A year of planning messed up...

I have the 7th August booked off work so we could enjoy a beer at the pub at about 11am and then have a few drinks in the house. My father in law has a doctors appointment that day and were going take him to and from it so I guess Ill not be drinking until the evening. Bit of a shame as I'd hoped to have recovered/sobered up by then, but not to worry, can't be helped!

Last wedding during the year off...

I was at a friends wedding yesterday. It was the first (UK) wedding I've been at since we undertook the challenge and it was a fantastic day. We ended up on a table with 2 of our close friends and another couple who weren't drinking because they were driving home after the wedding. I asked the waiter to give me a red wine (as did my wife) so our friends could have ours (which actually turned out to be pointless as their glass never got empty before the waiter filled it up). The smell of the red wine started to make me feel sick so I had to move it in the end. Its so weird because I thought I would still like red wine...apparently not!!
We were smoking at the wedding and we started to get to know the usual crowd outside. One person who was nice enough, started to get really annoying when he found out we weren't drinking. He seemed to think it was going to be tempting to have a bottle of beer waved in my face every 5 minutes. I tried to explain that it was just a way of life now and it might as well be trying to tempt me to eat salad, but as he was drunk he just didn't understand.
We had a brilliant time though and the whole day was gone in a flash. We left around midnight and got home about 1...thanks to lack of sleep I now feel hungover! ;-)

18 days...

Everytime I look up from life to check how long weve been doing this I get surprised at how quick a year has gone. I noticed in my fridge theres 2 half open bottles of wine, about 6 bottles of beer and another 2 open bottles of wine in the utility room. They've been left over from when people have come over for meals and brought drinks...unfortunately I've gone off all of it...I couldnt face drinking white wine, and lager just seems awful right now. I'd like to try a glass of red to see if I hate that now too (previously my favorite drink). I suspect its going to be really hard to find a drink I like in the future...and I'm not forcing myself to like something...If I dont find a drink I like, I'll just not drink!

3 Fridays left...

I'm currently in a hotel as I have a meeting tomorrow. I used to always have beer or wine with a meal when I worked away, mainly to stop boredom. I know now this is one place is stupid to drink. You don't get a good night sleep, your tired on the drive home and you can't expense it!!
With only 3 weeks to go I've been thinking about our first day drinking more. I know it will be a bit of a laugh but I've gone so long without drinking it's like my mind thinks the years not over and I should keep going. I really wonder if I'll still feel this way in a month or by new year?

1 month 1 day to go...

Its really weird. This last week Ive started to think about when we start drinking again but not in a looking forward to it kind of way, more in the I cant be bothered with it kind of way. I know for sure we'll drink on the first day as thats been the plan all along and its part of the experience, but even that I cant be bothered with. Its so weird. My wife was saying the other day something about a night we have planned after the year and assumed I'd be drinking but I dont think I will. I think it will be really nice to have a drink on my mother in laws wedding day but just a glass of champagne I think.
I'm sure now that I'm going to keep this blog going for a while because I wonder if my fundamental attitude to alcohol has changed, or if this is just how I feel now while I'm not drinking.

Count Down!

The Big Drink Debate

I was checking twitter yesterday when I noticed a tweet from Northumbria Police (northumbriapol) about a 'big drink debate' in the north east of England. Obviously with doing the challenge I had a look and found their message was pretty much what I've come to believe (that you can have drink in moderation and still enjoy yourself).
I emailed them to see if they wanted to link to the blog (always after free publicity ;-) and Matt who is running the PR for the campaign rang me today. He seems interested in what I had to say and the blog might get a little publicity out of it which is nice. I think the message they're promoting though is the right one, and thats to change peoples attitude to drinking...not to stop them but to help them understand that change isnt a bad thing. If your from the North East then perhaps you'll want to fill this survey in. I think I'll re-tweet it on my twitter too.
http://www.northeastbigdrinkdebate.org.uk/