Re: 14 bottles of wine

by Guest 31.07.11 12:36

Miraflores wrote:
the drinks order docket has been posted showing 14 bottles of wine
Doesn't Kate deny this in her book? Can anyone post the docket and the quote from the book side by side, so that we can all see?

If anyone does, can you please add it to the relevant drinks thread, please.

by jd 31.07.11 14:27

The tapas bar employees statements say that the taps 9 group had about 9 bottles of wine each night, so a bottle of wine each! Plus the new zealand wine the Mccanns had in their apartment before they went out too

by pauline 31.07.11 14:54

on p.220 she refers to the complete fabrications being put out by the UK media and gives as an example that 'we drank 14 bottles of wine on the night Madeleine was abducted.' This is indirect contradiction to the bar docket posted on this site. Obviously its possible that she and Gerry didn't drink that much of the wine; but that means the other couples and/or Mrs Diane Webster must like their drink!

In other parts of the book, she implies that she is a modest drinker.

On p.234 she refers to her first ever taste of brandy at Clement Freud's home in PDL

on p.175 she says that while on a plane (in early June) she accepted a restorative gin and tonic because she was a nervous wreck due to the plane being delayed. She adds that the drink 'might well have been my first drink since Madeleine was taken.'

However, on p.60 she admits to a post dinner liquer on May 2 in the enclosed Tapas bar area - and that this meant the time between their last check on the children and their return was nearer to 45 min. This was the night when she claims Gerry left the group abruptly and she slept in the childrens room.

by **PeterMac** 31.07.11 17:53

a propos of media headlines
p. 275 "KATE'S ALCOHOL-FUELLED UNIVERSITY DAYS

OK, so maybe there was the odd one with a grain of truth in it, but....."

Anyone who has been around Medical students knows that is true.

by lj 01.08.11 3:15

The amount of alcohol they took would have brought them over the legal driving limit. That limit was not set on a whim. The main reason is that above that people's judgement gets affected. Everyone always thinks it's about thinking ~ walking ~ or driving straight, no it is in the first place about judgement. Something else what happens is that people "over-correct and over-react" long before they start zigzagging, and that this often is the cause of accidents. That too can be said of non-vehiculair reaction to alcohol.
While we do not know how much each one of them drunk, Russell was away most of the time for example, I think it is safe to assume that each one was in the stage that judgement was impaired.

Having said all that, Kate brings imo too often the alcohol topic up in her book, and always in the "oh no I couldn't, I never do, a little sip then" way. I have worked too much with (closet) alcoholics to not recognize that as a red flag.

by lj 01.08.11 3:20

PeterMac wrote:a propos of media headlines
p. 275 "KATE'S ALCOHOL-FUELLED UNIVERSITY DAYS

OK, so maybe there was the odd one with a grain of truth in it, but....."

Anyone who has been around Medical students knows that is true.

I would say anyone who has been around students knows it's true.
Amazingly enough I still can remember some from that time, and the majority have grown up to be the most ~~dull, boring, unimaginative~~, law-abiding citizens, who blush and shush when you start "remember that night......".

by **Tony Bennett** 01.08.11 8:00

If the abduction hoax hypothesis is right, they may have been drinking a lot of alcohol that night due to anxiety and stress

by **PeterMac** 01.08.11 8:14

Tony Bennett wrote:If the abduction hoax hypothesis is right, they may have been drinking a lot of alcohol that night due to anxiety and stress

A very good point.

by Guest 01.08.11 8:40

The wine might have been used to fill other guests glasses up, to ensure they had a fuzzy account of events that night.

by pauline 01.08.11 9:31

Stella wrote:The wine might have been used to fill other guests glasses up, to ensure they had a fuzzy account of events that night.

Interesting point. I think I read that on the previous nights they had nine bottles (ie one bottle each on average). Why would it be so much higher on may 3?

Now the Mccanns seems to be very money conscious (won't pay for babysitters, kids share toothbrushes, in the book she commented the holiday was a bit pricey which initially put her off going) so its not logical they could subsidise other people's drinking.

But for a dinner that started at 9 pm and ended at 10 pm when Kate raised the alarm I can't see how so much could have been consumed/more or less consumed by the group by then. I mean you wouldn't order that many bottles at once; you'd order a couple of bottles of red and of white for a group that size, then you would top up as needed with the empties being taken away. The McCanns arrived around 8.30 pm but the group wasn't all there until 9 pm. P.70 Kate says they were all seated by 9 pm and had begun ordering drinks, starters and main meals.

If the drink docket is correct, drink has to have been shared, and was the motive holiday camaraderie or helping their plot?

I wonder do the waiters statement note any sociability between tables that night.

by jd 01.08.11 10:48

No the waiters don't, the Tapas 9 seemed to be on their own every night though occasionally they chatted to a few other couples briefly but this was not a regular scenario. Interestingly though, 'all' the waiters and kitchen staff all remember gerry as standing out from the crowd as he was very loud in character (I would say dominating) and was the main one making lots of jokes etc

How much they had to drink that night is irrelevant as their contradictory statements were made a day or two later when they were totally sober

by pauline 01.08.11 10:56

jd wrote:

How much they had to drink that night is irrelevant as their contradictory statements were made a day or two later when they were totally sober

I think it is relevant because their memory of the evening would be significantly inaccurate depending on how drunk they were that evening.

by jd 01.08.11 11:03

I think they are used to drinking a bottle of wine each night (at home too) and a bottle won't have them completely drunk and banging into tables. The more & more frequently you drink the more you need to really be drunk and lose memory. A bottle for them is like half a glass for most others

the fact KM can remember the wine they drink says a lot

Plus, for arguments sake that this abduction was true, then the shock and horror would kick anyone into remembering

by lj 01.08.11 14:39

For someone who is used to it a bottle wine in an hour is nothing.
And yes, we should worry about their memory, but even more about their judgement that night (and many other nights).

by Guest 04.03.12 19:33

Tony Bennett wrote:If the abduction hoax hypothesis is right, they may have been drinking a lot of alcohol that night due to anxiety and stress

Wrong; they would have stayed dead sober, in order not to mess things up.
They could have pretended to be drukn, though.
The truth would have come out during their PJ interviews, of course. In the confines of the police headquarters, the smell they would have excuded if drunk, would have been nauseating.