Unfamiliar Waters

Last night I went to a dinner party, in the midst of which, all the other five attendees lit up. Sure, it wasn't my house, we had the french doors open and I was heavily out numbered, so I didn't feel I had the right to be enormously offended - but I was quite shocked. I couldn't think of a single mate in the US who smokes (well, on second thoughts, there's BobB, but these days he seems to be sticking to the Lucky Dip (chewing tobacco)).

The other disconcerting thing was the sheer amount of alcohol drunk. Doing a quick count at the end of the night, there were ten green bottles up against the wall: three bottles of sparkling rose and seven of red wine, plus a couple of random beer bottles and a bit of gin. I am pleased to say I held my end up OK, especially since I'm still getting up to speed after coming back from the US and drinking on average one and a quarter light beers a week. The only that saved me from getting trolleyed was that I ate a SuperSize-Me amount of food (scallops, rack of lamb, orange chocolate pudding and cheese, since you ask....)

But in case anyone thinks that Americans don't live the high life, I should point out there was present a skeletal, very well groomed, American expat there who ate two spoonfuls of rice, smoked an entire pack of fags, and by the end of the evening was doing an excellent impersonation of Tara Reid on a particularly rough night. She eventually ended up going home with one of the other guests, whom she'd met for the first time in her life that evening.

Conclusion: in matters of partying, there is a great deal of evidence to point to Nurture winning out over Nature...