H… is for… History & Happiness versus Hung-over

Recently I discovered the joys of a Gin & Tonic.

Odd that I’ve never tried this tipple before, and now that I’ve found it, I can’t think why I never drunk one before. But I’m converted to Gin, despite it’s historical name of: Mother’s Ruin!

In 1700’s England, the British government supported gin distilling while banning and discouraging imports of wine from France. So the poor drank gin because it was cheap to produce, and often mixed with turpentine!

Hogarth’s famous cartoon of drunken debauchery in Gin Lane is graphic. But consider this... if Gin was drunk for breakfast and dinner and tea and supper. A soporific alcoholic addiction and drug induced state was virtually impossible to avoid, especially as gin houses established a strong link with prostitution. A means by which to pay for your addiction.

Drunkenness in the streets and back allies become common place.

Over the centuries good Samaritans charged with rounding up drunks would take these poor souls to large warehoused areas, cold, unheated, strung with washing lines. Drunks were ‘hung over’ the lines to let the side effects of alcohol wear off.

Think I limit my intake of Gin!