Hello, and I hope you and you S.O. have a lovely date tonight. When I was young we used to go to the Bradenton Drive-In Friday nights. It was a buck to get in. When I was small Uncle AL used to pack us in the trunk of his ’49 Hudson and take us to the Suburban Drive-In. The first time I ever had a drink was at the Suburban. I was 17. Larry Jerome and I were the same age, five days apart. I looked about 14, he looked about 28, so he could buy it. Larry says “Let’s get something to drink.” We walked out of the drive in, but the only store around there with booze of any kind was a little grocery store, and all they had was cooking sherry. We snuck back into the Drive-in. I was never so sick the rest of my life.
That early drinking experience reminds me of 1964 when I was in first year Uni aged 18 (legal drinking age in Australia). I worked out the best alcoholic bang for your buck in terms of % alcohol per $ was fortified muscat, and I similarly experienced a ‘never so sick’ event that permanently put me off the stuff for life.
Ever get drunk on sloe gin? That’s an experience you’ll never forget.