Thursday Night Poker....

First off Wednesday - was as planned a dry day - what wasn't planned was an upset stomach that meant I was either in-disposed or sleeping. I wonder whether it was a bug, food poisoning from a dodgy 'on-date' sandwich in Evesham on Tuesday or my body going into auto-detox mode - either way it worked.

Left the house once to get some plain boiled rice from the Chippy - then spent the night not really sleeping - that's what happens when you snooze all day and don't have the Alcohol cosh to get you asleep.

So today - finally - off to Gloucester - with the router. Got that sorted after a lot of dicking about (this is a technical term) - and have almost got the DVD replicator sorted as well - call from support tomorrow should explain why it is printing off center by a country mile.

Now I sit writing this - really really fancying a can of beer and I have 9 mins until the offy closes - and you know what - I'm not gonna buy any - 2 days dry. I could have gone to real life poker but I didn't because I would have had even more compulsion to drink - I'm not saying the guys would have forced it on me - but you know...

So it's nearly 48 hours since the last taste of beer and I'm gonna go for 3 days. Tomorrow is a day in the off licence - so kid in the sweety store syndrome kicks in - on that front I am now banned from buying beer on tick - of my own asking I should add.

*DING DONG* Last orders at the offy have passed - so it's official - 2 dry days

Now Sim-O asked a series of questions in the last post's comments

Could I ask you to get a bit more personal?

In a previous post, you said you left a router at home for a job and so went to the pub. What was you thoughts or reasons for going to the pub?
Or today, you had two beers. Did you want more, how difficult was it (or not) to resist having more?
You say tomorrow will be dry and you're going to try to string your dry days together, but what is making you decide that tomorrow is going to be dry? What sort of things would stop it being dry and make you want drink?

The reasons for going to the pub are two-fold

a) I was pissed off that I had let a good customer down (again)
b) I had money in my pocket - and wanted to chat to some one - the pub I frequent is full of friends - the staff all know me and what I am trying to achieve - and all of them respect it. I suspect that one or many of the regulars could do with trying to do the same thing themselves. I needed to go somewhere that I wouldn't be judged for having a beer.
c) It is a chemical booby pillow - if i had headed straight back home I would have probably thought feck it - I'm gonna buy 4 cans of super strength and finish the day off that way. Those feelings are getting less and less every day. The economics of drinking in the pub come in as well - every pint in there is the monetery equivalent of 2 cans of beer.

Two beers seemed to be the "take the edge off it" dose that day. As to why a dry day yesterday and today - because I need to take the edge off my needing to drink, and not drinking is the best way to do that. Since I started this post - the chance of me breaking today has past - and now I'm not bothered.

To explain - an average day before trying to dry out

Wake up late
Check what I have to do, how much it's gonna cost (travel via public transport) and then divy up the remainder to see how much beer I could drink that night. That voice stays with me all day - should I buy a sandwich - no i've got food in the freezer and it would cost a can of beer.
Should I buy a return - no take a chance that you will get a lift back home - another can of beer saved.
That was my unit of currency - £1.50 would buy me 4.5 units of beer

Today

Wake up late - come on I was poorly yesterday
Leave house with enough money to get to Gloucester plus £3 for some food
Spend money on food
Get to Gloucester and back - have money here to buy beer - but don't.
Not that I wasn't tempted
Sit back and feel good that I've done two dry days and maybe tomorrow will be a third.
A journey of a thousand thirsty days starts with two!

What will be stop me from being dry?
Weakness. Plain and simple.
I don't deny that I'm gonna miss having a beer - but hopefully it will lessen with time.
They say time is a great healer - it's another empirical measure that I can understand.

Thanks for asking Sim-O

Oh as an aside - I missed my doctors appt today - thought it was next week - duh - will ring and rebook tomorow. So no idea on the blood test as of yet - maybe they will tell me over the phone.