The "Cutting down" trick

I have to admit that like so many other folk, the drink was troubling me so much. Not having a beer or a cider in the back garden when it was a nice sunny day and everyone else had what I had so I'm trying the "Cutting down" trick at the moment.

I'm having a beer or whatever and enjoying it. I'm behaving myself and having the odd half pint, nothing silly and if that carries on then great but if it gets out of hand then it's back off the booze again, sobriety strikes again.

I'm also brewing my own beer at the moment. Saves a fortune and you can make it taste as you like it. I'm behaving myself at the moment with all this beer in the house and I'm pleased with myself. There's gallons of the stuff on the shelf and only good behaviour.

When this keg is finished I'll do some cider. Never done cider before and I like it so fingers crossed.

Why not come around for a half?

This sobriety kick is lasting

And the best thing about it is, it's my choice. There's no push or shove in it, I made the decision so there's no problem that's going along with it.

It's good too. Waking up in the morning without anything like a hangover - that is something you never miss - and feeling fresh, ready to take on the world. Getting out off bed and finding that it's true, your hands dont shake anymore, I can cope with this.

I do have the odd tin of beer, the odd cider and that possibly makes them taste a bit better because it remains the odd one and not a dozen a day as it once was.

Keep it up man, keep it up.

The alcoholic Scotsman

I was just thinking about what life was like when I grew up in Scotland. My parents did a lot to ensure that I enjoyed my childhood and that I received a decent education but they couldn't keep me away from Scotlands attitude to alcohol.

Socially, it was quite acceptable to drink huge amounts when I was a young boy, unlike today where a couple of large drams is the most that is seen as alright for an evening.

So I wonder if todays slightly different views on alcohol, on the concept of "getting drunk" would have resulted in myself having a different attitude to alcohol and therefore stopped, or at least taken longer for me to become an alcoholic.

I think that there is a good chance that growing up today, with todays social attitude towards alcohol, I would have dealt with it differently when I started drinking beer, whisky and the like. I may well be wrong but as I see it, it's put over that it is not so sensible to get pissed every night, which is great.

Hopefully, the problems of alcoholism will have shrunk massively and won't come back.

I will still be an alki

Over the last wee while I've not done too badly. I've stuck to the tea and coffee, the juice and the tins of coke. When there is stuff like that in the house for me then there's less excuse for the demon drink to raise its ugly head.

It hurts though. The fact that this problem, that I control quite well, will last for ever, regardless of how well I do in staying away from alcohol, I will die an alcoholic. That is the painful bit.

The pain is not justifiable, well, not to me anyway. Why should I make so much effort and succeed in what I am  trying for and still it goes on.

When it comes to the last of my days, I will still be an alki, a bevvy artist - but that's life I guess.

But I will have a bit more cash in my pocket and perhaps less of a beer belly.

There is always hope :))

A splash of milk

It is such a beautiful, sunny, warm morning and so often before, in a situation like this I would get myself a can of beer, cider, whatever and go outside and top up my sunburn.

Not now thank you. I prefer coffee, two sugars and a splash of milk please.

My hands no longer shake.