Thursday 20 November 2014

Being In My Thirties - Drinking On A School Night

I've been lacking in time and inspiration for my blog recently, however slowly but surely the inspiration is coming back. After reading a post about what someone had learnt since being in their twenties I thought I'd write something similar about my thirties.

The first thing we need to talk about is alcohol. More specifically drinking on a school night.
There was a time when I first started work when I was out Thursday, Friday and Saturday night with the odd Sunday thrown in. Friday's at work would pass in a haze of Coke, coffee and Pro-Plus. I'd be full up to my ears in caffeine but I'd be productive. The boss didn't care as long as I got the work done.

Fast forward 15 years or so and drinking on a school night is simply no longer an option. Especially now I get the train to work, I'm pretty sure that trains and hangovers do not mix.  Prior to getting the train to work I was a 20 minute walk away from the office. That doesn't sound so bad does it? Let me tell you about the last time I drank on a school night.....

My best friend was coming round to dinner.

"Do you fancy going out for dinner? I can't be arsed to cook"

And so the scene was set.

It was only Nandos, nothing fancy but we had a bottle of wine with dinner.


With still much gossiping to do we adjourned to a nearby pub where we had another bottle of wine.

There was still talking to be done after that so another bottle of wine was purchased.


And then the pub closed.

"Shall we go home?"

"I don't know, it feels a bit early"

It was midnight. On a Wednesday. We both had work the next day.

So we went a few doors down to another drinking establishment which had the added bonus of a late licence and a dance floor.

Another bottle of wine was purchased and it cost £5. This was not quality wine.


Memories from this point forward are hazy. I remember moving on to vodka, I remember dancing and that's it.

The next thing I hear is the door slam.

My front door. 

It's 8 in the morning and my friend has just left for work. I'm eyes open wide awake. No particularly strong headache, no significant urge to vom, not bad!

On reflection I may have still been a little bit drunk.

I wander round the flat aimlessly for a bit, not really knowing what to do with myself and trying to remember the journey home.

Then I spot a bag. A BP carrier bag. I cling to a very vague memory of being in front of the chocolate display at the local BP garage trying to look sober.
I open the bag and this is what I find:
1 × kingsize Snickers
1 × kingsize Twix
1 × kingsize Mars
2 × Wispa
2 × Walkers ready salted crisps
2 × can of Coke
20 B & H Silver

I burst out laughing (definitely still pissed), that is proper random drunk buying but there was clearly still a part of my head that knew I would need Coke and crisps from breakfast. Oh and some chocolate.

Also in the bag one receipt adding up to nearly £20 time stamped at 2.32am. Well that answers the question of what time did we got home at.

Eventually after a lot of faffing about I finally get into work. And this is where being in my thirties takes its toll.

I might not have much of a headache but I feel like I haven't slept and no amount of caffeine makes any difference. In fact it just makes me feel sick. I'm there in physical form but I've got the mental capacity of a stapler. Productivity is zero.

All I can think is - how did I used to do this on a regular basis?

I practically crawled out of the office at 4pm (Thank god for flexi time) apologising to my boss and promising to work extra hard the next day. I don't mind admitting that I went straight home and straight to bed.

This was a couple of years ago and I haven't done it since. My school night limit is now 3 glasses of wine (not bottles) and that's a rare occasion.

No more getting hammered on a school night. Those days are over.

Unless I've got the next day off......I think that might be a whole other post!

Thanks for reading
Lard
x

1 comment:

  1. Your posts always make me chuckle, Rachel! We've all been guilty of buying our body weight in chocolate and crisps, whilst pissed and waking up with the evidence wrappers!

    Lauren x

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