Incidentally the US pint is a fair bit less than the pint in the UK and in Ireland.

Funerals? Well actually at the funeral you wouldn't drink - but then you wouldn't drink at a wedding either. But before and after is another matter.

The weirdest thing is to be in a session where you're sobering up as others are going the other way - I remember at a folk festival where I knew I'd need to be driving home at the end of it.

Drinking to steady your nerves I think is always a mistake. Drinking because you feel like a drink with your friends is a different thing. The rule of thumb is, if you drink to make yourself feel good, you're asking for trouble; if you drink because you are feeling good before you start drinking, you're doing it the right way round.