I’ll drink a bit more once in a while when I’m going out out, but otherwise I don’t enjoy feeling ropey on a random Wednesday morning or drinking just for the sake of it. But we’re coming up to the holiday season, a time when many people’s alcohol intake goes up. There’s nothing like a public holiday to embolden heavy drinking in the UK. I love mulled wine but usually during Christmas week I drink little, if at all. I’ve always been that way. I prefer to drink out and about rather than at home. I seem to be in the minority here. Over lockdown, when many friends were drinking at home together, I ended up being sober for those few months. I remember the only time I’ve consumed alcohol alone at home — it was after a bar shift, just before graduating university, after the bar manager gave me a bottle of rose to take home. As the tingling, intoxicated feeling bubbled over me while I lay back on my single bed, I felt like I’d done a taboo thing that was kind of funny. Then I wanted to go out, and my being drunk felt like a waste. Now, in my late 20s, when I am out socialising (as I will be often in the lead-up to the festive period), hitting a level of gentle tipsiness is usually enough and where I like to leave it. I will also go completely without it some weeks, consciously deciding to give myself a short break.
