Forty days and forty nights

I have given up alcohol for Lent. This has nothing to do with faith. I simply wanted to see whether I could manage it – with the gloomy thought that the more difficult I found it, the more necessary it was to persevere. I was also quite taken with the idea of sparing my body all those liquid calories..

I should confess to allowing myself a few exceptions. By prior agreement with my conscience I quaffed some pink champagne at a party last week, strictly as a one-off. And I have decided that Lent doesn’t happen abroad (by which I mean once I’ve got through Security at an airport). I’m currently wondering if the Irish Embassy can count as “abroad”. No, I haven’t started mixing in diplomatic circles, but I have been invited to a friend’s book launch there – and have been much looking forward to a “I’m a Professor of Classics, it’s what I do” kind of evening. (For readers outside the UK baffled by this arcane allusion, it’s all explained in the link.)

Anyway, these occasions apart, I have kept to the resolve – even though the hours between 6.00 and 9.00 pm each day require a considerable exercise of willpower. The disappointment is that I don’t feel any different yet. True, the good news is that I’m obviously not such a drinker that I’ve had withdrawal symptoms. But I’m not feeling noticeably healthier either. All in all my body seems in pretty much the same shape as it was before.

I have, however, learned quite a lot  from my current vantage point about the social ubiquity of alcohol in my world. Being a temporary teetotaller round here can feel a bit like wearing a burka in a bar.

For a start, an awful lot of human interaction, in Cambridge at least, seems to rest not just on drinking, but on reciprocal drinking. Meeting after a day’s work in the pub still seems the obvious thing to do;  but try buying your colleague a pint while you sip at a tomato juice. Or worse, take someone to lunch, and offer them wine, while you stick to the Perrier. Maybe I’d be less clumsy at this if I had more practice. But so far the alcohol/no alcohol disequilibrium has ruined the very sense of sharing and communality that these occasions were meant to foster.

The next thing is that I haven’t found any non-alcoholic cold drink that tastes nice when you’re not actually thirsty. Plain water is boring. Fizzy water or coke is fine for a glass or two, but after that you end up full of fizz. Orange juice likewise is only fit for small doses, before you’re oozing acid. A friend who is also on a Lenten regime suggested Angostura Bitters and Tonic – but I haven’t tried it yet. Any other suggestions, anybody?

There’s also an issue of social visibility. The fizz or acidity problem doesn’t really turn out to bite very often – because when you do go to a party, you hardly ever get refilled if you’re on soft drinks. Hosts come round to top up the wine, red in one hand, white in the other -- but once you’ve chosen a juice, they seem to expect you to make it last all evening. (Must remember this when I’m back on the booze.)

And I’m sure that there’s no need to point out that after a couple of hours the drinkers do seem very silly indeed to anyone who has not joined them. Nor do I need to mention the fact that in your sober state you end up giving them a lift home.

If you look at the time I’m posting this, though, you’ll spot the one real advantage that I have found. Non-drinkers do get more hours in the day. After half a bottle of wine, I’m usually happy to crash out around midnight. After an evening on the camomile tea (yes, that’s been a good discovery), I’m still blogging strong at quarter to two.

Comments

[AAA]

I am also taking a break from the vino. I am taking this "break" along with regulating my sugar intake and eating frequently through the day. Who knew that carrots at 10 am would mean no red wine yearnings at 7:30? All in all I have no alcohol cravings. I breeze by 6 pm and contentedly sip my sparkling water feeling satisfied. I recommend Adele Puhn's 5 day miracle diet - don't get turned off by the cheesy name.

[Carol A]

Yes, "real" ginger beer (as opposed to the tasteless fizzy soft drink) is a good alternative, but may not be available in pubs. I hardly drink at all these days, but living in a wine growing area I do like to taste red wines, but stick to mineral water or tea at parties. I must admit that watching others get drunk drives me to, uhh?... drink!

[felicity]

On stage actors have to let ginger beer suffice for champagne - I don't know what else they sham with - babycham?

