18 AT LAST!!!!

Subject: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: GUEST,Shonagh
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 01:05 PM

Its ma birthday today! yay! This means I can at last drink whisky (legally anyway!) and have no problem getting into those pub sessions! yippee!! (by the way, are there any other mudcatters my age?)   Shonagh x

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Amos
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 01:07 PM

Sounds like a good start, mite!

A

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Bassic
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 01:07 PM

Not that many, but a lot who wish they were!! Many happy returns Shonagh!

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Benjamin
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 01:58 PM

There's a few who are close! Happy Birthday!

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 02:06 PM

Mind, if you lived in some parts of the USA, I gather you'd still have problems getting a legal drink, even if your Dad was President...

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 04:32 PM

That's virtually ALL of the USA.

By the way, can someone explain the drinking age in the UK? I've heard that, even younger than 18, you can have a shandy in a pub if you're accompanied by a parent. Is that correct? Also, how do they verify your age?

(I'll be traveling with my son this summer.)

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: greg stephens
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 04:34 PM

Well, I'm not now, but I was forty years ago. Congratulations.

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 04:43 PM

Happy Birthday!!!!

Guest you have to be 18 to buy alcohol. In a Pub or a restaurant it is illegal for someone to buy an alcoholic drink for someone under the age of 18 regardless of whether they are with their parents or not.

Hope you have a great day Shonagh. Look through the members profiles and birthdays....Im sure there are catters out there your age or near to your age!!

Khatt

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Drumshanty
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 04:44 PM

When I saw the thread title, I knew it was you! I didn't get a chance to ask you when your birthday was when we were at Keith but I know it's usually around this time. Happy birthday - I hope you had a great day.

Tracy

PS: Really enjoyed your songs on Sunday night, and the Strathspey Fiddlers blew me away - again! See you at Cullerlie.

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 07:16 PM

GUEST with a son - be discreet and speak with an American accent and you'll have nothing to worry about. Just sound surprised if there is any query.

You could say you thought the legal age for drinking was 14, the same age it is for getting married where you come from...

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 11:02 PM

That guest was me. I forgot I was posting from a strange computer without a cookie. Sorry.

My son is 15, nearly 16. I've already discussed this with my wife, and she's adamantly opposed to letting him have ANY alcohol, even if it's legal, so I suppose it won't happen. But still, I'd like to know what others think.

It seems to me that a kid has a better chance to learn to drink responsibly if he's introduced to it gradually, under the supervision of his parents. If he doesn't touch a drop until he's 21, naturally he won't want to go out drinking with his parents. (He barely tolerates doing anything with us now.) More likely he'll go out with his equally immature friends and get stinkin' drunk the first chance he gets. And if he sneaks off and drinks illegally BEFORE he's 21, we'll have even less control of the situation.

I had the impression the UK had some kind of tiered system. Was I wrong?

What about other countries in Europe?

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: mouldy
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 02:58 AM

I believe that, from the age of 14, alcohol is permitted if it's with a meal in a restaurant.

Regarding the shandy - my husband had an argument with a landlord in a pub in Monmouth 10 years ago, when he ordered a shandy for my 14 year old son. (Not with a meal, I might add).The beer to be used was 3.8%. It was being diluted by half (=1.9%), and the licencing laws (at that time anyway) classed anything under 2% as non-alcoholic (such as cans of Shandy Bass, which were about 2%). The landlord wouldn't give an inch. Nice try, anyway.

Andrea

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Micca
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 06:27 AM

Andrea, on the Shandy question,(in the UK) apparently the legal position established in case law is, The Landlord is Forbidden , by specific laws, to sell adulterated beer of any kind!! so he actually when you ask for Shandy sells beer and lemonade seperately, and then acting as your "agent" mixes them for you!!

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Suffet
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 06:45 AM

Here in the USA you can get the lethal injection, electric chair, gas chamber, firing squad, or hangman's noose, and you can even buy a pack of cigarettes. You can register to vote, register for Selective Service (required if you're a male), and join the armed forces. But you will have to wait another 3 years to buy a drink. Sorry.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Teribus
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 07:07 AM

Norway has a tiered system, you can buy beer and wine when you are 18 and spirits once you reach 20. Over the week-ends most pubs that are licenced to sell spirits have doormen, who if in doubt, ask for identification - if you have no identification then you don't get in. If you have identification and are under 20 you will not get in, 18 to 20 year olds can only drink in pubs licenced to sell beer and wine.

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 03:40 PM

In Alaska, the legal age for buying tobacco products is 19. For alcohol use, as in most US states, it's 21. Some states had instituted lower ages but a number of them (most?)have returned to 21.

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Firecat
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 03:46 PM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! I'm only a little bit older!! (i'm 19)

Mum says Happy Birthday too!

Love and birthday butterflies,
Firecat.

xoxoxox

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 04:17 PM

"...she's adamantly opposed to letting him have ANY alcohol, even if it's legal, so I suppose it won't happen." Like to bet?

I've mentined before how my granny back in Ireland had a pub, and when I finally got over to see her, when I'd have been about eight, she thought I looked a bit peaky from all the rationing in England, so she used to make sure I had a glass of Guinness. She put some sugar in it, but wouldn't stir it, so I had to drink through the Guinness to get to the Guinness flavoured sugar.

Subject: RE: 18 AT LAST!!!!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 11:55 PM

I meant "I suppose it won't happen on this summer's trip to England."