Do you have a glass of wine before guests arrive?

[mizzchilds]

Having guests come over for Sunday lunch. I’ll do most of the cooking. I get into a right flap so need something to help me relax.

Is it normal to have a tipple before guests arrive?

I have a glass of wine while I'm cooking. Not because I'm in a flap, but because I enjoy it. I then have another glass of wine when everyone has gone home. They are my two favorite glasses of wine.

I ONLY drink at lunch. Night drinking affects my sleep too much. Same with desserts - at lunch only.

They would laugh you out of town!

My limit is at lunchtime :)

Of course it's normal to be nervous when you're hosting a party. GPs really don't have time to treat the entire population for this.

I get the impression that lunchtime drinks with colleagues stopped a long time ago. I started working (in publishing) in the early 90s and we definitely did that then. By the late 90s (I'd moved to a public sector job then) no one at my work was doing it, and there was a definite sense that it would be frowned on by employers. I work in a university now and while there are places to drink on campus that are open in the day, it would definitely be inappropriate (for staff at least) to do that.

So if someone is coming over for a cuppa, you can't have any tea or coffee beforehand?

I know some people who don't drink at lunchtime, even with old friends they haven't seen in a while. Those same people get totally hammered when they do drink, so I don't think my lunchtime glass is worse!

I would if I were organised and dressed and ready- if i had a tidy house and the meal under control and was waiting for guests, id sit down and enjoy it! But that pretty much never happens.

Yep, I drink before, during and after. Nothing better than a tipple whilst cooking a slap up meal.

It's not normal to drink alcohol at lunchtime at all in my social circle, but we're not all teetotal, it just isn't a thing anyone does. Evenings are different.

Have you seriously never had a glass of wine with Sunday lunch, Christmas Day lunch, at a wedding reception or even with a pub lunch on holiday?

Christmas day or weddings (haven't been to one in years) are about the only exception but no, not the rest of the time, definitely not Sunday lunches or pub lunches. Usually driving TBH but also it makes me feel tired and I don't want that in the afternoon.

The pubs of the City of London seem still to be open and bustling during the daytime, and the pints held by the crowds of blokes in suits standing outside them don't look like lemonade. It's not like it was in the nineties, (which in turn isn't like it was in the eighties and seventies) but it's still a thing.

I'd have a bottle with a straw!

Lunchtime drinking at work definitely not a thing in my field, but it was in the 80s/90s, people were more prepared to take a chance on drink driving home after work (I've never worked in a city where commuting on public transport is the norm). On the odd occasions we do go out for lunch at work very few people drink alcohol. That's not to say no one does, cities are clearly different, but it isn't a thing in my circles where most people drive most days.

I'm small, middle aged and don't eat breakfast, so a large glass of wine on a completely empty stomach at 11am would definitely be a bad idea, but if I had a bottle open to cook with I'd probably pour myself a tiny glass to sip as I cooked: perfectly reasonable, and if I'd had breakfast it might be a larger one.

I wouldn't because a glass of wine in that situation wouldn't relax me, it would make me hot and uncomfortable and a bit tired.
I don't think it's supposed to be healthy to drink to cope with any kind of stress/ anxiety or to help you to relax but realistically lots of people do. For some it's not an issue, for some it is.
If you can't face the situation without a drink, or find it very difficult to, that's a problem.

A large glass of wine is 3 units which is the drink drive limit for a woman. Add another glass and you're double the limit.

You can't see the issue because you have an issue.

Oh stop! Denigrating anyone who has a drink, you are really showing that you're the one when alcohol issues if you're not able to accept that adults are perfectly well able to decide their own alcohol intake.

And OP never said she was going to have a large glass of wine, she said a tipple!!

Maybe it's not a large glass of wine and maybe the OPs not driving so it doesn't matter if she's over the limit anyway.

No, because I live somewhere, where wine goes with food.
When inviting guests for a meal, lunch or supper, they are offered a pre-meal drink, which could be chilled white port, sherry, a glass of champagne or a gin and tonic.
Wine is chosen to go with the food.
Afterwards there could be a selection of drinks to go with coffee.
I might have glass of something if I am cooking in bulk for the freezer and opera is playing.

Not for lunch!
I might if dinner but really I rarely do. Wine is for when I'm sitting down relaxing, not when juggling pots and pans.

The OP isn't going to be driving anywhere if she's cooking Sunday lunch for her friends AT HOME, is she? So have a glass of wine and enjoy it, and have a couple more bottles with your friends.

OMG judgey or what