18 months later, not a lot has changed. Still having around 15-20 pints a week during work hours. More if we leave work early. That's only Monday to Friday. Occasionally I'll go to a friends house after work midweek and continue the drinking. Maybe twice a week on a good week. Add in what I drink every other weekend, that's a lot of drink. When my lad isn't with me, I'd sink about 20 pints over the weekend. 30 pints a week on average can't be good can it?
My cousin is pretty similar. He likes to sink a few pints during his lunch hour too. When he finishes work he goes back for more. He's not a hard person to track down. If he's not at work then he's either in the pub or he's in the offy buying cans. I've tried talking to him a few times about it but he fobs it off. He says he just enjoys the "odd 1 or 2" in the evenings to unwind.
That's the scary thing about denial. You can trick yourself into believing that you're not an alcoholic even though your lifestyle is completely consumed by it. My cousin is the same age as me. He's mid 30's. Has his own alarm business. Has his own gaff. Has a bird on the go. Dresses well on the weekends. On the surface you could say he's got his shit together. He'll tell you as much himself
But when you look at it objectively then you don't need to be Dr. Phil to recognize that in truth, he's actually got a serious problem. As I say, denial can be an absolute motherfucker. It's the denial that will fuck you up in the long run. Let me show you what I mean. (Bear in mind that what I'm about to say here is something I've said to him hundreds of times)
He works 50 hours a week to earn £X number of quid. That's what he has to show for his toil and labour. He then takes £X and spends approximately half of it on alcohol. By the time you add up the lunch time pints, the evening pints, the weekend pints, and the trips to the offy then the pay check is cut in half. The publican and the offy owner get that money, not him. And that's not every now and then. That's every week. So from a financial standpoint alone, the warning signs are already there to see
Now lets look at it from the point of view of time. A 1 hour visit at lunch time and approximately a 4 hour visit in the evening. That's Monday to Thursday. Friday Saturday and Sunday the visiting hours go up to about 8 hours. When you add it all up it works out at approximately 40 hours per week. That's how much of his time he spends pissing away half the money he earns from his 50 hour work week.
He doesn't play football anymore. He had to "retire" from that because he "couldn't find the time" to come training. He doesn't have a gym membership and isn't really much of an outdoors type of person - unless it involves a beer garden and a pint. So when you tot it all up about 90% of his recreational time goes on giving the publican and the offy owner half of his pay check. That where his time goes
I've invited him to New York a few times. Also asked him to come to Anfield with me on my last trip. Said he couldn't come because he couldn't afford it. He can afford to give the publican TENS OF THOUSANDS per year but a few hundred quid to go abroad for a few days is a no no. I'd bet my bottom dollar that he's in his local right at this minute having "1 or 2" to watch the Leinster final. As I say, on the surface there's nothing to bat an eyelid at, but when you cut the shit and look at it objectively then it's pretty evident that it's a lot more serious than he's willing to admit
As I say, denial is an absolute motherfucker. I'm not suggesting you're anything like my cousin by the way. I'm simply using him as an example to highlight how cunning denial can be. But out of curiosity, would I be correct in saying that if you quit drinking for 6 months then you could easily afford to take your kids anywhere in the world they wanted to go and stay for a week? If you did it for 12 months would I be correct in saying there'd be an extra few grand in your account?
Or how about this: lets say I slapped 8 grand down in front of you in a big fuck-off stack of £50 notes and said "this is all yours if you promise to quit drinking for 365 days", would you make the deal? Would you take the money or would you tell me to go fuck myself? Be honest now. Lets say I picked the stack up and spread it all over the table. 160 crispy £50 notes with her majesties face on them. All of them yours to keep if you just promise to fuck the drink off for 12 months. Imagine your kid saying "holy fucking shit dad, we could fuck off to Disney land Florida for a month with that".
Would you deal?
