Drinkdown trial

Day one

Sun Aug 3 2025

So begins the day and the seven-day trial. A cunning plan to defeat the demon drink, as explained in:

Beating the booze

Drinkdown diary set-up week

Fairly normal day for a Sunday. Got up, big mug of tea, did some writing, played some guitar, cleared the kitchen and made breakfast. Went over to our son's new apartment and cleared some rubbish to take to the dump tomorrow morning. Returned home, remade the bed, played some more guitar, did some more writing. All in all a relaxing day. Been drinking tea, apple juice, coffee, more tea and lots of water.

This evening I washed down a meal with a can of Lucky Saint low-alcohol (0.5% alcohol by volume). It was okay and, at 0.5%, probably adds about 0.15 of a unit to my intake. So it doesn't really count as it is nowhere near even one unit of alcohol.

After eating, I brought little Clint, the rat, down to join me as I did some more writing.

Completed and published

Oblivion: three

I wrote the following unit count in advance, as an incentive. The other incentive is that if the unit count is zero, I can carry the 1.5 units forward to tomorrow, when I am out with two karate buddies for a few drinks.

Alcohol intake: Nil units

Day two

Mon Aug 4 2025

Starting the day with a trip to the dump to dispose of the rubbish from H's new flat which is in the London Borough of Croydon. As we live in Bromley, we should have used Croydon's recycling facility so please don't tell anyone.

Bit of a chores day today, as L & M are coming to stay for a few days from Wednesday. Still find time for some writing and some guitar study. Read about it being International Owl Day or something so did a quick poem on an owl encounter.

Today is the big day of the week, as I am supposed to be going out to the pub for a drink with a couple of buddies, which may test my resolve. My plan had been to start off with a low alcohol beer, to postpone the undoubted pleasure of a real beer. Having brought forward 1.5 units from yesterday, that gave me 3.0 units, which is enough for a pint of strong beer, or 1.5 pints of less-strong. There is also a one-off bonus, for the week, of 1.5 units if I needed it.

Arriving at the pub early I decide on a lime and soda to start. Read my book while I wait then J&I arrive so order their drinks and another lime and soda for me. I explain that I am looking forward to a nice pint, later. If I had started with a real beer, I would want another after, and certainly would not look forward to a lime and soda or other soft drink.

Enjoyed a lovely pint of traditional English ale before moving to another pub which closes later. We order a round of drinks, mine being a second beer plus a pint of plain water from the tap. As expected, I find that drinking alternately from beer glass and water glass means that the beer lasts twice as long.

I later have a zero-alcohol Guinness which is remarkably good. This makes my total intake four units, thus utilising one unit from the week’s ‘joker’ bonus of 1.5 units.

The evening ends and we wend our various ways home.

Alcohol intake: 4.0 units

Day three

Tue Aug 5 2025

More chores today before heading into town for a business assignment. Plenty of time for a little visit to the National Portrait Gallery. On arrival decided it was too busy, owing to school holidays, so headed to St Martin’s instead to commune with the dead. The refurbished crypt of the church of Saint Martin in the Fields, despite its sepulchral purpose, also houses a café and gift shop. There, I treated myself to a strawberry ice cream and a mug of Earl Grey.

I also took some time to borrow a few names from the headstones that have been repurposed as floor tiles. Such souls may well find themselves resurrected as characters in subsequent stories that I write.

Cache collected, I return to my tea and contemplation. Day three of the trial and I remain on track. I won’t have an opportunity to take a drink at least until I have finished the gig at around 10 pm. It may be tempting to nip into one of the wonderful Edwardian pubs to be found in this part of London. We will see how it goes.

Work done, I head to Charing Cross, avoiding pubs and anywhere else that sells alcohol. From my home station I take a short bus ride then walk past a friend’s liquor store without a glance. Okay, a small glance, but still manage to walk on by.

Thinking just a shot of whisky might be fair reward for my work, I then wonder about an iced gin and tonic, with perhaps just a little gin. Hell, a weak G&T tastes of just tonic anyway, so I settle for just a small glass of plain tonic water, sans alcool, which I sip as I read a chapter of Mantel, Bring up the Bodies before retiring a little after midnight.

Alcohol intake: nil

Day Four

Wed Aug 6 2025

Family arriving today for a few days' stay which is always nice. We have a chat and a catch up, sitting in a sunny garden and go out later to a Toby Carvery for a meal. Being a veggie, this is not my first choice but when I go out for a meal with anyone it is always company first, food second. Just as well as I end up with a plate of mostly-lettuce salad (a keep-it-cheap approach to menu provision). Only alternatives are indeterminate splodge in pastry. TBF it is a restaurant that specialises in Reasonably-priced sliced roast meats and the family loves it, so who cares about the vegetarians?

Arrived a little early with our youngest daughter and had a pleasant drink outside waiting for the others. A small bottle of Peroni, later followed by an Alcohol-free which wasn't bad. Turned down several offers of a follow-up. Saving myself up for a nice Scotch whisky when we got home. In this case a delicious single malt Laphroaig which is from Scottish island of Islay. I often think that I drink less when I have good quality liquor in the house.

