A beer festival ticked off the list

After my jaunt out two or three Sunday afternoons ago, I found that having something different to do at the weekend was a very useful way to me of staving off the midweek boredom pangs that frequently led to me accepting any invite out (it was often because I feared that the weekend would be void of anything fun to do, so I had no reason to say no that night).

Yesterday I went to a very very massive beer festival with a couple of mates. The instant thought is that I must either be masochistic or possibly suicidal, a man with a drink problem going to a beer festival. However, I've emerged from the day out feeling very positive for having managed to stay in control again and just have a good trip out. You see, real ale is where I'm trying to get to. It agrees with me and I find it much easier to measure and predict than other drinks, and I also happen to think it tastes great (well, unless you get a bad 'un...). The whole scene around it sums up what I like about drinking - the social side of things, no aggression, drinking something that actually has character and real taste, leaves you with no nitrogen-head after... I could go on.

I didn't drink much at all throughout the day; we ticked off 23 halves between the three of us so that's about four pints each over the course of four hours. (Yes, we were sad enough to tick them off and I'll be writing about the day and the beers elsewhere, but I should note that we weren't being serious about it. Honest.)

The summary of yesterday is that I quite easily managed a day out with two mates who aren't entirely unfamiliar with getting wazzocked, spent four hours at a massive beer festival without getting hammered, went and had something to eat on the way back and got home in time for a couple of brews and the football highlights. I was up by 9 this morning and feel fine (but am conscious it's still in my system and my body lies to me so there'll be no drinking today). Having something like this to look forward to is helping me stave off the silly drinking for the sake of something to do during the rest of the week, and even on the day I didn't feel any of the pangs to go crazy. I went to an 18th the night before but only had a few pints because I didn't want to spoil yesterday, something I wouldn't have done in the past; I'd have gone to the beer fest "topping up" and not eating properly. Today I'm spending with family and then back here to write about the beer festival. I feel positive about doing things like this.