ELSIE Flintoff says there's nothing wrong with grandson Freddie's notorious booze binge, which saw him being rescued from the sea at 4am, roaring drunk on a pedalo.

Says Granny Flintoff: "If they can't go on a binge now and again it's a poor do. How many lads don't do it?

Indeed.

And that's the trouble, eight-hour benders are quite common down my way, up your way and just about virtually everywhere you go in Britain these days.

Freddie's only mistake was to do it after his team had lost to New Zealand. He went on a similar bender after helping us win The Ashes and no one batted an eyelid, then.

The fact is that when it comes to what is a sensible amount to drink, we've all lost the plot.

For many years I was quite happy to believe my husband when he insisted he only drank "little beers". Until my mate the copper informed me that these little beers have more alcohol in them than most big beers.

When asked if he had a drink problem, Freddie Flintoff replied: "Sometimes I have the capacity to go a bit further than I should." Boozer talk for: "I like getting plastered."

In Britain we dismiss vast consumption as manly or amusing and tell ourselves that our heavy-drinking mate just likes a drink and it's none of our business anyway.

Having been to the funerals of two very dear people who drank themselves to death, I can tell you there is nothing funny about it. There is nothing amusing about having to watch your brother carry the coffin of his best friend into the crematorium when the guy was only 38 and had destroyed his organs with drink.

We can laugh about it now, but if Freddie had drowned that night we'd be mourning the end of a cricketing genius and two little children would be without their dad.

In his heart, Freddie knows this too. "What disappoints me is that I am not a teenager, I'm 29 and I have responsibilities on and off the field," he says.

So I'm glad to hear that unlike his deluded granny, Freddie's wife, Rachael, has realised the situation and flown out to be with him.

She told reporters she was going to tell him he'd been a "stupid b*****" and I hope he pays attention.

Not because he's bad or what he's done is evil but because it was potentially so very dangerous and that 29, or even 38, is too young to die of anything.