Tipsy toddlers

I was excited to see that after a brief summer hiatus that Paul Parkinson was back with a new episode of his wonderful This Week in London podcast. The podcast this week is about pubs, and he does a good job of educating listeners about the pub culture in England. One thing that was somewhat startling in his podcast was the information that in England, the legal drinking age for children (at home, and with the permission of their parents) is FIVE YEARS OLD! I was really shocked, first of all that this is something that needs a law passed, and secondly, that a group of people apparently decided that while a four year old is too young to drink responsibly, a five year old can hold his or her liquor. How strange! No wonder kindergarten students like to nap in the afternoon. They're probably sleeping off the effects of the night before!

I saw another amusing sign today at the local recycling center. I was particularly confused by the admonition that people not fill the container above the top. I wonder how that would be possible? Isn't the top of the container, um, the top? How could you possibly fill the enclosed container any more if it was filled to the top? Inquiring minds want to see that in action! Perhaps they meant that if the container was full that people shouldn't put things outside on the ground. Still, "Don't Put Things on the Outside of the Container" would seem to be a more logical sign in that case.