Britain, and I assume the rest of Europe, is suffering a heat wave, with temps in Florida-summer-range. Apparently the heat is taking its toll on the ability of people to think clearly, if the predictions of the country's breweries are accurate:
...parched Britons are working up a big thirst, with breweries saying an extra three million pints will be consumed over the weekend.
And boy are people cranky when they get a little toasty: when I in turn predicted (in the comments to the above-linked post) a rise in episodes of dehydration and heatstroke that will be the result of this extra consumption of alcohol, a citizen of the UK took umbrage, thinking that I was dissing British beer. What-ever.
Posted by Andrea Harris at August 9, 2003 11:56 PMThey drink it warm over there too. What's the point?
Posted by: McGehee at August 10, 2003 at 07:44 AMYou don't drink beer bloody warm for Christ's sake. You just don't drink it so cold it makes your teeth ache. Unless you're drinking lager, which is what most beer drinkers in the UK drink anyway, or...oh, never mind. We all have bad teeth too, and no-one knows how to cook.
Honestly, Andrea, weather this hot (and 100F is hot, especially when it's as humid as it usually is in England and all the houses are designed for temperatures a lot lower so they're like ovens) simply calls for drunken excess. I know, I used to live there. It'll be pissing it down and miserable in a few weeks, so let them have their moment in the sun (ahem).
Posted by: David Gillies at August 10, 2003 at 03:32 PMNo! They will obey me! All creatures on earth must do my bidding! (That seems to be what everyone thinks I am saying, so I might as well go with the flow, eh?)
Posted by: Andrea Harris at August 10, 2003 at 03:43 PMThree million extra pints means about six percent of the British population each having one more mug of beer over the weekend. I don't think that will result in the country collapsing from excessive drunkenness, regardless of the alcohol content of British brews being higher than what passes for beer in America. Given the heat wave, I'm surprised the total won't be higher.
Posted by: Michael Lonie at August 10, 2003 at 07:12 PM