An alcohol-free Saturday night!

Yippee!

I did it! I had a completely alcohol-free Saturday night - much to the consternation of the friends I was with. They said it was freaky and disconcerting to sit and watch me drink diet coke all evening. The problem with that was with all the caffeine in the diet coke (I have caffeine-free at home, and always drink decaff coffee, so I'm really not used to it) I didn't get to sleep until 4.30 in the morning, so I woke up feeling tired and with a headache anyway!

There were 4 of us on Saturday night. We didn't go out for a meal after all, we had a picnic in their room and kept going downstairs for bottles of wine (and more diet coke!) Between the 3 of them, they had 2 bottles of white wine and 3 bottles of red. I knew I'd get irritated with one of them in particular if I wasn't slightly 'mellow' and I did. Even when she's sober she is one of those people who never listens, who makes snap judgements and is convinced she knows best at all times. Her idea of sympathy is, 'For God's sake, pull yourself together!' which she said to one of the others who ended up in tears about her boyfriend on one of the trips back down to the bar for more wine. Had I been drinking, I might have got into an argument about it but as it was, I just said, 'That is not helpful.' She said, 'Yes it is!' and I gave her such a withering look that she did shut up after that. When someone is crying and needs some support, saying, 'For God's sake, pull yourself together!' is only going to make the other person feel sadder and more alone than ever.

On Sunday I had a glass of wine, which I really didn't enjoy, and it didn't make me want to open another bottle of wine, so I feel quite pleased with myself. I don't think I'd even have had that if the bottle hadn't needed to be finished up. There are two more bottles in the fridge (I thought that if my friend stayed for lunch we'd probably have both of them) but I'll take them out and put them in the garage, a bit further out of temptation's way.

Whether I have a drink tonight or not depends on my day at work. I hate working here and I'm trying so hard to find another job, but nothing suitable has turned up yet. If I have a reasonable day and don't have a drink tonight, it will be easier not to have one tomorrow ...