It was a welcome change this morning waking up on New Year’s Day without a hangover. We had rather a sedate end to the year with a quiet family meal. Then we watched the Raymond Briggs documentary and I finished my book. Our plans were possibly dictated by the fact that my husband had to work today, and I am at the Dental Hospital this week for treatment.  However, there is another reason.  As I become older, I find it harder to drink. Hangovers are horrific, even if I have only had a couple of glasses and a pint of Dioralyte. Not only do I experience nausea and exhaustion the next day, but I also feel incredibly down. Because of this, I tend to avoid drink more and more, as I can no longer handle the consequences.

In the past, New Year has always been a monumental celebration. I used to prefer seeing in the New Year to Christmas. I remember when I was in the sixth form, I used to celebrate the New Year with a friend who lived around the corner. Her family used to have an open house policy at Christmas and New Year and I loved going to their home. Her Mum was so welcoming, and she seemed so different to my own mother. She was such a lovely lady.

In the year that brought in the Nineties, I was living abroad. I wanted to make the most of la vie française by spending the New Year in Paris. We stayed in a hotel near to Montmartre. People were out on the streets singing and embracing each other. It was an incredible celebration. The weather was incredibly cold and foggy which only seemed to add to the magic in the atmosphere.

For many years my friend Derek used to come down for New Year. One of the first years he did, my boyfriend at the time was a Special Constable and he had decided to do a shift for the New Year. Derek had discovered a drink called ‘Long Vodkas’. They were incredibly potent. Whilst my partner was out walking the streets, we were drinking long vodkas until we were hideously drunk. I can remember being so drunk that we had to go for a walk around the block to try and sober up. It didn’t help much. When my partner came back in, he just wanted to go to bed. Derek went upstairs and pretended to be me. As my partner got into bed exhausted, Derek sat up with the special constable hat and truncheon and said in his very strong Glaswegian, ’’I’m ready for you now big boy!” It was hilarious. Well, if only for the two of us!

For several years we would meet up with friends for the New Year and on a couple of occasions I hosted a Murder Mystery Evening. I used to love doing these. It would always start off well, but the more people drank then the more they would go ‘off-script’,  until you ended up not having any idea who was the Murderer.

Since having children, I have started to celebrate less and less. This year becoming possibly my most sober for decades. Perhaps this is a sign of becoming older? Or perhaps a sign of wising up to the downside of alcohol?

I have some great plans for 2019 and I will share these with you on a later post. I hope you had a great New Year’s Eve, however you celebrated, and I wish you lots of luck and happiness for the coming year.