Damp February

I’m afraid I didn’t do ‘Dry January’ but albeit a bit late, I’m giving ‘Damp February’ a go. I hadn’t even heard of ‘Damp’ until, of all places, I learned of ‘Damp January’ in my French language class this week. It seems that even the French, lovers of wine and cognac, are testing their customary instincts to reduce consumption. This in the face of strong opposition from the French viniculture industry, keen to keep their countrymen and women on the bottle.  Opinions vary amongst French psychiatrists specialising in alcohol addiction: either Dry January is just the ‘concrete’ discipline one needs to kick start the capacity to say ‘non’ or Damp January gives one the opportunity to ‘catch on’ to a steady method of reducing alcohol consumption. For me, I saw lots of articles in the media in early January recommending great non-alcoholic alternatives to which I paid little attention. Now I’m trying out no-alcohol wine and so far M&S 0.05% Merlot is the best but no, it still does not taste like proper wine, no matter what the journos say – more like a pleasant grape juice. But if it helps me to keep me to those pesky NHS guidelines, I won’t complain.