Sober St Patrick's Day?

hubba

Interesting proposition. It would be great to get something going like that here.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/1106/1224326172044.html

libnation

Not related wholly to the above but a Sober Christmas would also be nice. It will be my first....

derealbadger

libnation wrote: »

Not related wholly to the above but a Sober Christmas would also be nice. It will be my first....

Ye im looking forward to my fourth you will find out what Christmas is really about ie,being around family and friends not being of your head for a week

Sunnyisland

It would be a great Idea, even just for one day.More to highlight the serious harm abusing alcohol can do than any banning, As lots of people have social and moderate drinking habits.

xim2

came across you post and thought was interesting to share that this year there will be a sober st Patrick's disco:P actually looks like the non alcohol trend is finally coming to Dublin

Sunnyisland

Unfortunately I cant sing or dance but I have come a long way :-)

hubba

xim2 wrote: »

came across you post and thought was interesting to share that this year there will be a sober st Patrick's disco:P actually looks like the non alcohol trend is finally coming to Dublin

Very interesting, and it looks like there's a good crowd going. It's great to see, very encouraging indeed. Might pop along myself though it's a loooong time since I was anywhere near a disco.

Anyone else going?

anhedonia

Yeah i'll go to this, been to a couple of the sober slice meetups and always had a good time.

MindfulM

xim2 wrote: »

came across you post and thought was interesting to share that this year there will be a sober st Patrick's disco:P actually looks like the non alcohol trend is finally coming to Dublin

Hey Xim2....had a look at link re sober disco on paddy's night and looks class...seems like there's a good crowd going too ...

nevermind123

Wow i'm new in town and surprised to see that there is a non alcoholic event for St. Paddy's my friends back home wont believe me when i tell them that im going to celebrate sober in ireland haha ironies of life.........

[-0-]

I'm taking time off to watch the Cheltenham festival during Paddy's week. I won't be touching a drop, certainly not on St. Patrick's day.

Fair play to this man.

nevermind123

Hey is anyone going from here to the event sober st Patrick's disco? I dont really know anyone in the group ...:D

GRMA

Here is another no drnk no drug disco on Paddy's day: http://www.facebook.com/events/219201714893185/?ref=2

I think there might be a younger crowd at that

I was thinking about going but I think I will give it a miss, no one to go with and not to keen on St Paddy's day/night carnage in the city on my own

nevermind123

Yeah might just go to the sunday night might be safer

J_E

Never drank on St Patrick's before, no interest in doing so now. The people making an event of getting pissed to the point of blacking out, it's kind of sad to be honest...

Bassfish

The woman and I naively decided to go into town in Dublin (sober) to take in a bit of the atmosphere and get some food. This was only about 5pm and the city looked like a scene from the last days of Rome. Teenagers staggering across Dame street, broken glass and empty beer cans all over the place and far too few Guards trying to contain the chaos.
We called in to the porterhouse to say hello to a friend and I was disgusted to see 2 small children no more than 2 years old crying away in their buggies while their parents were drinking away to beat the band.
We left the restaurant where we ate about half 7 and things were even worse outside. Saw someone hop out of a taxi at a red light without paying and saw more people than I could count pi$$ing on the street.
I'm a big fella, 6ft plus, play rugby and do Taekwondo and I can honestly say I was nervous and intimidated walking around town with my fiancé. Couldn't wait to get out of town as fast as possible. I can safely say that was my last time going near town on St. Patrick's day.

xzanti

Bassfish wrote: »

2 small children no more than 2 years old crying away in their buggies while their parents were drinking away to beat the band.

Vile! :mad:

wylam

I haven't drank in about 3 years, i work in the pub / club industry and st.patricks day is the worst day of the year.They should change the name of it to (st. lets get drunk as fast as we can, in the least amount of time possible day)11 , 12 and 13 year old childeren stumbling around the streets drunk at 5 pm in the day , as the poster above said kids in buggies asleep in the corner or crying while their parents get pissed and think to themselves"sure thats what our parents did and there's nothing wrong with us" yeah go take a long look in the mirror. Makes me sick.There is still a massive problem in this country with regard to our view of alcohol and its relationship with socialising in this country.Fair play to the guys who set up this section of the forums, its a move in the right direction in highlighting one of the biggest problems this country has.

GRMA

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-my-disastrous-sober-night-out-in-dublin-makes-me-question-irish-drinking-culture-840057-Mar2013/

Good read.

sunbeam

GRMA wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-my-disastrous-sober-night-out-in-dublin-makes-me-question-irish-drinking-culture-840057-Mar2013/

Good read.

The amount of abuse she got in thew comments really says a lot.

wylam

She did get a lot of abuse, but the artical itself was badly written and she left her self wide open to it.

xzanti

lack of seating for the Ladies

:pac:

miamee

wylam wrote: »

She did get a lot of abuse, but the artical itself was badly written and she left her self wide open to it.

You're right, it was an awfully written piece, more like a diary entry than an opinion piece. I am not much of a drinker and I do hate to see people plastered and falling all over the place but the way that article was written it was as though she'd never been out. I think she did more harm than good there for Alcohol Awareness Week, something much better written from the perspective of someone working in a pub, club, hospital or something on St. Patrick's Day might have had a better impact.

wylam

+1

GRMA

I think she is just annoyed and fed up

Sunnyisland

She could have wrote it better imo, generalising about the whole club & Pub scene does not do non drinkers image any favors and gives us a generalized image.

wylam

The main problem with her night going so badly wrong were the premises that she decided to go to.It seems like she knowingly went to the roughest places in order to get some ammunition for her piece . In what ever city you live in , it doesn't take long to figure out which pubs/clubs are run well and which ones are not , which places are of the same age group as you and which are not. I can bet that anyone in their 30's/40's (sober or not) .If they go into a club that is full of 18 year old's chances are they are not going to have a good night.There is a massive gulf in what people want on a night out and she probably targeted these places in order to bolster her story.

Its also strange how in this country being a non drinker means that you are constantly having to explain to people that you do not drink. even people that know you dont drink will often offer you a drink during the night, with the usual "sure go on one wont hurt you". My own brother on a night out once said to me "come on have a drink, you're after making your point now" As if i wasn't drinking out of a bet or a dare or something lol. I find myself having to constantly tell people that i'm not drinking to me thats more annoying than anything else.

anhedonia

She comes across as bitter, condescending and stuck-up.
She should not be representing non-drinkers, and she should not be payed to write.

Sunnyisland

wylam wrote: »

Its also strange how in this country being a non drinker means that you are constantly having to explain to people that you do not drink. even people that know you don't drink will often offer you a drink during the night, with the usual "sure go on one wont hurt you". My own brother on a night out once said to me "come on have a drink, you're after making your point now" As if i wasn't drinking out of a bet or a dare or something lol. I find myself having to constantly tell people that i'm not drinking to me that's more annoying than anything else.

Maybe because(and i assume here) I am older but I don't get that pressure when I go out, and I would socialise a lot.When I first stopped drinking I did get that are you not drinking look but thankfully that is gone away now and I am finding as where I pick n choose where and when I go out and who will be there, there are always other non drinkers at the occasions and I am actually finding that there are more & more non drinkers around then there was four years ago.:)

Sunnyisland

anhedonia wrote: »

She comes across as bitter, condescending and stuck-up.
She should not be representing non-drinkers, and she should not be payed to write.

Don't think she is representing anyone, just giving her own opinion which unfortunately did come across as bitter and condescending.

Logical_Bear

had to laugh at 'guiness arse' :pac:

did anyone go to the thing in the garda club?