by Grania
We have reached the end of the week, and for many of us it is a long weekend as the preparations for the arrival of the great deity Ēostre Bunny get into full swing.
Here in Ireland the weekend’s start is marked by a long dry Good Friday: no alcohol may be purchased in the Republic today, because of Reasons. It’s an archaic and deeply unpopular law, created in times when the Catholic Church got to strongly recommend what it wanted the law of the land to be. Needless to say, not even the Catholic population supports this one and the Thursday evening before Good Friday is always marked by a surge on alcohol aisles in supermarkets as everyone frantically and unabashedly stocks up in anticipation of the 24 hours ahead where the Church can stop you purchasing alcohol even if they can’t stop you drinking it.
A visiting comedian from the UK remarked on it and received a deluge of replies in response.
Over in Poland things are more seemly and sedate, but also center on godlike entities.
Hili: I am the guardian of hearth and home.
A: On the verandah?
Hili: Yes, because I’m taking leave of absence.
In Polish:
Hili: Jestem strażniczką domowego ogniska.
Ja: Na werandzie?
Hili: Tak, bo jestem na wychodnym.
Last, Jerry is in transit again, and will check in with us as soon as he can.
I’m curious as to why the Irish don’t rescind the Good Friday restriction on alcohol since they all seem to find it a nuisance. Is it simply inertia?
Alcohol sales here in the States vary from state to state and sometimes locally. There should be an alcohol acquisition guide travelers.
As for verandas, which I greatly admire, they are only seen her in the States on very old homes. Today’s version is what’s called a “deck”, as in a ship’s deck, which, typically, have the unfortunate condition of being uncovered. You can’t sit comfortably on the deck an watch a thunderstorm like you can on a veranda.
It’s funny you should mention ‘verandah’… I was gonna say how much I love wraparound verandahs! Covered patios and sunporches seem to be very popular nowadays too.
As an add-on for other readers, here’s a bit on the last film, Eye In The Sky, that the late Alan Rickman made:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/movie+review+edge+seat+thriller/11807445/story.html
I gotta see that one!
” Is it simply inertia?”
Here in the states, the liquor lobby typically fights against the elimination of such laws. I guess their view is that since the laws put all purveyors on the same competitive footing, removing the laws won’t increase their sales, while increasing costs and inconvenience.
Once atheists dominate the world, we’ll get that fixed right away. 😉
In the US there are still some counties in some states that are “dry,” meaning that you can’t buy alcohol at all, ever.
Some friends and I usually take an annual trip to the mountains of western North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee to ride motorcycles. We typically camp or rent a cabin in a certain area of North Carolina that just happens to be dry. In self defense one of the 2 or 3 trucks making the trip carries nothing but alcohol.
When I was at Grand Valley State University in MI, we had a ridiculous situation. The school was in a dry township. Students had to make a 20 minute drive to the town line to the Embassy Bar and Grill to get brew. Later on they established a beer joint right on campus to avoid the problem of students drinking and driving.
As sad thing for the Embassy Bar and Grill. Unless they ran the new joint on campus?
I remember nickel beer nights, Thursdays I think it was, at a campus pub. The servers didn’t take orders they just filled their trays up with plastic cups full of beer and took them to the first table they could find that had enough empties to make room. 20 beers for $1? Crazy.
In Ontario, Canada, where I live, since alcohol is run by government stores called “Liquor Stores” they are closed today along with all the other stores for the stat holiday. I went to buy some wine after work yesterday and the place was a zoo. I always wonder if people are worried they will be without booze for one day until the store reopens on Saturday.
Here in the outer area, Iowa, they use to run the liquor stores but they also ran the wholesale business thus controlled the buying of liquor for the entire state. Then finally they gave up running the liquor stores but remain in control of the liquor industry in the state. So even today, if you run a store, or a restaurant or any establishment selling liquor, you are buying it from the state bureaucracy. Helps add to the corruption you see.
I suspect the awful ice storm also motivated many people to plan for a mini hibernation (perhaps in a drunken stupor 🙂 ) this weekend.
Ah holy thursday, which is short for Holy F*ck it’s good friday tomorrow and the pubs will be closed better get down and buy enough alcohol to kill a whale Thursday.
Luckily I have all mine bought for the long weekend
The law in England, until not so long ago, mandated that alcohol could not be sold on Good Friday afternoon. I remember going to my local supermarket on Good Friday and noticing that the booze aisles were closed off.
And the darling Ms Gloria has yet a(nother) birthday today !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Steinem
Some of Us Second Wavers are reaching long in to nearing a century’s worth of our deeeep – breathing !
Haaaappy, Happy Birthday, Ms Steinem !
Blue
And Happy Birthday to Dr. David Suzuki too!
…oops… belated happy bday, Dr. Suzuki.
You still can’t buy alcohol in NZ on Good Friday. There are two days that all pubs are shut (apart from all Sundays) – Good Friday and Christmas Day. Doesn’t apply to restaurants though.
Most shops can’t open on Good Friday either, and risk a $1,000 fine if they do. People have been trying to change it for years, and there have been a few exceptions made, including a whole town because it relies on tourism. It’s being debated in parliament again at the moment. I don’t know whether it will change – unions and churches always oppose it.
We’re one of the least religious countries in the world, but we still have a lot of laws hanging over from when we were a British colony (including a blasphemy law). Britain has got rid of them, but we still have them.
I was going to buy a bottle of wine after work tonight, but I suppose I’ll instead get some Guinness. I’ll toast to the end of idiotic limits on buying booze.
Someone really needs to get the Catholic Church in Ireland a good PR firm. Or, perhaps harder, get them to listen to their PR people.
In Bulgaria, there is no problem with alcohol on Good Friday. (What a name! A Christian friend of mine was shocked when I told her how it is called in English.)
However, sale and serving of alcohol is banned on every election day and the day before it. In 2001, a Trump-like politician was elected and I wanted to drink on this occasion, but I had forgotten to buy the booze beforehand. The same evening, a friend was making a party. She brought out a bottle of wine, served first to me and said she knew I’d need it. That’s a true friend!