When I was eleven I had heard of the word adolescence and thought that I knew what it meant. Something about growing up, about being a teenager, a rather difficult time.
I listened to a programme on the radio on this theme, it sounded terrible, the violence, the depression, the break-up of homes and families, the loss of jobs, the hiding of the bottles, the illness, the brutality, the fights, the cost of it all. I was really shocked by this, did I have to go through all of this? Was it really necessary?
Later in the day, probably with the aid of a dick and harry, I discovered the difference between the two words adolescence and alcoholism.