![]() I didn't ask for any books, but somehow this week I have ended up with well-worn copies of A Bottle in the Cupboard (although where else are you meant to keep bottles, when you think about it? We can't all have drink trolleys in the hall) and Codependent No More. I got a bit tired and cranky on Tuesday and Wednesday, so no change there, then, either, both drinking and nondrinking friends agree. I seem to be standing very close to people and shouting. No change I think I might become a bit uninhibited by not drinking. On Sunday I went to a lunch party and drank coconut water. This made me think of Harry Enfield’s 1950s sketch: “Women know your limits!” Drink sellers, know your low alcohol beers, please! Within an hour a nondrinking friend had read the label on Schleswig-Holstein, found that it was 4.6 per cent (more than Heineken or Bulmers cider) and banished it to the back shed. ![]() The nice nonalcoholic beer we wanted – Baltika – was not in stock, so we got a beer the woman in the off-licence identified as low in alcohol. One took me to the off-licence to buy some nonalcoholic beer. Too hungover On Saturday most of my drinking friends were too hungover to talk, but they selflessly sent texts. Nobody bothers putting a slice of lemon in a mineral water – it is a nondrink, so you get nonservice. I went out as usual but drank a litre of mineral water. (It is often earlier.) I had to eat industrial quantities of Easter egg instead, two-fisted, to assuage the stress. ![]() On Friday I had a bit of an, er, intense time at work and was crushed when I remembered that I could not look forward to my first glass of wine of the weekend at 6pm. Which puts being forced to drink mineral water into perspective. The old binary system, under which you are either an alcoholic or not, appears to be softening: it has to soften because drinkers and drinking are more complicated than that.įor me the week was marred not by being alcohol-free but by the death of a friend. Thank you for taking the time to write your stories of giving up alcohol, resolving never to give up alcohol, and wishing that you could give up alcohol.Ī country of big drinkers has a lot to say about drinking. ![]() I have read every one of those contributions, and we plan to print a selection of them next week. The Soberistas website, mentioned in the article, reported a surge in new members last weekend, most of them Irish.Īnd there was a significant online response from Irish Times readers. Other people have started telling me they haven’t had a drink in a year or perhaps that they’ve been drinking two bottles of wine a day for a year. People haven’t even been saying hello to me, they’ve just been shouting, “How could you do this to me?” or, “Gin and tonic!” (Except for Drinking Friend, who shouted, “Never have your photo taken from such a low angle again.” No wonder I love her the best.) ![]() This demonstrates to me that wherever you’ve got a lot of people drinking you will also have a lot of people worried about their drinking. If all goes according to plan this will be the longest period of my adult life without alcohol. Last week in T he Irish Times I began a minor social experiment. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |