Dry, Dry Dry Again...

 I've given up drinking again. I said this to a friend and she said "do you say you're giving up every time you don't drink for a few days?" And of course the answer is both yes and no. Oftentimes, there are days, even weeks - alright, days - when I don't have a drink. This is perfectly normal. On these occasions I do not tell people "I'm giving up drink". However, there are periods of time, usually periods of intense stress or more than usual good fortune - mainly the former - where I think: hmm, I'm drinking like a lunatic. I'm not a young man, I'm overweight, and I don't exercise a great deal. If I carry on in this manner, I am going to die. I'm already 15 years older than either Lord Byron or his daughter, Ada Lovelace, ever were. And I'm not one bit as famous as they are, even now. Ada's fame grows year on year, the dead brainy sod. 

The parallels between me and Byron are many: he wasn't tall, he was running to fat, he had a limp, he enjoyed a party, he was irresistible to women - it's all there. But I have yet to awaken one morning and find myself famous, as he, well, famously did.  

I've recently been on holiday. Immediately after that I met with my family to bury my mother's ashes. It was incredibly stressful, for a great many reasons, which I won't go into here. And I sank a lot of booze. A LOT. Even by my standards. So when I came back I decided to stop. And that's what I've done. 

Immediately, I can't sleep. Immediately a tusk-like blemish has pushed itself out of my face. It looks like David Cronenberg's idea of body art. I look and feel terrible, but that's mainly down to the flowering of the carbuncle and grinding insomnia. I'll be fine. I'm drinking a lot of tea and water so there is literally never a time I don't need a piss. I'm getting a lot of reading done, as being awake 24 hours a day gives you a lot of down time. And I do mean down. Among the dead men.  

It's not forever. I'll be drinking again one day. But a few weeks off is a good idea. Some sleep (eventually), some exercise, a few woodland walks, some hard work - or what I call hard work. That's the ticket. That's the ticket.