IT'S TIME

A month without drinking

“Do you have any dietary preferences?” Daphne asked me, the too nice PR woman from Coty who is organizing a lovely beauty trip where I get to join. “I know about your wine allergy.” “Yes, and also note my champagne intolerance,” I added.

Wine is nice. At least for me. Because wine means something like the little cigarette from the past. We celebrate the moment. You do it together, you grab a nice glass, you have a moment of peace. For me, a glass of La Miranda means that my workday is over, when the kids have been taken away from the funnel of bath-time tooth brushing and Floddertje reading. Just a glass, my love (if he is home at least, I have quite a hard-working specimen you should know) and a little browsing through the newspaper.

Of course, I feed myself with all kinds of ‘wine do's’. That it's good for your skin (read here but, I am grateful to Jetske Ultee for that every day), for your heart and that wine drinkers are happier. But one glass quickly becomes two and because we feel we have so much to celebrate and I think you should drink a glass of champagne especially when everything is going terribly wrong, my alcohol-free days are quite in the minority.

Then Jet came up with the brilliant idea to do a dry January together. In other words, no drop in the month of January. Although we immediately started a hard negotiation about the start date. I can't handle it if I can't drink the weekend after New Year's. Then I find it such a depressing affair. And Jet is moving in together on January 7, so she also wants to inaugurate her new home with a glass of champ (and probably sex in every room, but we haven't talked about that further).

But suddenly the aforementioned beauty trip came to mind. To South Africa.

“You can say what you want, Jettie, with your dry January. On January 29 (when we fly) this woman will be on an infusion of South African chardonnay.”

Now we have decided that I will start on Monday, January 4, and Jet after her housewarming bacchanal. If you join in too...