Absolutely hooched

After lunching of late with a range of friends, I've realised that prior exposure to weird and wonderful critters dictates someone's response to a wasp. My friend Bryna, who's lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Serengeti, shared her lunch with a horde of wasps earlier this week (we'd stationed ourselves too close to some bins and then couldn't be bothered to move). My friend Steph who's done a lot of research in the Australian bush, let a wasp use her fingers as a perch. Others yelp and scream to varying degrees. Wasps do hold a disproportionate amount of people's attention when they're around, and we probably only get a few stings each in our lifetimes. I feel there is a need for some PR for wasps so people don't put their lives on hold when one buzzes nearby.

We organised a work night out, which degenerated from a civilised pint at the Millpond (near to this river view) to hooning around and dancing at The Regal (local Wetherspoons) until 3am, at which point the lights blared on and dishevelment became apparent.

It seems that the alcopop Hooch has made a comeback. My 24-year old colleague Sam returned from the bar clutching several. I was surprised as I thought young drinkers nowadays (especially in Cambridge) would reject overly sugared alcoholic drinks that didn't contain chia seeds or almond milk. However Sam is from 'the North' where we used to drink diabetes-inducing Reef and blue WKD with not a second thought for our long-term health.

I fell upon Hooch as the most important rediscovery of the day. I was rambling on about having first tried it in 1998 when it was the first alcopop on the market. Apparently everyone else who heard me was only 4 or 5 at the time. More Hooch was consumed to drown out the passing years.