Years ago, I vowed to give up smoking (again), on the fateful night.
On the bell, I stubbed out a final Gold Leaf, (actually I accidently dropped it in 'The Wellington', Battle, Sussex, so I trod on it and that was that)! The resolution lasted for nearly seven hours, when a nourishing pint of beer at my elbow, in my old local, on New Year's Day needed a mate!
I once worked with an old boy who admitted to smoking two ounces of Gold Block, and forty fags in a single day, every day, before his doctor mentioned that he had not long left, so he'd better give it up! And he did, but he was still a cantankerous old bugger; 'vitriolic' was another description...
Mrs O'Blene and I actually gave up for good in March 1986, after monstrous hangovers. It wasn't easy to start with, but we eventually helped each other, and saved a load of dosh in the process!
Tonight, just after midnight, I'll start my forty-eight hour non-alcoholic break again, and seeing a good chum in Waitrose this morning, we agreed that this was a good idea for us three-score-years-and-tens...
Sod that though, going for a whole bloody January, off the sauce!
Why not say you will have a non-alcoholic break until next year. There is just time.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year
Good luck with that.
ReplyDeleteI like my beer too much.
Happy New Year and a belated Happy Christmas.
I gave up when Benson and Hedges cost 90p for 20: I incinerated two of those each day. Now something similar costs - the last time I asked - more than £12 I must really have coined it in over the years. I wonder where I've put it all?
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, all, for a long, healthy and peaceful future.
Mr O'Blene, you have more sauce in you that even shaking a stick at it would be like platting fog. I roll my own cigs using Amber Leaf baccy with a delicately- inserted filter and OH bought me a packet of Hamlet cigars for Xmas. Yesterday I started on the bottle of the specially-blended Hebridean whisky which we got on our cruise (i.e. you die, go to heaven then come back and drool whilst pouring the next glass) and now I'm partaking of any alcoholic beverages that are still available that need to be consumed before I see my GP on Monday. GG's going to get a right bollocking and the balls will be in my court for sure. Tell you what, when I've been on the beverages I've written some poetry that I don't think I could have done without it.
ReplyDeleteHey-ho, there we go.
Be it sun or be it snow.
Life goes on and don't you know
I can't live without it.
Up early for another test this morning (just a regular check-up, nothing on the cards), so a refreshing Yorkshire Gold is the key to a good start to the day...
ReplyDeleteMr H, I wish I'd thought of that! The funny thing is that I never thought I'd have the discipline for a 48 hour break each week, but being some sort of closet masochist, I quite 'enjoy' the sensation!
Elecs, real beer is even better for you these days, especially as you're also getting all the cereals, trace elements, proteins, stimulants (in appreciative quantities), and a welcome through-put on a regular stomach!
ReplyDeleteWell, that's what I learned from Jonathan Neame, when we went on a tour of the Faversham Brewery! They've got kit there which is a century old, and a damned sight cheaper than Harveys now, who seem to be pricing themselves out of the market! Mrs O'Blene bought me some of their 'Christmas Ale', and it is just fantastic!
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ReplyDeleteThe J, B&H were always the fag of sophistication in our eyes! I'm trying to work out when they cost that much (little), but am struggling...
ReplyDeleteGold Leaf used to be 4/7d for twenty in 1965! (That's 22p to all you young dudes and babes out there)! So they've gone up roughly 500%!
(cocked up last post hence the dustbin logo)...
Goosey, that description of a life being enjoyed, is a fine way to start the day - thank you!
ReplyDeleteI used to try 'Sun Valley' in my 'makings' days, with Greens and no tips. All my chums were on 'Golden Virginia', and had the tins to prove it!
One pal had some family relations living in Bristol. When the WD&HO Wills factory went up in smoke in the sixties, (literally), the place was looted unmercifully, and tons and tons of fags and tobacco were released from captivity!
He claimed that his uncle had a whole bedroom stacked to the ceiling, and came home to see us with two 2oz tins of GV to prove it!
Hamlet were only for me when I left my Falcon at home by mistake, but they still seem to be the small cigar of choice, so well done Squire Goose!
Just plead ignorance on Monday, flutter your eyelids, and promise to come back to him next year! I'll have a word with him, as I'd like to see a DVD of that particular discussion..;0)
My GP is a she and one of the best ones you could wish for. If you want a DVD of Goosey in action, there is a video tape of me doing an army assault course at the Lancaster barracks for charity many years ago but unfortunately it has got lost in the mists of time. What a bummer! I just went over that upright cargo net jobbie like a soaring skylark and all went well until I had to grab a rope and swing over a pit. Eventually I did it but fell into the body of soldiers at the other end. If it hadn't been for charity I might just have asked them to take me back to their barracks and give me a hot bath!
ReplyDeleteMy new GP is just lovely (the one I used to see has just emigrated), and I'm seeing her this Monday...
ReplyDeleteAs for your body and the soldiers, well, in the words of Wink Martindale...
"I was that soldier"...;0)