A New Teetotaller

I Am Now Teetotal

I have joined the merry band of Methodists, Muslims, health fanatics and recovering alcoholics who do not drink. Fear was the spur.

When I was told I had Barrett’s Oesophagus, I received a list of ways to reduce the chances of it causing cancer.

I looked up the survival rate of cancer of the oesophagus, and discovered that it is less than 10% after five years. Oh, how very annoying.

Not smoking, eating fruit and veg and so on were no problem. I can afford to shrink by seven or eight inches before I need to lose weight. But I need to drink little or no alcohol.

Drinking is probably at the root of the problem. I was a binge drinker. I used to go all week without a drink, then go mad at weekends. At one stage, I used to drink so much in an evening and early morning that I lost count.

My drinking has been more modest recently, but still too much. I know that if I drink the odd pint, the number of pints will start to creep up.

So the choice I face is live teetotaller or dead drunk.

Mine’s a soda water.