Sometimes I don’t think I’m a very good friend. I sometimes don’t make the effort to go on evenings out, preferring rather to stay at home and catch my breath.
To be fair to myself, it’s my job that makes me a bit anti-social. At the moment, there are many friends I haven’t seen this year asking me for dates as soon as I’m back.
All I can think of is that as soon as I’m home I want to hibernate for quite a few days because before I know I will be back on the road.
But in my defence, I’ve been resolving this dilemma very successfully while I’ve been touring.
I’ve caught up with more friends over the past few weeks than I have in a very long time.
This week I saw Debbie, one of my uni mates whose daughter was thrilled to come to watch a show with her.
And then in Dublin I had a very long lunch with my dear friend Louis Walsh.
I haven’t seen him since before lockdown and oh my goodness isn’t it wonderful when you have close friends who you can just pick up with where you left off?
I haven’t laughed so much in a very long time and realised that you just have to make an effort to see your friends as often as you can.
Louis and I are planning for Gordon and myself to come back to Dublin soon.
Dublin is a great place really. I’ve often visited for work, but I’ve never been in Dublin for a city break or weekend away.
When you are travelling round the UK like we are you get to know which cities you want to come back to and which not so much!
Of course, anywhere is nice if you have friends there. It’s definitely people who make places.
My next stop is Cardiff and I will give you some clues about who I’m meeting up with there.
She lives quite near Cardiff, is Welsh, has a radio show for Radio Wales and appears very often on our TV screens.
She is very good with figures in both senses of the word!
Anyway, that will be gossip for you for next week.
In the meantime, what has been going on in the world since we spoke?
So many people are talking about having done ‘Dry January’ so does that mean you have given up booze for January so you intend to make up for it by downing as much as you can in February or does that mean that you have realised you can do without it or don’t need so much?
I always find people’s views on alcohol so interesting.
In the business I’m in, it’s often a very all or nothing kind of scenario.
I’ve always been lucky that although I like a drink, I can take it or leave it and if I start to feel a bit tipsy, I don’t want to have any more.
But for some people they love that feeling. They can’t just have two drinks, they have to continue until they can’t really remember how the night went.
They go out with the intention of getting ‘wasted’, ‘bladdered’, ’ruined’ or whatever they want to call it.
If you think about those words, it’s never going to end well.
I always go home when people start to get too drunk. When I didn’t drink at all for a couple of years, a few of my heavier drinking friends thought I was boring.
Drinking partners
It was obviously making them feel uncomfortable as people like having a drinking partner. They therefore criticised me for making them feel that way.
The truth of the matter was of course that I could have as much fun as them whether drinking or not and if you have ever spent any time sober with any of your mates who are drunk, you will see that the drunk ones repeating themselves and talking rubbish are the ones who are boring.
I’m glad to see though that there seem to be more and more young people giving up alcohol for ‘zero’ or alcohol-free beers and spirits.
Even here in Dublin we could buy zero Guinness on tap which shows that there is obviously a big demand for it.
I’m not judging anyone for drinking. I’m just saying it’s not the be all and end all.
Enjoy your return to drinking for February if January has been dry for you.
But if you decide not to, I for one, don’t think you are boring!
Have a good week,
Yvie x
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