I went to a friends birthday last night. Afterwards some of us went to a 'disco' in the west end of London. There was a woman peeing in a bucket in the hall, she was then crying and looking for her coat in the toilet, and then shouting at the cloakroom attendant, the manager and anyone else she thought she should shout at because they couldn't find her coat.
When I left she was stumbling on the pavement, alone and clearly potentially very vulnerable to falling over, being knocked over by cars or of course sexual assault. I asked her if she was ok and if she knew where she was going. She insisted she was fine. I tried to identify how she was going to get home and she got cross. So i left and I watched from a distance for a while. She did get into a cab after about 10 minutes. An unlicensed mini cab. I hope she was safe.
A campaign I was really impressed with in (my recent trip to) Sydney was the Together We Can campaign. One of their adverts went something along the lines of 'together we can...be safe by making sure we go to venues and leave venues with friends; making sure one person does not drink too much or take too many drugs' etc. It struck me then as a really impressive campaign. And last night when I couldn't sleep worrying that the woman had got home safely, could get her key in the door and had someone to look after her -point her to the toilet, stroke her back if she was sick - i wish she had had a friend who hadn't drunk too much and had left the venue with her.
Most of us drink too much sometimes, most of us need someone to help us sometimes - next time you are planning a big night out, just remember, together we can....be safe (and still have fun)'.
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