The bolding is mine. I believe the McCanns and friends had wine with their dinner. When I think of partying I see dancing, drinking, perhaps drugs, an all-nighter, and perhaps loose sex. All I see here is wine with dinner. I believe it may be a common practice and I've even been guilty of it myself.
Hello AfterMidnight.....
I had to laugh when I read the above. My first thought is that you must not have young children.
When I was in my 20's and childless, the description of a "party" might have applied.
Now that I have young children....a bottle of wine and a good DVD on the bigscreen is a "party" to me.
As a parent, when you decide to bring children into the world, you accept that the partying will have to wait for about 16 years, or so, so that you can remain sober, vigilant, responsible, etc. for those vulnerable little lives that you agreed to care for.
The point being, if you have young children, you do everything within your power to protect them. You take every precaution and make sacrifices without question. You never, ever, leave them alone in a un-childproofed room/apartment, in a foreign country, with the door unlocked, out of earshot (without a monitor) to go "socialize" with other parents who are doing the same thing.
That's child neglect, child endangerment and if anything happens, child abuse, or worse....
No matter what....the McCann's are guilty as sin of failing to protect Madeleine.