A couple of weeks ago, a pair of news items about cycling inspired me to write about the relationship between wines and bicycles (don’t believe there is one? Go read the article!).
Just so everyone was clear, I went to great pains to labour that despite this cultural link between riding bikes and drinking wine, ne’er the twain shall meet! It’s just bad news for everyone involved. To quote myself, I said of cycling under the influence: “It’s just as dangerous as when drivers do it, but even dumber – you are the ‘crumple zone’ on a bike”. This week, there was a news story linking alcoholic drinks and driving. Uh-oh…
As much as I have had reservations about some of the recent, more severe changes to licensing law in Scotland (we aren’t even allowed multibuys up here anymore!), the reactionary in me winced when I saw this one: JD Wetherspoon – the gargantuan pub chain – is opening its first pub in a motorway service station. Much to my shame, my inner reactionary was also not surprised to learn that this story was enthusiastically eaten up by the UK’s right-wing rags (sigh), but it still bugged me.
Now, this is happening in England, where recently there has been discussion of loosening licensing law – especially at motorway amenities –however, up north of the border, there has been a gradual tightening of the reins. Not so long ago, shops attached to petrol garage forecourts in Scotland had their licenses to sell alcohol rescinded with almost no notice, and had to re-apply (a process that proved much easier for bigger companies with large legal teams…). The logic, of course, was that drivers might be tempted to buy alcohol, while in the middle of driving.
Now, don’t get me wrong – it is a logic, of sorts – I just don’t know if it was the right one. And I know that regional legislation has no requirement to be uniform, but if you are going to stop people up here buying a sealed container of beer, wine or spirit while in the middle of a drive, why on earth would you let folk down there buy a measure (or more) in a glass while driving on the motorway? One seems more risky than the other, if you ask me…
One wonders if this is designed to go hand in hand with the big change in motorway legislation announced this week: that ‘hogging’ the middle lane is now an offence. You see, this is great news for those horrible drivers that actually go out under the influence: they simply can’t be done for ‘drink-driving’ AND ‘hogging’ at the same time, because they’ll struggle NOT to swerve out of the middle lane! Yes, yes… I’m here all week, folks - try the Chianti!
In seriousness, not all things are equal here. Perhaps it’s better to have both ‘temptation’ and a choice, and perhaps it’s better to take that ‘temptation’ away altogether at the expense of choice. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that I’d rather the driver next to me was sticking to the middle lane like a hog than drunk as a skunk…
Reading Between the Wines: raising a glass to happy Australian wines
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