Alcohol intake: 4 units

I contemplate that I have only 4 units left of my 12 unit target. Saturday, we have a meet-up with friends that usually includes the men drinking alcohol. Best try to reserve Friday as dry day which, if I do, will mean I have hit the target of three days with zero intake.

Day Five

Thu Aug 7 2025

Out and about with the family today, visiting our eldest daughter and her boyfriend in the afternoon for a meal, possibly a barbecue.

Only soft drinks for me. Not really bothered about having a beer or a Pimms on offer.

Home and decide on a small glass of Strega to sip while I read about Queen Anne Boleyn’s downfall in Bring up the Bodies, as fictionalised by the author.

Alcohol intake: 1 unit

Day Six

Fri Aug 8 2025

A quiet day after M and L return home. Catch up on some reading in between tidying.

Having used up 9 out of 12 units from my alcohol budget, I have only 3 left. I thought about this and have decided to be kind to myself and not be too strict with the budget. I have, after all, done very well on the alcohol reduction in six days assuming I don’t have a binge this evening.

So tomorrow, given the gathering of friends, I will allow myself 3 extra units. A total of up to 6 if required. I will still deploy no-alcohol drinks as ‘spacers’ to help keep the boozy urges in check.

Alcohol intake: nil

Final day

Just got up after a no-booze night. Six successful days of keeping the urge to overdo the alcohol appreciation at bay. Have I defeated the demon? That was not the aim of the experiment. Reducing alcohol intake for a single week does not represent a long-term success. It is likely that I will drink more next week, than this, as I have no plan to impose the same 12-unit limitation every week. Though I will probably keep a count of units consumed and will aim to keep a better check on drinking.

No, the purpose of the experiment was to test out a combination of techniques to help me to control how much I drink. Most of these techniques, I have used before and have proved helpful. The experiment will be successful if it helps to answer the question: How well (if at all) these techniques work?

Keep a daily count of units of alcohol consumed

Substitute soft drinks and low or no-alcohol beers for alcoholic drinks

On a pub night, start with a soft drink, so I have a beer to look forward to

Have a pint of water beside my pint of beer, alternating between them

When drinking spirits at home, use a smaller glass

At this point it occurs to me that the experiment has been a success, and the trial has been a success. Yes, I have established whether or not these techniques work in combination and yes, they do work. For scientific completeness I should add that one important factor not included in the list above, is the motivational factor and this is a big part of it. I have previously found that when I have the motivation to cut down on the drinking, I can do it. This feels almost like a truism and clearly if I have decided to come up with a plan to reduce drinking, this already indicates a level of motivation. By writing about it in this forum, I have boosted that motivation. Kind messages of support from Vocal friends have not only increase that motivation, they have also helped to boost my faith in human kindness.

Lots of positives, motivation being perhaps the most significant, since lack of motivation is often an issue for me, for reasons I won't expand on right now.

One way that I look at the motivation issue - motivating myself to cut down on my drinking and motivating myself to decline a drink at any point when I feel that I would like one - is that it is a lot to do with trickery. I sometimes find ways of tricking my tricky psyche into doing or not doing something it would otherwise not do or do. This 'tricking my mind' technique works in contexts other than reducing drinking.

Other benefits from the trial include adding to my psychological 'toolkit.' Like that thing about having a pint of water with my pint of beer, which someone suggested when I said I was cutting down. I enjoy my beer and have no plan to cut it out completely, any more than I will stop drinking the wines, whiskies and other drinks I enjoy. When I take a swig of a good pint of beer, it is a pleasant experience for reasons I find hard to explain. But if I take a swig of beer and my next swig is plain water, I don't lose anything from the beer drinking experience. Yet it is almost certain to have halved the alcohol intake, or at least doubled the time it takes to consume the amount of alcohol in that pint of beer. I guess it works by tricking my mind into thinking that I am drinking two pints of beer rather than a pint of beer and a pint of water. Don't know why I have never thought of this before.

So, all in all, the week was a success. Just about to have some breakfast and get myself ready for an afternoon with a group of friends. Although three of them seldom, or never, drink alcohol, the other four (including me) do, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Although, sadly, the most enthusiastic drinker is no longer with us. I make no comment about whether these two facts are related.

How many units of alcohol will I consume? I will keep a count but, as mentioned above, will not be too stern in keeping to the original 12-unit plan. Given my weekly intake probably averages over 40, any count under 20 has got be be a big gain.

Just returned home after a lovely afternoon with friends. Drank two bottles of beer during the afternoon, with a total unit count of around 4

Alcohol intake: 4 units

Summary of the week

Sun = 0

Mon = 4

Tue = 0

Wed = 4

Thu = 1

Fri = 0

Sat = 4

Total for the week = 13 units

Thanks for reading

I am especially grateful to all those who have expressed their support

Ray