Sliding Doors
24/04/11 • 12 Comments

I took the booze-free movement literally this week and said hello to Sunday morning. In fact, I got right up in its grill and yelled g’day directly in its face. At 8’o’clock this very Sunday morning (a time hitherto unheard of in my weekend lexicon unless responding to a bladder call) I met a friend for an hour-long walk around Hagley Park in central Christchurch. It was a gorgeous morning –  sunshine, autumn leaves, a pumping heart, and no hangover. It marked one week into a 12-week journey around a Kiwi drinker. I’m sure the real challenges haven’t yet begun but I’m also certain that if I hadn’t made the commitment last Sunday, I wouldn’t have been admiring the autumnal changes in Hagley Park this Sunday. My alternate universe would have looked like this: Without HSM: I would have gone to bed last Sunday night without the belly knots caused [...]

Did you have me at Hello?
18/04/11 • 5 Comments

I’d like to say you had me at Hello. But you didn’t. It’s taken three months of consideration but I’ve done it. I’ve finally signed up to Hello Sunday Morning. Fittingly, I made the commitment on a Sunday. Not in the morning though, I had to wait for my head to clear after a Saturday night media party in Christchurch. The small talk, of course, revolved around the earthquake but at any other time the hot topics in Christchurch are boy racers and binge drinkers. I’m not a boy racer but when it comes to binge drinking I’m a round peg in a round hole. Booze and I just fit nicely together. Or so I think. Before Saturday night’s party, a colleague and I went halves in a bottle of whisky – just enough to get nice and drunk. But can there be a nice and sober? A few years [...]