Do Not Drink Unless Desperate - good advice from the Under 21s

Last week Melbourne absolutely sweltered in 40 plus degrees, not good news for those playing in the Australian Tennis Open which became more of a Bikram Yoga session than a Wimbledon like event.  Sydney in contrast to the Southern half of Australia had the most glorious weather, temperatures in the low 30s and a bit of cool in the evenings and early mornings. 

One of the hot weather habits we have adopted is keeping cold bottles of water in the fridge.  Bombay Sapphire gin bottles have always struck me as the ideal water bottles, in terms of weight and aesthetic looks and provided we keep an eye on guests trying to throw out the tops, it’s been a great system over the years, though it has led to raised eyebrows at time re my drinking habits.

“Do you always drink gin at breakfast?” being an example of a penetrating questions from one of my nephews. 

Like all great systems there are always the glitches.  In addition to the kitchen fridge we also have what is known as the back fridge in the dog room cum laundry.  The back fridge is where we keep the alcohol, as opposed to the decomposing vegetables, clingfilmed leftovers that I am hopeful will be eaten soon despite the fact they were rejected on the first outing, and out of date yoghurts that reside in the kitchen fridge.  At the end of last week owing to the fact that some one – I was going to write child but could equally be Husband, as age is not the criteria for this scapegoat role, rather lack of common sense, turned the back fridge thermostat up to high, leading to a very dramatic Diet Coke explosion that blew the door open and scattered Diet Coke crystals across the laundry and dog.  In the clean up, I took all the bottles out, including the gin and the 20 bottles of beer that for some reason reside there, neither of us actually drinks beer but it would be social death in Australia not to have a beer to hand for visitors and rewarding tradesmen.  Having washed everything down I left the bottles to dry and wandered off, came back, restacked back fridge without noticing I was missing a bottle of gin that someone in unaccustomed helpful mode had put in the kitchen fridge.  We came home from a night out to an accusing gin bottle and accompanying note from Drama Queen No.1 who had obviously attempted to pour herself a glass of water and received a full on dose of ‘Mother’s Ruin’ – glad to see she hasn’t got a taste for it.  

"THIS IS GIN - DO NOT DRINK UNLESS DESPERATE"

I do remember trying to drink Gin mixed with water and sugar at university as we were too lazy/broke to go out for tonic – and it was pretty nasty, so I am with DQ No. 1 on the 'desperate' sentiment.