Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

The uncomfortable truth about boozing

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issue 23 November 2024

‘Good for you. Amazing. I should do the same.’ ‘You must feel great. Lucky you.’ This is what I hear when I tell people I haven’t touched alcohol for a year or more. Behind their bland words, I detect an air of pity and bafflement, even a hint of contempt. I know what they’re thinking because I used to feel the same way. The teetotaller hasn’t escaped a disease, but contracted one. Perhaps they’re right and the ill-effects of alcohol are wildly exaggerated. Plenty of all-day boozers lived to a ripe old age. Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Mitchum, Joan Crawford. Then there are the rock stars in their eighties who drink Jack Daniel’s for breakfast with no problems.

I was sorely tempted to join AA because the second ‘A’ sounds so exciting

Sobriety remains stubbornly unpopular despite all the advantages cited in its favour. Within a mile of my house there are two temperance societies that are open for just an hour a week.

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