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Day 12 – anyone for a snowball?

Winter has truly arrived here in Avren with a good covering of snow. I must admit that as I trudged back from the village shop earlier today it entered my mind just how comforting a glass of brandy would be. Thankfully, there is a big difference between thinking and doing, and my abstinence remains intact. Similarly, my answer to the title of this post is a resounding “No”. However, I thought the cold weather and my idle thoughts would provide a good starting point for this post.

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Day 9 – from distillation to titillation

I can report that all is well. No alcohol has passed my lips during this first part of Dry January. Today I want to follow on from a couple of themes touched on in previous posts. Yesterday we looked at the process of fermentation and noted that the strength of alcohol that can be produced is limited to around 15% to 17% because beyond this the yeast is not able to survive. So let us welcome our first guest of the evening – the process of distillation.

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Day 8 – from fermentation to illumination

I am happy to report that all is going well so far. I seem to have overcome the desire for a drink as early evening approaches. The association between alcohol and 5pm seems to be weakening. Also, my sleep continues to improve – I have not woken in the early hours over the past couple of nights, which is unusual for me.

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Day 7 – a jaunty professional hat

A week of abstinence already under my belt. Writing this blog has been a bonus for me – at a behavioural level it has given me an activity as an alternative to drinking in the early evenings and at a cognitive level it has led me to explore different aspects of alcohol and drinking. Through these mechanisms it has also led me to examine more closely my relationship with alcohol. When February comes, I will use some of the material to write more formally about alcohol under the C2H6O heading on this website. That will be with my professional hat on, worn at a suitably jaunty angle, drawing on my 25 plus years of working in addictions.

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