Sobriety and its discontents

Is it just me, or have other right-thinking people noticed a substantial increase in people who can only be described as excessively inebriated? I seem to encounter them daily, often in broad daylight, lurching and drooling in public places without any obvious sense of shame.

I have even upon occasion been approached by such 'types' and attempts at communication have been essayed. However it is totally impossible to enter into any meaningful or illuminating debate when one protagonist can only grunt and screech in a manner more befitting to the farmyard. It really is rather unsettling to be confronted by these disturbed individuals and their eccentric gestures and guttural 'noises'.

It seems to me that official agencies are in a very real sense failing decent law abiding people by leaving these crazed persons to ramble with impunity wheresoever they will. Moreover, I am sure that I am not the only observer who has been aesthetically perturbed by the range of nasty accoutrements such 'types' invariably carry. It is by no means rare to witness them clutching ugly (non-vintage I'm sure) bottles poorly concealed in vulgar paper or even plastic bags (the horror!).

It is probably prudent not to dwell at any length on their dress code, but suffice it to say that bespoke tailors rarely choose to promote their wares on personages such as this. And personal hygiene seems not to figure in any way, shape or form. Inexcusably dreadful!

I have heard that such behavior may also be a close correlate of 'drug' use, but I am convinced that no such phenomena could exist in my own respectable neighborhood.

Nobody seems willing to take a stand on this pressing issue. Indeed I have on more than one occasion seen passersby cross the road or even turn and flee when encountering these shambling derelicts. So once more I feel myself forced to take a lead and plant the banner of propriety in pointing to a correct response. I feel that all people of decorum and fastidious taste should simply ignore on every occasion all such distressing encounters. The perpetrators are clearly doing it for attention-seeking purposes and, if we starve them of the oxygen of consideration, then they will have no choice but to return to a normal and acceptable lifestyle. This may strike some as tough or even harsh, but I do in no small measure believe that this is the only viable way to reclaim our streets.