About drinking

Though the claim that Alaska's Innuit people have fifty different words for snow is an urban legend, Australians really do have a vast number of slang terms for the act of vomiting. From the simple "chunder" to the florid "technicolor yawn," Aussies' casual public puking was an accepted part of drinking when I lived there. The old neighborhood hotels where we drank were designed to accomodate this peculiarity. The fully tiled floors were slanted toward the exterior doors, and matching tiles covered the walls to near shoulder height. This allowed the clean-up crew to simply hose down the bar at the end of the night, washing everything out into the gutters in the street.


While excessive drinking is still a concern in Australia, public puking appears to now be frowned on. The old tiling of this pub remains on the walls, but the floor is now carpeted.


[Sedately] Enjoying a sidewalk Guiness at this classic old hotel


Forty years ago, these Norman Rockwell-ish beer ads were commonly found adorning the walls of local pubs, and I loved the look of them. They're mostly all gone now, but I found this one outside a downtown Sydney bar.

Look at these 19th century arcades!
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