I used to work with a lovely man called Wen-Chin, who would often ask me questions relating to the peculiar nuances of the English language. He would ask about certain popular sayings, and why we say them, and more often than not, I wouldn’t have a clue! Yet, I, and many other people still use them in everyday life, because it is the norm. If on a rare occasion I did know the answer, Wen would delightedly say “every day is a school day” and nod his head in appreciation.
Since knowing Wen, I have started to question things a bit more, which is part of the reason I decided to take on my wine free year. Why is alcohol such a massive part of our culture? Why do social occasions centre around drinking? Why has ‘a bottle of wine’ become such a normal way to end the day? I don’t know the answer tothese questions; I doubt there is one definitive answer to be honest, but I can say that so far, all the social occasions I have attended sans booze have been just as good (if not better, as I am not stressing about getting home etc) than before.
I have learned a few things this weekend though:
1. The power of the crowd is overwhelming, and stopped me from stalling this weekend.
2. Nosecco (alcohol free prosecco) is actually OK, and goes well with cheese. Talking of which…
3. Cheese and biscuits is not really dinner…
4. A tantruming toddler is far easy to deal with at the soft play (and the soft play itself tbh) without a fuzzy head, and
5. Someone, somewhere, makes cuddly toys of sealions.
Oh, and a bonus one,
6. Someone on my train this morning has *the* smelliest trumps.
Have a good week everyone.
One year: No booze, no takeaways 