Goodbye booze, hello boredom!

Ihave tried not to drink since about mid-November, when I learnt more about the horrendous health risks women run when they booze in the quantities almost required of normal life in Britain. Dry January? I’m trying for a Dry Life (exemptions include holidays, and flights where alcohol is offered for free).

I like to think I was ahead of the curve in sensing that it won’t be long till drink gets the same treatment as cigarettes, the cancer and strokecausing potential drilled into us from every packet and poster, prices hiked beyond what most can afford.

The tide is thickening with studies saying that no amount of drink is good for us. Prof David Nutt, a former government adviser and now head of Drug Science, a research group, said last week that in every study on the harms of different drugs, alcohol always comes top in the UK, Europe and Australia. This is because drunk youngsters are more likely to die from alcohol poisoning or in accidents.

Prof Nutt suggests we all bring straws to the pub and divide each glass of wine or pint between three, because we shouldn’t be drinking more than a third of each pub measure in a day.

He’s right, of course – but the idea of drinking my favourite craft beer or a syrah through a straw is a desecration. Better, surely, to cut it all out.

Better, but no fun either. Because the fact is, not drinking is boring. I was never one for hangovers, so I can’t say I particularly feel any better. I find myself looking forward a bit less to social occasions, and am more aware of other people’s tiresomeness. And I miss the craft IPAs and good wines.

I’m saying cheers to the long-term benefits of skipping booze, because the short-term ones sure aren’t anything to write home about.