Memories of not drinking beer:
My parents did not drink beer, so I grew up in a family where beer drinking and alcohol was not part of life. I think my parents had some alcohol for guests, but I do not remember seeing anybody drunk or slightly drunk in our home.
Memories of my schoolmates drinking beer:
When I was fifteen we were allowed to go dancing in the village hall. The boys my age were very shy (probably the older ones too...) so they decided to bolster their courage with beer.
At fifteen you are not allowed to buy beer, but somehow they had managed to purchase beer they hid in the nearby forest.
As the evening went on, they would enter the dance hall, proceedingly more drunk each time, but as the beer had not given them the desired effect, it was back to the forest and to more beer. At some point, they were so drunk, they would throw up and often fall asleep.
In the summer that was not so bad, though I remember one boy crawling around in the stinging nettles!
In the winter it was dangerous to fall asleep in minus 30 degrees Celsius, so we - the girls - would check out where the boys where and what their situation was.
Beer and vomit - that is the smell combination I remember till today.
Beer 2007:
Being back in Norway, forty years after those drunk schoolboys, beer is still not on my list of beverages. But I have seen that since spring came and now the nice summer weather, many Norwegians like to take a beer, both men and women.
Last night I was out on town and saw some men in their late twenties quite drunk. They looked like those schoolboys looking for courage in a bottle.
But I also saw grownup men and women enjoying one or two glasses of beer on outside restaurants, enjoying the summer evening in an orderly way.
"Here it is not such an honor to say you don't drink beer", somebody told me.
Even so, beerdrinking is definitely not for me.
My parents did not drink beer, so I grew up in a family where beer drinking and alcohol was not part of life. I think my parents had some alcohol for guests, but I do not remember seeing anybody drunk or slightly drunk in our home.
Memories of my schoolmates drinking beer:
When I was fifteen we were allowed to go dancing in the village hall. The boys my age were very shy (probably the older ones too...) so they decided to bolster their courage with beer.
At fifteen you are not allowed to buy beer, but somehow they had managed to purchase beer they hid in the nearby forest.
As the evening went on, they would enter the dance hall, proceedingly more drunk each time, but as the beer had not given them the desired effect, it was back to the forest and to more beer. At some point, they were so drunk, they would throw up and often fall asleep.
In the summer that was not so bad, though I remember one boy crawling around in the stinging nettles!
In the winter it was dangerous to fall asleep in minus 30 degrees Celsius, so we - the girls - would check out where the boys where and what their situation was.
Beer and vomit - that is the smell combination I remember till today.
Beer 2007:
Being back in Norway, forty years after those drunk schoolboys, beer is still not on my list of beverages. But I have seen that since spring came and now the nice summer weather, many Norwegians like to take a beer, both men and women.
Last night I was out on town and saw some men in their late twenties quite drunk. They looked like those schoolboys looking for courage in a bottle.
But I also saw grownup men and women enjoying one or two glasses of beer on outside restaurants, enjoying the summer evening in an orderly way.
"Here it is not such an honor to say you don't drink beer", somebody told me.
Even so, beerdrinking is definitely not for me.
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