Plinky.com asked me whether I'd ever lied about my age.
Not outright, no.
Of course, there were times when I could've been asked my age and wasn't, so I colluded with an assumption that I was a certain age – that pretty much amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?
Bottom line, the times my age has been assumed have been associated with the purchase and consumption of booze. A few notable examples:
Local golf range, with Dad and Dan – I was either 16 or 17
[note: legal drinking age in UK is 18]couple of pints and then a wander back through the Woods to get home. Felt like something of a right of passage, first time it was the three of us drinking together as men.
Working at summer camp in the US at age 18, realizing there were still 3 years before I could legally drink, though it was fully legal back at home. Local bars, keep quiet at the back of the crowd. Nobody asked my age. I just kept on drinking with friends who would remain my brothers and sisters throughout my life.
Why was I never asked my age? Well, size and girth had something to do with it. I was reasonably tall for my age and carried enough size (both weight and skeletal) to not look like a kid. I was also quite mature for my age and tended to interact with adults on more of a peer level.
There was, I think, an additional possible factor.
My age this life has been 28 – before I reached that age, I always felt older than my years, once I passed it, I felt (feel) younger than my age. I look in the mirror at the 42 year-old me, but in his eyes is the 28-year old. And it's not that I hanker for what my life was when I was 28 – I've written about that more than enough here at plinky:
https://vincet.net/go-back-and-change-one-thing-no/
https://vincet.net/something-i-wish-i-could-take-back/
This life, I've always felt that I was 28 – said as much in my teenage years, wrote about it in fact. When I speculated about reincarnation I wondered whether this was my 28th time around the loop. It just felt right.
So, when it came to assumptions being made as to my age, I can only wonder whether I carried myself like the 28 year-old me? Who knows?
All I know is that I think arbitrary prohibition limits without education and care are pointless – nothing magical happens at 18 (or 21) that suddenly changes the effect of alcohol on the body. So, in essence, the assumptions about my age were correct – maybe they weren't assumptions at all, but instead fair, reasoned human judgement?
