March 17th, 2006
Well done Markham
Today, many of you may be gearing up to indulge in some alcohol-related activity for St. Patrick’s Day. I’d like to take the opportunity to say well done to Markham Nolan, who gave up drinking one year ago today as an experiment. He documented his experience of sobriety with wit, honesty and an always readable charm over at The Big Drought. I really enjoyed his examination of society’s relationship with alcohol, its effect as a social lubricant, its use as a placebo for stress, the debilitating effect of hangovers and numerous other issues. As he closes the book on this chapter of his life, he embarks on a new blog Metropolis Blue which I look forward to reading.
Well done Markham.
Update: Markham has posted an epilogue on his site, describing the moment he put a drink to his lips for the first time in a year.
March 18th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
Ta for the mention, Sinead, and as one of the first bloggers I ever met in real life, thanks for your encouragement and help over the year.
Any further movement on the book group idea??
March 18th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
You’re most welcome. What I want to know is - what did you pick for your first drink and how did feel?
Must gather some momentum on the book group idea…
March 18th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
I wrote an epilogue to the whole thing which describes it. The first drink ended up being a pint of Guinness, downed in one, which didn’t feel all that great, to be honest.
I think you’d approve of the second drink more - a glass of pink champagne (Sue’s influence).
I had two small beers last night in a friend’s house, and none of it is really sitting that well with me, it sort of feels like I’ve introuced a virus to my system. I’m not sure if it’s something I want to get used to again, either, but such is social Dublin that I will probably give in to some small extent.
Myself and the missus have both been saying that we’re not reading enough, so you could probably count us both in if the book idea goes ahead - we could do with some motivation to get reading again.
Ta ta.