[Oliver Nicholson]

I thought the motto of Cambridge was "Hinc Lucem et Pocula Sacra". At least it's honest.

OPN

[Kristan Tetens]

This story is making the rounds of higher ed institutions in the U.S. this morning (via insidehighered.com):

"Excessive drinking and related vomiting have become so bad in some colleges of the University of Cambridge that the British institution is vaccinating cleaning workers against Hepatitis B because of the potential exposure when they are cleaning up vomit, The Cambridge Evening News reported."

[MikeM]

A word of caution for Kanga and others, it can be unwise to Post a missive in the early hours after a good bottle or so of red, instead of "tidying it up in the morning" first. A couple of weeks ago when offering my 'important' opinion on the forthcoming England v.Ireland match at Croke Park, and the apparent "political" issues that seemed to be arising, I ventured to suggest that the sooner the proper stadium was back in action, the better for all.Please imagine my embarrassment to find, the next morning, that I had nominated Murrayfield: I didn't dare check later comments.

[Tim Lacy]

Next year give up ice cream or desserts - it's easier! - TL

[Alex D-F]

Sorry everybody, Max is quite right, I got 'spring water' & 'mineral water' the wrong way round. But about environmental costs, might destroying the planet not actually be a good thing, given the general awfulness of human life?

[Hypatia]

This is tricky. I have searched in vain for a nice non-alcoholic alternative to my glass of red; I reckon there is a fortune waiting to be made, here....
My solutions - Big Tom spicy tomato juice, Fever Tree tonic water, Badoit mineral water (but, of course, the latter have the fizz issues..).
Those grape drinks are horrid oversweet abherrations, I find - YUK. Let me know if you find anything acceptable.
In the meantime, a glass of red is just too irresistable, and I have a perfect atheists excuse to ignore Lent!!

[Brian Taylor]

In the case of social occasions, most people accept "my doctor's instructions" or "I'm on these tablets" as reasons for avoiding alcoholic drinks.

[Max]

By the way, "Alex D-F" is quite wrong on spring water vs mineral water; the standards are higher for the latter. But you shouldn't be drinking either if you can avoid it, because the environmental costs are ridiculous and Brita-filtered tap tastes just fine.

[Mary]

Just to say that I moved on to Ginger Beer last night (following various of your suggestions). Well -- not exactly the equal of a good glass of claret, but certainly a step up from coke. Thanks.

[Max]

I occasionally try to do this for a week and usually fail.

But as for what to drink, try a rock shandy. There are endless versions of this, and the one I recommend is as served at the Eagle pub on Farringdon Road: good amount of squeezed lemon, mix fizzy lemonade/club soda, dash of Angostura bitters. Not probably the most authentic, but the most pleasing.

You could also infuse some smashed lemongrass in hot water, top with cold water and ice, add lime juice, bruised mint leaves, maybe a couple of strips of fresh chilli, a bit of sugar.

[Kanga]

I'm a Methodist, so I don't do Lent. Nonetheless, I drink like a fish, and I can't write without booze - certainly not at 1.52 am. Granted, I might have to tidy up what I've written in the morning, but I wouldn't have got anything written without the aid of a good bottle of red the night before. On the rare occasion when I have an urge for mildly prolonged sobriety, then nothing does better for me than hot water. A few cups straight out of the kettle and I feel cleansed to the innermost. That is for solitary sobriety only, of course; it doesn't work for get togethers. But nor does orange juice, which is the only alternative you're likely to be offered at the average university do. I have a Muslim girlfriend who will puke if anyone ever offers her another OJ. She did her PhD in Cambs and was virtually force fed on it in the name of conviviality.

[Liz]

Good luck - I'm on the same wagon.

My favourite tipple of an evening used to be lemonade and peppermint cordial, although sadly whenever I ask for peppermint cordial these days, I get looked at as if I've just asked the barkeeper to do something oddly intimate with a koala.

