Jingsamichty

Aired recently on the BBC, for those who haven't seen it yet. Adrian Chiles confronts his "normal, regular drinking."

Hit a raw nerve with me, I must admit.

AlliF

dbd33

That was surprising in two ways. Firstly. it showed Birmingham and the Midlands without devastation and violence, neither looked to be the dump I expected. Secondly, because I am drinking only the recommended quantities - I miss drinking heavily and smoking. I am slightly worried now by the idea that I might survive long enough to face yet another winter.

caretaker

Trying to start an early Christmas Spirit thread?

Oink

He seems surprised but quick look in the mirror should tell him he's drinking too much.

Mr Bean

Fair play that was brilliant. That's my trouble, and I'm being quite candid here, that I don't count. I regularly buy enough booze for the one day and when it's gone I normally hit TCMB's white wine just for good measure. I'm all of those things described in that show. I'm the guy who everyone wants to drink with when we're out. I'm the guy who says, not tonight thanks, and then spends all evening getting drinks thrust upon me. I'm the guy who is totally in control when he drinks and doesn't think it's affecting my health. I'm the guy who has always had alcohol to be a massive part of their life from a young age. Whether it through school days, or rugby or just going out for one and staying until five.

So on Sunday, just gone, we went out as a couple with friends of ours to watch the new Queen flick. Afterwards we went to Milestones for dinner and I had three pints of Stella. My friends wife noted how quickly they went and I made the usual jokes of "oh yeah, my feet are wet now I just spilled it", or " it goes off quickly if you don't drink it fast". Then her and her husband both stated how good I would get have got on with Freddie Mercury as he was a big drinker etc.

That I took exception to, but didn't say anything. We said our usual goodbyes and that was that. TCMB asked what I was going to drink that night and I said "nothing". She laughed and so I went home and didn't drink anything else that night just out of sheer stubbornness.

Monday, got up, went to work after a shitty nights sleep and managed to come home without buying any booze.
Tuesday, got up, went to work after a slightly less shitty nights sleep and came home with a bottle of scotch.
Wednesday, got up, went to work after a relatively good nights sleep and came home without buying any booze.
Thursday, got up, went to work after sleeping like a log and came home without buying any booze.
Friday, same as Thursday.

So I'm here now, after spending pretty much 20+ years of my life completely pissed up, contemplating whether to open Tuesday's bottle of scotch.

I'm like Chiles in the respect that I don't know or feel like I should give up just by listening to statistics.

Is that denial because I really don't feel that I rely on alcohol at all. It's just that it's so regular to drink it really is a way of life.

BristolUK

dbd33

That was cheering. On that theme:

Mr Bean

The Current Mrs Bean

BristolUK

Ah.

Jingsamichty

The film really hit home hard for me too. Like you I drink just out of habit. I decided 2 weeks ago to change that, so I'm now 2 weeks without a drop. I've switched to alcohol-free beer (Clausthaler is OK, Beck's Blue is OK), and once you get past the first sip or two it's perfectly fine. So I "feel" like I'm having a few beers in the evening but am just not having the alcohol.

I reckon I could reduce my intake by 90% by sticking to alcohol-free beer in the house, and by a new awareness of my intake when I'm out.

Good luck Mr B. And well done to dbd33 too, and I think Oink is already a fair bit ahead of us on the polished-halo journey to liver salvation.

Siouxie

For reasons unrelated to excessive consumption of alcohol I've had to forego Guinness, Caffreys etc., and drink 0.04% beer - most are not zero alcohol, so be aware

O'Douls is pretty good, not keen on Grolsch, yes, Blue is drinkable as is Prohibition and Exel. My son prefers Becks but I'm not so keen.

You might find the beer app / website quite good for finding different 0.04% / 0.05% beers. I have it on my phone so I can point out that there are dozens available when I get 'that look' from bar staff - though to be fair more pubs/bars are stocking the 00 beers now.
https://justbeerapp.com/search/beers/low%20alcohol

caretaker

Of all the non-alc beers we've had at the bar I considered Becks the worst. As Oink pointed out the guy in the video should have known he was drinking far too much. I cut down a lot after getting high blood pressure maybe 15 or 20 years ago, just couldn't do it and if I tried the hangover would be inordinately punishing. My doctor, while a great doctor in many other respects, told me I should have 5 drinks a week instead of 5 a day but I think because she's Hindu and doesn't use alcohol at all the cultural difference may be at fault. Graphs showing decreased lifespan and liver damage don't have much shock effect when you've worked at cleaning up and diapering brain-damaged alcoholics and had friends drink themselves to death despite all the reasoning in the world. Everything in moderation, as I always say.

Canuck74

I'm giving up beer!

Mr Bean

Maybe I'll try it too.

For the record, I opened the scotch at 2200 last night. By 2330 it was gone. I woke up this morning without a hangover at 0800 and as there was a day of rugby on the box, I did the christian thing and bought a twelve pack of Sleeman draught tall boys. Those are now gone so I'm sat here twiddling my thumbs debating on whether to go and get more booze.

What a waste of money