‘I’M NOT ASHAMED OF WANTING A DRINK AT THE END OF THE DAY’

Martha Alexander, 35, is a writer. She lives with husband Mikey, 40, and daughter Robin, three, in Buckingham. The idea of alcohol being off the menu during lockdown is not something

I could contemplate, much less welcome. Working as a freelance writer, sharing childcare with my husband who is also working full time, plus cleaning, doing laundry and preparing healthy meals every day is a nightmare. Achieving any of that makes me feel I deserve a drink each evening.

Since lockdown began, I’ve been drinking every night. While that might not look great written down, and it is more frequent than my PRE-COVID habit, given that I no longer go to parties or the pub I’m actually drinking fewer units per week.

While drinking alcohol every day is not a particularly healthy habit to get into, and I know from experience what the benefits of not drinking feel like (more energy and glowing skin), an icy glass of pinot or a cheeky margarita are little vessels of joy, which, let’s face it, is in rather short supply these days.

I appreciate that some people have a complex relationship with drinking and they are especially vulnerable right now. But the vast majority of adults are capable of enjoying a couple of drinks without getting completely sozzled and compromising their health or potentially putting further strain on the NHS.

Adding ‘curing hangover’ to my daily to-do list is undesirable for obvious reasons, so we’re talking glasses not bottles, but I’m not ashamed of wanting to drink at the end of extremely fraught, uncertain and stressful days.

‘JOY IS IN SHORT SUPPLY’