My Goals

As a comment to my previous post I pointed out the areas that made me think about doing this.  Broadly speaking they fall into 3 main categories:

1) Socialising

2) Economy

3) Well-being
Let's go through them in turn shall we?

Socialising

This is probably my main motivation for giving this a try.  I know a number of full-time teetotal people, all of them that I recall are practitioners of the Straight Edge way of life.  Whilst this isn't a bad thing it means they have a ready made sub-culture and social events attached to it, usually gigging in the case of the folk I know.

So clearly it is possible to go and listen to music/see a band and not drink.  Not unexpected, the music is the star attraction and really you're only going to enjoy it less if you're pissed.  For me though my gigging days are behind me, I don't much enjoy the loudness of the event.  Frankly I just like to sit and have a chat.

The same "have a chat" mentality rules out going to the cinema.  Not that I don't go to the cinema, just it isn't really the backbone of my social life and probably never will be.  2 1/2 hours in a dark room where you really shouldn't talk?  Once in a while sounds good, but not a few times a week.

I already have friends I want to meet so I don't feel the need to join a group or society beyond those I already have, just a place to see them.

Going to someone's flat/house is also good, but again more often than not people like going to the pub to get out the house in the first place.  Also it gets rude if every night I fancy a chat with someone I bring them to my flat and either have to include my flatmate - which rules out a private chat if they don't know my guest as well as I do - or I exclude my flatmate - frankly rude.

So coffee houses or bars it is.

Can I replace bars?  Unlikely as all my friends still like a drink.  Also unlikely as coffee shops open until 11 or midnight - "Not round 'ere mate".  The question has become going to bars without drinking.

Economy

This one is simple:  Beer is £3-4 a pint an lasts 30-45 minutes.  The question is, does a pint of cola, orange juice with soda or such represent a better value for my £ than beer?  If it comes down to it I'll be calculating price per minute here :-P!

I'm really not sure how this one will go, my gut says beer is better value as it takes me longer to sit and enjoy, whereas cola I sip constantly and finished quickly.  We'll see on this one

Well-being

Alcohol is bad for you.  Therefore not having alcohol must be good for you?

We've all heard about binge drinking, units per week and all the problems alcohol causes so lets see if ditching it makes me feel any better.

There's no real way to measure this, I'll either feel better or not and I'll have to judge if that is because of the booze or the many other factors.  Also replacing alcohol with high sugar drinks is probably not likely to be a good idea for health.

Well that's my goals and why's.  No grand idea other than "What's going to happen?"