Over two thirds of the way into Lent, Meghann Thorp describes her latest struggles trying to keep off the booze.
Week four
Day 22 – Early morning struggle
An 8.45am alarm was extremely difficult to wake up to after a late night at stealth. My head wasn’t experiencing a pounding hangover so I didn’t really understand the issue here. No wonder the lecture hall was pretty sparsely populated. If I had trouble waking up for early morning starts, then imagine how hard it must be for everyone else after a drunken night in Nottingham.
Day 23- Chameleon Café
I followed up an email sent to my University email account about reviewing a night called Colour of Sound at the Chameleon Café. To my surprise, after Gayle (the organiser) said to come and check it out, I discovered I’d be reviewing three heavy metal bands. Not exactly my sort of scene, but she could be a good contact in the future right? Alice, a friend also studying journalism, luckily said she would come along and save me from the embarrassment of running out after 5 minutes.
To say the night was surreal was an understatement. It was definitely an experience both of us would never forget. An intimate setting was laden with pretty fairy lights where no more than 20 guests gathered to watch the bands Double Handsome Dragons, Khuda and 8mm Orchestra. To be fair 8mm Orchestra weren’t that bad at all, although they seemed to ruin every song with slight repetitiveness and excessive drumming.
“Do you want to go?” I said to Alice after an hour. The next act was about to scream their way onto stage.
“We can just write about the first band.”
Without any hesitation we scuttled out of Chameleon café laughing about the rustic feel of the place. The funny thing was the night would have been tolerable with a bottle of wine between us. But Alice was driving and I couldn’t break my lent now over half way there. What a shame.
Friday – Workaholic
After what was a very nice lie in, I decided to try and get my assessment for next week out of the way. There was so much to do. Write a court story, council meeting, personal column and a review. How boring. Well the personal column wasn’t a problem I could describe my struggle of giving up alcohol. Everything else wasn’t quite as easy. Do you know what I needed after so much hard work? Well anything alcoholic would be nice. That wasn’t going to happen unfortunately. A trek to the shops to buy the drink was too much effort in itself. Wow that sounds lazy.
Saturday – Alice in Wonderland
I think by now you have probably grasped the best way to handle such a long time without alcohol is to avoid going to clubs as much as possible. It’s a Saturday night so instead of venturing to Stealth I thought a trip to the cinema would be just as enjoyable. The film Alice in Wonderland certainly did live up to expectations. Tweedledum and Tweedledee were hysterical in every scene. Perhaps the cinema should be a regular Saturday night activity during the rest of Lent. You’ll be glad to know I didn’t buy a pick and mix this time!
Sunday – Film evening
With another deadline for university on the horizon it was time to start watching the films that would be assessed in the form of an essay in a week’s time. A friend Debs (who also hadn’t watched any) was prepared to be host for the night. With a pack of skittles on the go we were ready to analyse the political and media issues of the film Frost v Nixon. Let’s just say it’s a good job we were taking notes together on this. I’m not the brightest star in the sky when it comes to interpreting films – unfortunately. On a brighter note there’s only 14 days of lent left. So close yet so far.
Monday – Ladies of leisure
Another prompt 9.30am start in the newsroom wasn’t bad considering it was all over after a couple of hours! Debra, Alice and Becky (all course mates) decided to take advantage of a 2-4-1 student voucher I had for Bella Italia. It was a lovely treat to be able to have a Monday afternoon off – and to be enjoying it in a restaurant. What a shame the service wasn’t up to scratch. They could have at least offered us a free dessert or a glass of wine each. It was reassuring nobody ordered a bottle.
“Have you seen the prices, nearly £5 for a small glass,” Debs said whilst looking at the overpriced drinks menu.
“Maybe we should just get tap water,” I suggested. We are students after all.
Tuesday – Night out at Market Bar
This was a bad idea. Venturing to Market Bar on ‘Fishbowl Tuesday’ was not going to be easy. It seemed like I was the only person in the entire club who hadn’t taken advantage of the special offer. In less than two weeks those huge jugs of sensational cocktails would be mine. For now at the end of another tedious week of lent, a glass of diet coke will suffice.
Meghann Thorp
