LOOKING back, we really should have nominated for Dry July this year.
It's a worthy cause is Dry July.
For those unaware, and according to the publicity blurb, the Dry July Foundation is 'a not-for-profit organisation that runs the annual Dry July campaign that challenges people to abstain from drinking alcohol for the month of July to support people affected by cancer.'
While actively supporting Dry Julyers in the past by way of sponsorship, this correspondent has never entertained the thought of joining their admirable group. There has always been a sound reason for this.
July, according to the desk calendar that we took with us when we left the former Times office last month, has 31 days. Under normal circumstances that's a long time for any reasonable person to stay dry, unless, of course, they're talking about not having a shower.
As a younger man, 200 or 300 years ago, this correspondent was lucky to last 31 hours without drinking, let alone 31 days. However, advancing years have seen us take on a more sober persona, as has been noted many times.
Yet fate can be a funny thing. We're writing this dribble at 1.45pm on Tuesday, July 5, 2022. And as yet we haven't had a drink of anything harder the ginger beer this month.
What's more, we're have no desire to imbibe.
So, we hear you scream, what's caused this sudden outbreak of sobriety? New fitness regime? Lent? A protest at the sale of the Manning Hotel? Decent into madness? Well, no, no, no and not yet.
The answer is...COVID.
Like millions of others on the planet, we caught the dreaded bug. We guess it was always going to happen and to be totally honest we were feeling a bit left out when in conversations with others who had survived the plague. Now we can join right in, with gusto.
But COVID didn't hit us that hard. We'd heard a few horror stories and expected the worse when we tested positive.
At the risk of upsetting those crazed anti-vaxers, the fact that we were fully vaxed may have helped here. Other than a few sniffles and a bit of a cough, we made it through okay.
What's more, because of COVID the Struggle Street larder hasn't been as well stocked since the last time we were married.
This is due to the food parcels dropped around by family members and close acquaintances - all observing strict COVID protocols, of course.
We're free to go to the hostelry again. But we're in no great hurry. There's only (at the time of writing) 26 more days to go before we reach August.
Indeed, had we signed-on for Dry July, we would have no trouble reaching the mark, of this we're certain. But we haven't. Maybe next year.
Maybe.
Any potential sponsors out there?
