In the UK we like to have a drink or two at the weekend, but often many more will follow if the mood takes us. The next morning we will wake with a heavy head and sometime later we meet up with the same friends to collectively recall the previous night's events. Many of these meetings will begin with the phrase " My God, we were steaming last night ".

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I've said this very phrase more times than I care to remember or can remember to be precise, but that's the nature of the frothy-beast. Nowadays I choose not to hit the ale so hard as the hangovers are unbearable and my tastebuds have come to the realisation that most cheap largers are just as terrible as their after-effects.

So it is with a clearer head on my shoulders that I find myself taking more time to reflect on life's crazy ways, of which there are plenty. This new perspective is usually aided by watching documentaries or reading books and historical events usually make for the best type of reflection. It was while watching one of these types of shows when I came across a very interesting piece of information...

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During the mid-19th century Scotland was home to around 2,300 pubs( Typical Scotts, eh ). Due to their appetite for having a few bevvies this was also the time when a group calling itself " The Temperance Movement " began to gain favour, in both municiple and parlimentary politics. After gaining enough momentum the Temperance movement managed to persuade Parliament to create what was to be known as the Forbes-Mackenzie Act, in 1853. This Act of parliament meant that the sale of alcohol was prohibited on Sundays, well almost prohibited...

" You can take it from our Pubs, but ya canny take it from our Hotels!!! "

(Well, you didn't think the Scottish would give up drinking on the Sabbath that easy, did you?)

As well as this crafty little loop-hole it was also possible to grab a cheeky beer if you could get yourself aboard one of the Scottish paddle boats, boats that took folks to-and-from the islands around the west-coast of Scotland. These Steam-powered paddle boats, better known as Steamers, became immensely popular during the 1850's, 60's and 70's, right up until the Forbes-Mackenzie Act was sharpened to a finer point in 1882 with the Passenger Vessels Licenses Act (Scotland). Up until this later Act was brought forward, it was full-steam ahead and many a drunken reveller would pay the small fee to get aboard and take advantage of this loop-hole.

From their earliest appearance in West Highland waters, steamships were associated with thick smoke and happy inebriation, and to a considerable extent they became the maritime equivalent of change-houses and inns on mainland roads, or… banqueting halls and ‘gin palaces’ for the great and the good.
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After 3 decades of drunken sailing, the phrase "getting steaming" was coined and more than 150-years later it is still used to describe people getting completely inebriated. So I say we should all raise a glass and salute those drunken pioneers who had the will to swill and enough funk to get steaming-drunk!

Before I go I would like to give a big-ass shout out to @pennsif for his efforts towards promoting steemit in the UK.

Please check out and support his brand new project @steemclub-uk

Peace to you and yours

Rebel Dan/@article61