I stopped off at a small indie coffee shop in my local market town for a lunchtime coffee after using the market today. It's somewhere I go quite a lot, alone or with a friend. I nabbed a seat on the sofa and had my habitual latte. Another woman on her own asked if the armchair opposite was taken, I smiled, said no, she sat down with her phone. I continued knitting and drinking coffee.
A few minutes later, I look up and she's got a large glass of white wine in front of her. I'm a bit taken aback, as you absolutely never see anyone in this cafe having a glass of wine, even though they do sell it, people theoretically order it with 'posh' cream teas etc. However, I think perhaps she's waiting for a friend to join her, it's friday, etc. Soon, a small sandwich arrives. Meantime, she's pretty much inhaled the wine. Nobody joins her. I ask myself why I'm so concerned about a woman on her own having a drink. She's an adult, she doesn't need permission.
She gets up and I assume she's leaving, but she comes back a minute later and a few minutes after that, another large glass of wine arrives. (And a small chocolate brownie.) She drinks that one in short order too. By this time I'm worried about her. I'm not sure why. Wine at lunch is ok, right? But normally we do that with friends. She has necked two big glasses of wine in about 25 minutes. She's looking at her watch quite a bit as if she needs to be back somewhere, and at 5 to 1 she gets up and leaves. As she gets up, I see that her work clothes indicate she works in a local chemist. So this was her lunch break, during which she had what I'd consider a lot of booze.
So why am I so concerned about this? I've been wondering - is it because the context was off? If it'd been a pub I probably wouldn't have blinked at a woman on her own enjoying a glass of wine, at any time of day. You don't tend to see boozing in coffee shops like this one though - it's half full of mums and toddlers and half full of elderly people. Was it the fact that she's a woman on her own? Men are 'allowed' to get away with solitary drinks. I've rarely had a drink on my own and despite myself, it feels a bit contraband. Was it the amount she put away, or the fact she was clearly on a lunchbreak, or the fact she works in a high street chemist (and might even work in the pharmacy)?
I just want some other takes on this, I suppose. I kept thinking I should ask her if she was ok, but that's stupid - what was she going to do, break down and tell me she was really struggling? She'd have told me to sod off and mind my own business!
WWYHD?