I think it might have been me...
Or more specifically, me and my friend Mike. Mike's birthday is on July 3rd. This is important.

Earlier this year (April) while we were still in our last year of 6th form, we went together on the school skiing trip to Austria. Great fun, and at the end of the week or so, we decided we should give our instructor a present.

Wandering around the local off licence, we spotted the perfect thing. "Stroh", for the unitiated, is 80% alcohol. "Perfect" says I. However, when we get to the checkout, we run into a little problem. I've left my ID back at the hotel, and Mike is only 17. They're a bit more relaxed over there, but ONE of us still need ID. Fuckit.

Mike decides to try it on anyway, and whips out his driving licence.

"Ach, nein! Zis says you are 17, not 18"

"Cock" thinks I. We've been had.

But no. Mike looks puzzled for a moment, then comes out with one of the best lines I've ever heard:

"Oh! I see the problem. You see, in England, we put the month and the day the other way around. So 03/07/1990 is the 7th of March, not the 3rd of July".

"Is it? Im Austria, ve do not do zis. But I know zey do zis in America... I am very zorry to have caused zis problem. Thanks you for telling me about zis. Enjoy!"

We walk sedately out of the shop then leg it, grinning like idiots. But that's not the best part.

A few customers behind us was someone from the other ski group. Someone who was 18, and also had a driving licence as ID.

Someone who's birthday was January the 18th.

I like to think of the poor shop assistant looking at that ID, and I only wish I could have seen her face when she realised she'd been well and truly had...
( MatJ LOOK, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 19:38, 5 replies)

drivin licence?
ski instructor?

trips to austria?

posh kid, aintcha?
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 19:51, closed)

I'm not posh
And neither is my butler ;)
( MatJ LOOK, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 20:18, closed)

Good thinking
And I pulled the same trick in California in 2001, when I wasn't quite 21 enough to drink. Woo! Have a click, tho'
(purplegod counting down for Christmas!, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 22:31, closed)

Ströh
is all teh awesome. I used to get my dad to buy it for me on business trips. I almost never actually drank it, just passed the bottle around at parties and watched as people collapsed choking on the floor and turned black.
(Wong Fei-Hung - now with added flickr.com (see profile), Fri 5 Sep 2008, 1:52, closed)

Ströh...
Christ, that stuff is lethal. They serve it in the Garrett in Manchester, and many a night has been enlived (or cocked up) thanks to this mystical fire-juice.

A mate of mine, L*, managed to bust up his leg good and proper trying to vault the turnstiles to the bogs in Piccadilly Station after a liberal dose of this mis-labeled jet fuel :P

Mad stuffs....



*Just in case he reads this ;)
(Fleximus Rex briefly gave up lurking on, Wed 10 Sep 2008, 3:57, closed)