In London, you know it’s really the holiday season when the “drunk tents” start popping up like daisies.
For the past three years, the tents have been going up in a city known for its heavy drinking culture with the intention of treating drunks where they stumble to keep roads and hospitals clear for those in much more dire situations.
And this isn’t for those who are beyond a little buzzed or tipsy, this is for those who are found blacked out, covered in either vomit, piss, blood, or some delightful combination of the three.
According to London Ambulance Service’s Nick Lesslar, when these poor souls are found, they bring them into the tent to “try to sober them up, get some IV fluids into them and go through their mobile phones looking for a number to call of someone who can come and get them.”
And with the global economy in a downturn, it is expected that the number of folks requiring a “chill out” spot will escalate, as people attempt to drown their sorrows in the bottom of a pint. Or two or three or four or ten.
The tents operate every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night three weeks before Christmas. Additionally, a “booze bus” patrols the city, rounding up drunkies and bringing them to the hospital in groups.
Lesslar sees a wide range of people and although he is generally good-humored and patient about the whole thing, he does admit, “What’s the most annoying is that you’ve got very high-powered, intelligent, highly paid people doing this to themselves. And being drunk to oblivion is not, to my mind, a good enough reason to be hospitalized, not when there are real sick people out there.”
Some folks are easy to treat – such as “Alan,” who repeatedly apologized for the inconvenience and gave his rescuers $16 to buy some chocolates with – while others put up a fight or, fearing the consequences, try to squirm their way out of trouble, such as “Grant,” who “crawled” to the tent and after someone used his cell phone to get his mom on the way over, tried to call her off. Fortunately, his phone was commandeered.
But the people Lesslar worries most about are the women, saying, “It’s a physical reality: Women have higher body fat and the alcohol cannot metabolize as quickly. They get drunker faster and often they aren’t big drinkers, so they aren’t used to that much alcohol.”
Amy Winehouse needs one of these in her own backyard!!!
[Image via WENN.]