For over 47 years I have been a regular imbiber of alcoholic
beverages. While at university, Friday night at the pub was normal and there
was usually a ”stir” (1960s term for “party”) on Saturday night. At one of
those stirs I met Gwenyth and we found we had a common interest in wine. Our
interest in the fermented juice of the grape led us to sharing a bottle of wine
over dinner most nights of the week often preceded by a beer or two. This has
been routine for all of our married life (42 years). I have never considered
myself an alcoholic but I have always looked forward to the evening wine with
dinner.
In September last year Gwen and I decided to make our
“bucket lists” (10 each) to be revealed on New Year’s Eve. A number of items
involved travel but I felt there should be a few that were outside my comfort
zone and going alcohol free for a month seemed to be well out my comfort zone.
Finding the appropriate month provided a few problems as I
didn’t want to compromise birthdays, anniversaries or holidays, but I could see
a time frame of 30days (same as April) from Easter Monday to 5th
May. On Easter Sunday we went to an Indian restaurant in Mt Maunganui where I
had 1 beer and 2 glasses of chardonnay. As a result I felt that Monday would be
a good time to start my alcohol-free challenge. Gwen was a little bemused when
I told her just prior to dinner that the time had arrived to “give it a go”.
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| Just water tonight |
So I got through the first 3 days without too much stress,
but Thursday was golf day and after golf one adjourns to the clubhouse to
discuss the events out on the course and anything else that comes up along with
a few beers. In my case I had a 500ml handle of lemon, lime and bitters.
Everyone else was curious as what was going on. Some thought I was unwell,
others were bemused while a few were encouraging. When I told them this was it
for the next 27 days I got some strange looks because I’m sure most believed I
couldn’t do it.
Have I missed it? Well yes and no. Yes, because I see Gwen
having a glass or two of wine in the evening and my friends having beer after
golf. No, because I believed I would feel better, it would be good for my
health and I might lose some weight. I have lost less than 1 Kg.
There have been side effects. I take warfarin to prevent
blood clots and I need regular blood tests to measure the thinness of my blood.
My last two tests have revealed that my blood is not thin enough so I have to
increase my dosage of warfarin. The internet tells me there is no agreement as
to the influence of alcohol on the effects of warfarin. Obviously, in my case,
I need alcohol to reduce the amount of warfarin required to keep my blood thin
enough to prevent clots.
It is now 6th May and not a drop of alcoholic
liquid has passed my lips since 4th April. I have been told there is
alcohol in the bitters of lemon lime and bitters. If there is it is extremely
little and doesn’t count. Anyway I found that drink quite sweet so I changed to
non-alcoholic ginger beer which was also sweet but had a tang to it.
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| That first beer! |
Well that was bucket list number 1. The only problem with it
was that it took 30 days to accomplish and there wasn’t much fun doing it. I
don’t feel I’ve achieved all that much at all – not like travelling to an
exciting destination as an example. All I can say is that I HAVE DONE IT!!!!
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| Mmmmm a salmon steak and a Quartz Reef Sparkling Rose. |
