Drinkdown diary

Day zero

Wed July 30 2025

Friends over for lunch with their two lovely and very clever children. The youngest, who has only recently started to write, spent his time connecting various devices to the Alexa unit. How he managed this, I have no idea, but when he asked if he could use my iPhone, I said no. Our son, working from home in his room, was surprised by the sudden start of a strange selection of songs on his smart speaker.

Joined D in a beer later. Following up, after the family had left, with a no-alcohol Cobra beer (to avoid setting myself off on a lone session) which I did not like. Had no real flavour and what flavour it did have was citrusy, not really beery. Wondering whether I should try to come up with a list of varieties of zero alcohol beers I do like, or at least can tolerate, I came up with the cunning plan:

Beating the booze

A combination of substituting no and low alcohol beers for the real thing and then counting units of alcohol consumed. I get to try and to rate some new drinks, as alcohol substitutes, coincidentally reducing my booze intake. At the same time I will try to reduce my unit count to 14 or below for the trial week. All details in the linked story.

Had another beer, a Peroni Nastro Azzurro, as I pondered this, and followed it with a crafty shot of Strega, a sweet, bright yellow, herby, Italian liqueur. Beginning to find it a little too sweet and may not bother replacing the bottle once it is finished.

Alcohol intake: Not counting yet, but low by my standards

Day zero+1

Thu July 31 2025

One of my few working days in London, so out and about. Something of a Freaky Friday, even though it was Thursday. Saw Lindsay and Jamie, who seemed like old friends.

Great shift as usual, but long and tiring, on my feet out in the open. On the way back to Charing Cross Station I was tempted to stop off at one of my favourite pubs, the Ship and Shovell, a pub behind the railway arches, split into two buildings.

I didn't stay after the first but, still being a little 'thirsty', I grabbed a canned G&T from M&S for the train journey. Read a bit of Wolf Hall (Kindle on my iPhone) on the way home. Finished a chapter at home with the aid of a generous measure of Glenfiddich Scotch whisky.

And so to bed.

Alcohol intake: Not as low as yesterday. Did I say I wasn't counting yet?

Day zero+2

Fri Aug 1 2025

A day out to the Design Museum in London with my darling wife, S, which turns out to be a great visit followed by a light Lebanese lunch. Finished up with a coffee which was made as a coffee should be. Quite apart from a lovely day together, I find that I drink much less, sometimes not at all, when I am with S, who rarely drinks alcohol.

Later in the day, I experiment with a home-made herbal drink using tea, cucumber and lavender from the garden. When it cools, I add plain sparkling water. Bit random, I know, but random often leads to great things. The recipe works in the sense that it is not sweet, has a herbal and floral flavour, and is the colour of beer, thanks to the tea. Will try out some other combinations.

The next one I try has a much better, more subtle flavour, combining multiple herbs from the garden, regular tea, some lavender flowers and flowers from one other herb.

Thinking about the booze experiment, I may start it on Monday.

Alcohol intake: NIL is what I wrote in advance, and this was sufficient to motivate me to abstain for the whole evening. Actual count was nil, and this is not counting because there was no alcohol to count. All shows I am getting in the mood and am almost excited at the prospect of a week when I will be using various tricks to drink less.

Day zero+3

Sat Aug 2, 2025

Karate, this morning. My injured back and my age means that some stuff is hard to do, some things I can't do (or would be unwise to) and I have to know when to stop. On the other hand, there is a lot I can do, I have a lot of experience, and most of the exercise helps to strengthen the core muscles around my back to protect the injured tissue. Usually makes me feel stronger and more upbeat too.

A previous aim of not drinking the night before karate (I train Saturday morning and Monday evening) or Monday evening was short lived. It didn't last long because rules are not a good approach. Nor is simply saying no to myself when I really want to say yes. Basic child psychology will tell you that the head to head argument seldom comes out well. At least, that's my excuse.

In any case this morning I feel so much fitter to take on the training session... at least until I have completed the lesson. Now I am exhausted, but in a good way. Looking after my daughter's pet rat who is on his last legs and may be dying, as he has been for the last year at least. Seems to keep bouncing back, does not appear to be in any pain and, if you give him a bit of cheese or other treat, stroke him, he makes happy noises, like grinding his teeth.

Thinking again about my plan to start on Monday. This might work well despite arranging to go to a local pub for a few drinks with two of my karate buddies. Given that one is teetotal, never drinks a drop of alcohol, and the other is very moderate in his drinking, the session might provide encouragement.

Because I didn't have a drink last night, I think it only fair for me to have one (or three) this evening. I'll see if I can make up for it by being a good boy on Sunday.

I am wondering why I should wait until Monday. Given that I will start the week with an evening in the pub I think it wise to give myself a break and loosen the restriction. If you have read my cunning plan to beat the booze, you will note that I have a moving target of 1.5 units of alcohol, maximum consumption, per day.

This means that if I start the week on Sunday, rather than Monday, I can use Sunday's 1.5 units making it a total of 3 units maximum for Monday. That is, if my count for Sunday is zero. Like I say, simple denial might work for some but not for me. I need to trick my inner drinker into drinking less rather than confronting him with a simple no.

Anyway, Saturday night is right for drinking so, if I do have a beer (or three), I shall do so in camera, away from the public gaze. I'm definitely not counting, or at least not publishing the result.

Which makes this the final day of week zero, the pre-week of my experimental beating the booze week.

Tomorrow, I start the experiment in earnest. How exciting.

I wonder how it will go.

If you do too, please watch this space for the real: Drinkdown Diary

Thanks for reading and thanks especially to all those who have so far given me their support and encouragement.

Happy (no-alcohol) drinking, folks!