Stag do!

I've just been invited to a friends stag do. Exactly 1 month before I drink again! It should be fun and Im looking forward to it because it will be a totally new not drinking experience, and although temptation is still with me today, if I make it to month 11 then there's no way I'll be tempted then.

First Bank Holiday over!

Ive been checking the calendar and we'll have 1 bank holiday this year without 'the ban'. In my local area there are a lot of people who go drinking at the coast on bank holidays. I've never actually been as its 'fight central' and I dont like the place at the best of times. We do normally have a drink on Bank Holidays though, be that a BBQ or just a few glasses of wine (ok Im lying its a bottle!) in the garden. I do kind of miss that although I bought some Schler (spelt wrong!) which was a nice substitute.

I've just been re-reading the blog. Its so weird to read some of it back and see what we've been though that would have involved drinking. It makes me realise what my annual consumption must have been (bearing in mind the uneventful nights of drinking that would have happened but because they didnt I've not written about).

I think our only potential risk factor is the Holiday. Its the final major event to get though without drinking (my wife's birthday is in May but we've already done mine sober so it will be the same). I really like having a drink on the plane...normally just 1 or 2 but still. I couldnt drink on the way there this time anyway as I'm driving at the other end, which is really good. We're going to have a private pool thought and it would have been nice to sit round it having BBQ and a few drinks. Oh well, its not the end of the world, the holiday should be great and I think we've proven we dont need alcohol to have fun!!

For the first time in ages I spent the night in the pub....

We went for a meal with friends on Saturday. My friends ordered a White Russian and a glass of wine. We drank non-alcoholic beer. Afterwards we went to a local country pub and had a really great night (obviously we werent drinking) but at one point I wondered why they were repeating themselves...and then I realised! ;-) I'd forgotten what being around people drinking was like. Its not that they were drunk...just a little tipsy. In fact it was just the right amount (and I suspect part of the reason one of my friends was so quick with the jokes around midnight). Sometimes alcholol is fun...even if its not you drinking it!

I see Zombies!!!

We've settled back into the not drinking idea now. It's much easier when your decided on keeping going.

Last night my wife went to a leaving party from her old job. Most people were drinking but she had fun sober. I drove to pick her up at 1230am (and bear in mind it was bank holiday Friday) the streets were scattered with zombie like people staggering about swilling bottles of beer on their way home. Some were in packs others in pairs, and the odd lone zombie. It's quite funny seeing people in that state when your sober!

Off for a meal with friends tonight. Thell drink nodoubt but I'm glad we'll have the car

I came this close || to breaking the years pledge!

Its been a funny couple of weeks. My wife got made redundant (voluntary) which made us both happy on the whole. A new start. We started talking about if we should celebrate with a bottle of champagne. I cant remember which one of us started to weaken first but whoever it was the other one stood firm and said it probably wasnt the right time....and then then later we switched roles and started debating the opposite to our original point. This has been happening all week and then today we were at a restaurant with a friend and we basically decided we were going to drink this week. My wife is going to a friends house for a kind of leaving party and I said if your drinking there then we have to have a drink together first, since we started this together we should finish it that way (also it might be a good idea to see what light weights we have become first!).
Later on today I asked if we were really going to do it and my wife said we should ask people on the blog, our Facebook friends and twitter. I posted a 'tweet' and a status update and then after about 10 mins my wife said 'I dont think we should do it' - meaning give in. I was glad she said this really as it would all have been a bit rushed and anit-climactic.
Im not sure if we'll make the year but I think were going to give it a good shot. Its been harder since the pressure of life has been lifted. Weve been tea-total for 9 months now and about 8 of those have been the most stressful of our lives (which I am thankful for...that 'work'was the most stressful thing we've been through...but that doesnt make it any less real while its happening). Now the pressures off its like giving yourself an excuse to break the pledge. Its kind of like 'whats the point?', theres nothing to prove. HOWEVER...something keeps us going, and if nothing else it makes life interesting!!

Oh and as a side note I saw pictures of my niece drinking pints of beer in the same pub I used to drink in when I was 18...I feel so old!!