Pen, your post has reminded me of an incident from many years ago.
I was having a quiet drink with a couple of mates (Rick & Tony) at the Royal Hotel at Nundah. ( Nundah is where i was living at the time, it is a small suburb on the northside of Brisbane.)
An announcement came over the P.A. that the manager was offering $200 cash for anyone who could drink 6 schooners of 4x beer in 30 minutes.
However, if you failed to complete the task, you had to pay for all six beers which came to a cost of about $25.
A long lineup quickly formed & we watched on as the first bloke failed miserably.
He was jeered & mocked by the crowd which had formed & suffered much more humiliation as he returned to his table.
The lineup shortened considerably but another brave patron stepped up to take on the task only to be met with the same humiliation.
At the same time, both Rick & Tony excitedly encouraged me to have a go.
" Les, you could do this standing on your ear !!! " they both exclaimed.
If you have a go & can't do it, then we will pay for the beers so long as you split the $200 with us.
I am not sure, i replied.
Just give me a few minutes to think about.
I then pushed back my chair & left the pub.
I returned about 30 minutes later to see the final unsuccessful participant handing over his $25.
I went straight to the bar & asked if it was too late for me to have a go & with a simple nod from the manager, the barman set up the drinks & turned on the timer.
The dwindling crowd began to grow again as word spread that someone was a chance of winning the $200.
They even began to chant as i drank each glass back to back & an enormous cheer erupted as i drank the last schooner down with 2 minutes to spare.
As i divided up my winnings with Rick & Tony, Rick asked where i had gone for 30 minutes when i left the pub to think about it for a few minutes.
Well, i explained, i was so nervous about being humiliated like all of those other blokes were, i went up to the other pub on the corner to make sure that i could do it first...
