Wet December

I've never really understood the concept of Dry January. If you believe alcohol has a deleterious effect on your health then just go dry! It was started in 2013 by Alcohol Concern and ChatGPT says "Since then it’s spread well beyond Britain and become a fixture of post-Christmas virtue signalling". So no punches pulled there - who says AI doesn't have opinions?

"Dry" is my default drinking option anyway; pop in any day of the year and you'll see a stock of zero alcohol beers. Mostly the excellent St Peter's Without but with sprinklings of Proper Job Zero and - my current favourite - Guinness Zero. But now it's December and the lead up to Christmas. I feel I should get into the spirit and prepare my body for the onslaught of merry drinking by starting early. So now there's red wine - more than a sprinkling - and a bottle of Jack Daniels which has now been joined by a bottle of Advocaat I bought at Tesco this morning.

I haven't drunk advocaat for years so I can't remember whether I like it.

Wait...I'll just have a taster (it's past noon so that's OK)...

Oo, I do remember...nice. Just a little mo....no, I'll leave it for tonight's match - Arsenal (top of the table) at home to bottom of the table Wolves, who are yet to record a win this season after 15 games. It'll go well with the after dinner coffee and Ferrero Rocher, helping me celebrate the inevitable win or, heaven forbid, drown my sorrows in defeat.

I've been busy helping my kind Christmas hosts in Charlton and Bexleyheath by sending some alcohol of various kinds, to save me having to carry stuff on the train. I just hope they haven't drunk it already.

On Thursday I plan to help my good friend Tony celebrate the season of goodwill by taking a taxi to his house with a bottle of something (his preferred tipple is whisky, so that's probable) and getting a taxi home. Maybe I should take something to eat to soak it up. More on that in due course.

And in January, well I won't be virtue signalling like the rest of you; I'll just be reverting to the norm. For 11 months until...