Everything in Moderation
I thought this blog would have been devoted to my latest trip to the USA and my visit in particular to Hartford, DC, Greensboro, Orlando and Dayton, however it all turned out very differently. True I did visit all of those places and met with people who share my passion for our company and will hopefully all be licensees, it was however, my experience in DC that I want to share in this blog.
My wife Tracey has always ground into me that women can multi-task and men can’t. I have always fought this notion, but while I can’t say if all men are alike, I can say I failed the multi-tasking examination! When in the USA it is my custom to talk to people in the office when I get up in the morning. My preferred method is via G-talk, because I can have several conversations all in one go! On my first morning in DC I was happily chatting to Tracey and Grace while taking the medication for my diabetes. This normally isn’t a problem, but this particular morning it almost had fatal results!
I’m one of those people that feel it is my duty to finish every last part whether it be Jam, Beer or Insulin. If there are any units left in the container I’ll use them up and inject myself again with the balance of my dosage from a new container. Unfortunately distracted by G-talk I managed to forget to subtract the amount from my dosage and took an additional full dosage. Tracey wasn’t too impressed when I told her what I’d done.
Thinking I’d just check with my Doctor in Ireland for reassurance I called, only to be told to “report to reception, get them to keep an eye on you and call a doctor immediately, your blood sugars will drop dangerously low and you could go into a coma”. Having never experienced a coma I made straight for reception! That was the easy part. While the receptionist did all he could and called his back office team, who I spoke to and authorised the payment for an emergency Doctor, I was not impressed when almost 2 hours later they came back to me and told me that no one had called the Doctor. This is not the service I expected from the Marriott, especially one of the larger hotels in DC.
Eventually the Doctor came (after his service had sent him to the wrong Marriott). By this time I had drunk so much fruit juice (on the advice of the medical team in Killyleagh) that the danger of going into a coma was over. Now all we had to do was get my sugar level back down; it was now too high! My thanks to Ernest Brown the Doctor in Washington who looked after me, after checking me out and pronouncing me ok, he had me text him every 2 hours with my blood sugar readings , he then would text me back about what I should do next. Now this is real customer service. I hope Ernest comes visit us in Killyleagh on his Fall trip to Ireland.
A week later a friend of mine asked me to pray for her brother whose wife has died, whose children are not well and who is an alcoholic. I spent a lot of time last weekend reconciling myself with the question “How can I make beer and pray for alcoholics?” This was especially pertinent last weekend as another friend of ours, who is prone to drink, lost his partner to Cancer.
After much soul searching I came to the conclusion that if I was a baker I would not be responsible for every obese person, or if I owned a chemical factory I would not be responsible for every glue sniffer. So being a maker and purveyor of quality beers does not make me responsible for everyone who suffers from Alcoholism. I’ve seen what Alcoholism can do close up and it isn’t nice!
These thoughts prompted me to think seriously about responsible drinking and our support for that campaign. I have seen these messages on various Alcohol sites and not thought much about them. Most seem to be there because they have to be there. I decided ours would be there because I believe that people should drink Alcohol in moderation. I would rather people not drink our beer than become an Alcoholic.
We make good beer with a good bouquet and a fine taste. This should be taken in moderation. Enjoy and remember the experience and feel good about it the following day. We do not advise people to take too much beer, the problem is that the amount we can take is different for each person. We all know where the line is! This is our personal responsibility. Our advice is don’t cross it, save that next pint for another day!
Too much of anything is bad for you whether it be insulin or beer. I should know!
