The first half bottle formal

Well, out with the old... Trevs has now fallen into line with the rest of Durham and "enforces" a half bottle limit on wine taken into formals. Blondie and I came prepared - each with a 37.5cl bottle (mine was the bottle that I got from the Hilton in Edinburgh over the summer and has been sat in the fridge ever since). We sat between a group of 4^th years and some 1^st years and both groups seemed perfectly happy with the arrangements. In fact, in a bid to make formals more "formal" we had tablecloths (albeit made of paper) and wine glasses - very classy. Now if we could just get some better food. Of course, there were many ways around the cutback - from drinking the first half of the bottle before hand (in the shower in some cases...) to bringing in orange juice laced with vodka, but then ban isn't really about that as I see it; it's there to protect the people that feel pressureed into drinking the whole bottle during an hour long meal - those that are going to get battered will (and did) do so anyway.
Another nice thing was that Blondie and I stayed in the hall after the meal chatting with a 4^th year, Fran, until we were chucked out - just like we used to do in 3^rd year. In the bar were the next two anti-drunk measures: no shots from the bar without mixers (which is pointless as the carbonated mixers get the alcohol into your bloodstream faster and therefore get you drunk quicker) and a wandering senior on the lookout for drunks. Tonight it was Adrian and he was "undercover" in his formal-wear which proved to be a good ploy as several people came up to him without realising he was sober and gave themselves away. We met up with Alan and Ollie and innevitably ended up at Rixies dancing round like dickheads. So a good night all round really.