[Robert Peake]

Rose's Lime and soda is a nice (albeit fizzy) alternative since it's usually available in pubs (and only there) and as such a bit mroe of a special treat than soft drinks or juice.

Careful though - an inexperienced pourer can leave you with all soda and no lime or, worse - feeling like you've just slurped up alum. Perhaps that little element of danger adds to the experience as well.

[stayathomemotherdom]

I don't know if you want my opinion on this...

hope you give some thought to the fact that you feel that alcohol is important in those social occasions (so did I...I was in business, after all and yet now I can feel comfortable without and don't care if others drink), that you felt the need to give it up for 40 days (to prove that you could do it...[so you must not have any issues]), and that you justified the times having the drink and "they didn't count".

Hmmmmm.....:)

[Candadai Tirumalai]

Cambridge pubs: it was in one such in the early 1950s that James Watson and Francis Crick definitely knew that they had deciphered the two-stranded structure of the DNA (the Double Helix).
You are quite right that one has to be slightly tipsy oneself to enjoy the conversation of someone who is more than that.

[judith@judithweingarten.com]

I think it's easier to give up Lent for Lent (but, then, my name is Wein-garten).

[alex d-f]

Top quality spring water (not 'mineral water', which in UK = recycled tap water) garnished with any fresh herbs, flowers & fruit of your imagining: mint, coriander leaf, lovage, fennel, rose petals, borage flowers, jasmine, elder or a combination of the above to achieve the right mixture of fragrant and zingy. Don't overdo the ingredients, & don't mistake for a hangover cure.
I managed seven weeks in 2006, but they were spread out over the year, 2 two-week stints & 3 single weeks. Didn't feel any better mind: my sister says this only happens after more than a fortnight.
There was a group of poets who used to tank up in Soho every night, & an apprentice poet was slowly being inducted into the group. After a few nights he ventured the opinion that it might not be necessary to get quite so wasted at quite such frequent and regular intervals. I think to Ian Hamilton is attributable the riposte: "You think we do this because we LIKE it?"

[Xjy]

I was once at Aberystwyth for a couple of years. In the "dry" county of Cardiganshire. Had a mate (er... colleague...) who held classes over a guinness or two in the pub (his favourite student was a dab hand at puking without missing a stride). None of yer Oxbridge arty-farty port and sherry there. I'm still amazed it hasn't been officially renamed Cirrhosis-on-Sea (and the Welsh equivalent, of course...).

Still, nothing like the Wild West Wind from the Atlantic to blow you inside out and straighten you up as you stroll along the prom prom prom after a night out - except maybe the piercing chill of a glacial Cambridge mist seeping over you from the Fens...

[Monica]

Apple juice? Then you can *pretend* you're drinking with everyone else!

This place does seem to foster a lot more drinking-at-every-social-occassion than I was used to back home, but that might only say something about me.

[postblogger]

Actually, I got the arcane allusion wrong. There was an ad for Guinness a few years back with the tagline "They wait [for it to settle]. It's what they do." Or at least, I think there was...

Ginger beer and lime (or bitters and tonic) is good because you can pretend it's a Moscow mule (or G&T), if you're scared of admitting you do Lent...

[Jackie]

Well done for trying! It is the 'social' aspect that is the most difficult. I failed miserably last year. My consolation is that you can always find an 'expert' who will contend that a small amount of alcohol (usually red wine) is good for the heart! That's my excuse anyway.

[k]

I think the trick is not to have a drink that reminds you too much of an alcoholic drink you like. Freshly squeezed lime and tonic is good - you might add a little orange juice because the lime gives it a kick. If you like ginger, drinks including ginger are often a good thing. A really good lassi (salt as well as sweet) is great and it's worth collecting recipes and finding which you like - but it's not the sort of drink you can have at parties. Camomile tea is fine but there are better herbal teas. Spearmint is unexpectedly envigorating. You may well have tried and dismissed all these, of course. Good luck!

[Adrian Murdoch]

For some reason ginger beer and lime hits the spot for me.