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A town to be proud of?


wolfie

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Please don't try to tell me that  "people in Finland don't pass out on the street, urinating, being sick, vandalizing, fighting like you do in the UK", having worked and been their many times I can assure you that they do!, alcoholism is a big problem in Finland.

As for your statement regarding "If people wish to binge drink that is their problem, their life" To a point yes it is their problem however it is also a problem for the rest of the people in the UK as they are contributing millions of pounds every year to treat them for their abuse of alcohol and also they are wasting the valuable time of hospitals, emergency services and the police force who are already stretched to breaking point, just my opinion, Coffee, and I accept that you are entitled to yours!. :wink:

 

If it does it does not happen nearly as much as it does here in the UK,

 

As for your second point, I will just point out that that is the argument used by these who want to ban whatever they want to ban be it smoking, cars and even some sports like mountain climbing.

 

How would you feel about compulsary keep fit classes, these would save millions in health care too

 

You think fish and chips are quality food????

 

But then there is the argument as to what is defined as "Drunk" a relative term at best. Yes falling down in a befuddled heap is usually a good indicator but at what point can you say that a person is "Drunk" without recourse to a breathalyser test.

 

Depends on the circumstances.

 

I know people who can consume a lot of alcohol and not show it, unless they are driving or doing something that effects others that is fine.

 

I know people who after some alcohol want to fight the world, such people who cause trouble need to be delt with

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A number of points occur to me.

Firstly, I am not convinced that the published photos were even in Warrington.

Next, I agree with the relevant sections of the licensing act as quoted by Sid, but this is largely irrelevant as the majority of pub landlords comply with this and refuse to serve anyone who is obviously drunk - the problem is the number of people who "load up" with cheap spirits before even coming out of the house.

Also, there was a Bill passed, in 2011 I believe, which made it illegal for any licensed establishment, to sell alcohol on a "special offer" basis which encouraged excess drinking - things like  so-called Happy Hours were mentioned. This law has been completely ignored and no-one is willing to enforce it.

The results are that we have the situations as seen in these photos in many towns throughout the country.

Until someone finds a way to disabuse the majority of those who see getting drunk as an aim in itself, there will always be excess drinking.

I speak as a personal licence holder and a member of the local CAMRA branch, but not on behalf of either.

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Coffee. I don't see this 'debate' of ours going anyware, I suggest we agree to disagree and if we should ever meet then you may buy me a pint and I shall treat you to fish & chips. :D:wink:

 

Maybe we will meet in Finland, although not been for a couple of years now. Oh and can I have a vanilla shake from Mcdonalds please

 

Out of interest what did you do in Finland and where was you?

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Maybe we will meet in Finland, although not been for a couple of years now. Oh and can I have a vanilla shake from Mcdonalds please

 

Out of interest what did you do in Finland and where was you?

Coffee of course you can have vanilla shake although we might struggle to find a fish & chip shop unless we meet in Helsinki.

In the 1980's I worked at the Nokia Chemicals factory in a small town called Joutseno close to the Russian border, we were sent over there to overhaul chlorine FM21 membrane chlorine producing cells, ICI had invented/developed them and sold them to the Finns with the contract stating that ICI would undertake the first overhaul of the cells and that is what we were doing  I returned another eight times over the years also spending some pleasant summer holidays in finland with my wife. The town we stopped in was a place called Lappeenranta about 12 miles from the factory.

Where in Finland did you visit?.

 

Here are some photos, I'm not on them as I took them. the photo of the frozen lake harbour at Lappeenranta is not mine but I have seen it like that.

lappeenrantawinter_zpsb977e3a6.jpg

 

Overhauling the chlorine cells.

img037_zps33789ef4.jpg

 

Leaving the factory in december 1984.

img030_zpsfd96b29c.jpg

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Funny you've mentioned Finland; been told that 3 drinks cost around £20 there; so I guess no bingeing?!

The Finns that are partial to a tipple, and that's quite a few, tend to brew their own spirits (wood alcohol) and are well in advance of our lot regarding being under the influence before they set off from home and take a large hip flask with them, buy one drink that lasts them a long time and keep nipping to the toilets for a 'booster'. Your correct about the excessive price of alcohol though.

Drinks over 4.7% may only be purchased (retail) from the state owned ALKO shops, It is the only store in the country which retails beer, and wine over 4.7% ABV (except in vineyards) and spirits. Alcoholic beverages are also sold in licensed restaurants and bars but only for consumption on the premises. Alko is required by law to sell drinks with lower alcohol content than 4.7% and non-alcoholic alternatives, but in practice carries a very limited stock of low alcohol beer, cider and non-alcoholic drinks and mixers as supermarkets sell the same products at a lower price. By law, alcoholic drinks may only be sold to those aged 18 or above.

Not sure if the law has canged as I haven't been there since 2006, you could only purchase and have one drink per person at a time on your table in their pubs which have one extremely large gentleman dressed in an evening suit welcoming you at the door, he makes our club bouncers look child minders.

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Where in Finland did you visit?.

 

Great  photos

 

I have been to Helsinki several times, Tampere a couple of times, Hanko is another place I recall.

 

I drove once from helsinki to Rovaniemi to do some skiing which is as far north i have been,

 

I do not know about the availability of alcohol, Coka Cola is available freely if anyone is interested :)  but talking to people I know there is a lot of alcohol brought over from abroad

 

The smoking ban is not enforced in the north as much as in the south

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How did you get on with the language, I was absolutely hopeless, other than a few basic words I could never string a sentence together, I found around the south most people spoke english mostly the young ones but on the eastern side in the Karelian area there was not much english spoken.

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I could not string two words together but found English widly spoken However when I visited Finland it was mostly to attend trade shows, or  delt with people who worked in hotels, in shops, restaraunts who I guess are expected to know some English

 

Or do you think we went to different Finlands? :)

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Same Finland different areas, although I have been to Rovaniemi we took our three granddaughters there to see Father Xmas when I took early retirement in 1995 we did the whole thing, skiing, snowmobile safari, reindeer etc. The video is one that a company called Globo News a Brazilian TV company where shooting when the girls were in with Santa and they asked permission to film them, the resulting clip was shown on TV in Brazil that Xmas and they sent us a copy, if my granddaughters (now in their twenties) find I have posted it on here I'm a 'dead' grandpa. :lol:

 

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