!

No but what you do after drinking that 10 pints might have very serious consequences for me - It makes no difference what we do to ourselves but as drinkers, we are several orders of magnitude more likley to injure/damage someone else than any smoker.

Don't you mean her wig? Wiggy & unwigged photos here: http://www.newwavephotos.com/AriUp.htm

Eastern Airways fly from Aberdeen to Bristol or Southampton. Pretty cheaply. A train after that would be a less daunting prospect.

Exactly! From the point of view taken by the folk who framed this leglislation' date=' even the worst case (unproven) scenario for harm from smoking [b']pales into complete & utter insignificance compared alcohol.

A couple of hours on the train/bus to Inverness then either a £10 taxi to the festival itself or the Beauly service bus to the Kiltarlity road-end then @20-30 mins walk after that. For some reason last year, direct buses to the festival from Inverness were few & far between. A couple went out on the Friday & back on Sunday AM but only one each way on the Saturday. However, a more regular minibus ran from Muir of Ord for some reason. It also has a station, change at Inverness. Hopefully things will be better this year as the numbers are going up by @ a third. The site was also emminently cyclable from Inverness as well.

Unfortunately it can. IIRC, it has quite a bit to do with who sees you piss. If there are kids/underage about then yes, a court could see it as sexual assault & put you on the register.

Reasonable for kids. If you want a really child-friendly event tho' date=' try the Traquair Fair. [url']http://www.traquair.co.uk/fair.html Sometimes their music line-up is surprisingly good as well. Camping OK, roughly mown fields, few rocks & the ground was reasonably soft. Plenty of mown hay about to stuff under the tent as well. Comfy! If you want a decent nights sleep tho, specify the quiet area when you book your ticket, that settles down @midnight. Vehicles are parked away from tents, except in the campervan/caravan field. Both are also nearer to the main festival gate - I was in the west field & because of the licence restrictions, you had to walk right round the site to get-in as the gates on my side were either exit only or only open when the bar was active. Not a serious hike but with a stumping hangover & a need for coffee/medication, it was bad enough! Partying was pretty constant in that field the whole time.

What about Pink Floyd's Careful with that axe Eugene? The live version on Ummagumma. Goes on for bloody ages IIRC.

Just ordered a load of extra-strong snuff!

Tell that to the planners!

Depends. Used to be a mega drinker until it started seriously endangering my health. To the point where I was in the position of maybe only having a few more weeks left to live! Then I had to stop totally for a couple of years to give by system a chance to recover & now, I often don't drink at all for long periods but on a night-out, I may have a drink or two, it really does not matter anymore. Ocasionally tho, I will have a night off the wagon completely & get utterly plastered. Like on Saturday. Good night but the next day, OW!