Orange juice — Please

Why it’s dry January for me

I like a drink — Occasionally, too much.

For all the reasons people drink and are well documented, I’ve not had a break from alcohol since my first illegally purchased best bitter-dash as a 17-year-old more than four decades ago.

Unlike today, then, it wasn’t questioned. There was no ID required or proof of age asked for. It’s how it was.

To be honest, it tasted bloody awful even with the sweetening lemonade dash, but, of course, you never admitted it at the time. It wasn’t macho. Come to think of it, nor was the lemonade dash.

When the next round arrived with what was to become a familiar clunk of those heavy, thick dimpled, jars, you reached for the chunky handle eagerly with both hands to avoid any embarrassing spillage that might give you away as a novice drinker — Cheers.

I come from a family that can drink. Nothing to be proud of, but having grown up at a time and in an environment in which alcohol was commonplace and always readily available, it became an easily accepted social pastime.

It was almost encouraged — Heading off to the local for a few bevvies was a default setting during lunchtimes and evenings. Just popping out to the pub for a beer that became more than just a beer and often turned in to a bit of a session.

Having previously tried to help, and failed, an older brother through his alcoholism, I’m all too well aware of the disruption, anguish, fear and the violence it causes within a family.

Weekend drinker

Having taken the view over the years that the occasional drink isn’t going to do any harm, I even cut-out midweek drinking and congratulated myself on my self-discipline.

The problem is, I think I’ve become a weekend drinker exceeding the recommended weekly limit of 14 units in two days — And, sometimes on a Friday evening before the weekend’s arrived.

It’s easily done during a gin o’clock session from 6pm onwards. I’m guilty of it, I’m ashamed to say.

However, I’m addressing it because my ‘occasionally’ referred to above might just have crept up on me particularly during the past couple of years and become something slightly more habitual.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently and read about The risks of drinking too much on the NHS website and thought there may be others who might also find it interesting.

Apparently, a lot of new evidence has emerged in recent years and previously held views that some daily alcohol intake might actually benefit your health have been revised.

Cork in the bottle

The wording is interesting. The NHS suggests there’s no safe drinking level when it comes to alcohol. The recommended weekly limit of 14 units has been categorised as ‘low risk’ rather than ‘safe’ to highlight health concerns.

Just so we’re clear, 14 units is equivalent to six pints of average-strength beer or ten small glasses of low-strength wine. If you consider a large glass of wine as the norm at home, your 14 units doesn’t go very far.

All of which has prompted me to put the cork in the bottle and give dry January a go.

I want to see if I can and I want to see if it makes a difference in terms of my health and how I feel. It’s important for me, but also for my family.

In life, my glass is always half-full and will continue to be so. The difference throughout the month ahead is that there won’t be any alcohol in it.

It’s a small step, but we’ll see how it goes from there.