My mind has been well and truly warped by the Christmas holidays and I’m still struggling to know what day it is but what I can confirm is that I’ll be joining the hoards of done in drinkers with a dry January. The unaccountable christmas days have resulted in eating fair too much food and drinking an unhealthy amount, so I’m signing up for my liver and my overall health because my body really needs an MOT.
For me the weekends will be the ultimate trial as I’m a fan of a pre drink ( my aim of saving money before paying £6-12 per drink depending on what and where,) I can’t say no to a free drink and I have an insatiable and extremely high resilience to alcohol. Like many I have decided to do this as part of a detox for my body but also a detox for my bank balance and it’s something that a lot of people will probably believe I won’t be capable of going through with. That being said I did go cold turkey a few years back as part of Cancer Research’s Dryathlon and I’m back on that wagon.
If you would like to donate as little as £2 to this fantastic cause please find my Just Giving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/Vanessa-Carby-
Friday 2nd January.
Call it a cop out but all these evenings enduring cocktails and days in pigging out have taken their toll and I’m not feeling at my most optimised self; I’ve taken the easy route of cancelling this evenings invitations so that I can recuperate ready for tomorrow’s real challenge. I headed to the chippy for my proposed last take- away of the month and grab a root beer and cream soda to counteract the ciders that I would usually have purchased. Feeling fulfilled I settle down for crap telly and pick at festive food that doesn’t seem to disappear. Feeling under the weather has completely been a positive in the fact I could not be goaded into drinking but I admit that the boredom of staying in of a Friday is a frightful thought.
Saturday 3rd January
Worried at the prospects of a good friends birthday party I decided to call in the cavalry.. The non alcoholic cavalry that is. Already faced with a gathering including nibbles and cava, I knew I would have to go in heavy handed- my weapon? A six pack of non alcoholic beer, 2 energy drinks and the makings of a virgin Bloody Mary. Turning down the Prosecco and champagne was almost easy, I kept my thoughts on mozzarella dippers, stilton and chicken goujons but dishevelled mode kicked in when we made it to point b- the bar. Welcome to the land known as ‘Happy Hour,’ a torturous place where my pals ordered pitcher upon pitcher, at every turn offering me a glass and exclaiming that nobody else would know about me having a cheeky glass. Eventually I settled for a buy one get one free mocktail and by this time half my party were feeling the fruitful effects of alcohol, with me feeling less than green eyed.
Next we went onto the club where the bartender looked at me like I had uttered a blasphemous word, for I had asked for a soda and lime. My spirits were still high and I refused a shot kindly bought for everyone in my group. I hit the dance floor for the majority of the evening and only ordered one more soda and like.
The only thing that had killed my vibe that evening was the onset of a dirty stinking cold and so after some had dropped like flies I said my goodbyes to the birthday girl and was on my merry (but not because of the effects of alcohol) if not feverish way home.
Including my non alcoholic shopping purchases and my buys on my evening out, my spendings resulted in £13.55 worth. In comparison I would probably have drank 2 glasses of prosecco at my friend’s gathering, before hammering at the bars Long Island ice teas, before moving on to some shots and double spirits at the club *gulp.* It is not even worth thinking how much that would have cost me.
Although I had to contend with a few words of encouragement to drink, my friends were pretty mellow about the whole thing. The birthday girl did tell me after this evening that she could see a difference between my sober state and my drunk state; apparently I’m a lot more vocal and in your face. I don’t get drunk often because my body is a strange utensil but on the occasions that I do, this could perhaps be true.
Next week most of us will settle back into the routine of work and some of us can fall prey to the ‘I’ve had a bad day at work’ drinkie. Come back next week to see how I fair and why not calculate your weekends worth of drinks at: http://www.drinkaware.co.uk
