So I did it – I stayed sober throughout October. It surprised me that after the first 30 days I hardly missed alcohol at all. Joking aside, there was only one evening where I really (and I mean really) wanted a drink and bizarrely it wasn’t the usual drink I would choose (a glass of wine or fizz). I wanted an after dinner drink (funnily enough after dinner out with our new neighbours Linda & Patrick). I was desperate for a glass of white port, a cherry vodka or a damson gin. I admitted this to Robert who laughed a lot, declared it an excellent idea, headed to the booze cabinet and returned with a large damson gin. I called him a name befitting such unsupportive behaviour, made myself a cup of mint tea and huffed off to bed to read.

Other than that it’s been plain sailing. My aim now is to try and remain alcohol free for 4 days out of 7 each week – let’s see how that goes, though Lockdown 2.0 may test this particular area of resolve.