Me, Myself and Alcohol

I was thirteen years old. Two and a half years before, my family had moved from Pretoria to a small town called Bredasdorp, and I was heart-broken, because I had had to leave my best friend, Abigail, behind. We spent every free moment we had together, though we never officially called it "dating".

On the day I left, we hugged for the first time... It was wonderful, and so very sad too. I spent the whole journey (more than a day's car ride) thinking about her and the unfairness of life.

Fast forward two years, you can imagine my excitement, having saved up for a bus ticket and spending money in order to go visit her during the December holidays.

She was much changed. A city girl, just beginning her teenage journey, while I had spent the interveneing years in Bredasdorp, a small town of 50 000 people. I frustrated her, I remember, with my shyness and reserved nature. At one point, I overheard her tell her mother that I was ruining her holidays...

This devastated me which might be why what happened, happened...

We were out, staying in a house of a friend of her older brother's, who was away for the holidays. Her brother had gone out dancing, so it was only she and I and a friend of hers in the house. All I remember is that we were having a lot of fun playing the classic PC game "Big Red Racing" when she found a bottle of her brother's brandy.

Next thing I knew, she'd convinced me to try a shot (remember, I had never drunk before).

I remember her pouring the shots by the kitchen sink. And the burning as it went down my throat. I spluttered and gagged and had to rinse my mouth with water as she laughed her head off. Then we had another.

I have very few memories from that night.

Me holding the shot glass with both hands while she tried to pour more brandy in it (and getting most of it on the keyboard).

Both of us crawling down the passage floor, trying to reach her friend, who was sleeping in some distant, distant room in the house...

Her brother, demonically angry, picking me up and tossing me into a bed.


Of course, the worst part was having to wake up the next morning. Apparently, we had finished the bottle of brandy between us, minus the amount we spilt, which was probably substantial, because how else did I escape alcohol poisoning?

I spent an hour in the shower, every conscious moment an agony, and the rest of the morning lying on a board in the swimming pool. My back got pretty badly sunburnt.

SO... How was this terrible event a good thing? My brain cells were saved by my being alcohol-free for my entire adolescence. I couldn't even stomach the smell.

Not until I was 20 years old, that is. The next story is shorter, about how I ended up trying alcohol again and enjoying it.

It was Valentine's night, 2005, and I had still never been in a relationship yet. I was working in a restaurant in Cape Town, and it was almost 1am. My last table was out on a balcony. The (very romantic) couple had finally decided to go home, and when I went to clear the table, I found they'd left two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc, untouched.


I'm not sure what came over me, but I looked around for my manager, and then quickly gulped down the two glasses. My own way of celebrating Valentine's Day, perhaps...!

And damn... What a feeling. I had never cashed up so happily before. I felt like I was actually floating, not walking. I remember thinking to myself how I had been missing out all these years not drinking! It was glorious.

After that, I started drinking wine semi-regularly.


And ever since, I've gone through waves of drinking, where sometimes I don't drink for months, and other times, I have a drink a day, or more. The rarer times saw me even drinking a glass of dry red in the morning!

Right now, I am in a not-drinking-much phase. A beer is great, sometimes. I don't think I'll ever stop drinking altogether... I love the taste of a good dry red wine too much for that... But I'm happy to say that, as I'm getting older, I'm enjoying the affects of alcohol less and less and appreciating having a clear mind more and more.

Thank you Lily (@lilyraabe) for giving me the idea for writing this through your own post about alcohol. What I'm curious about now is, whether you've tried any other mind-altering substances? ;P ...

I also hope that whoever's reading this will continue the chain and write about your own experiences with alcohol. Please tag me in the post if you do, I'd enjoy reading about it ^^