Session 65 : Drinking Alone
Just me, and the beer

I drink alone a lot.
It's not that I don't have any friends, although you may suspect otherwise, it's just that quite often my drinking doesn't coincide with when others can make it.
If you follow me on Facebook then you may be familiar with my 'Inn-trepid Adventures' series of photographs. These were taken by me on my travels around the country, but most are in our nations capital, and I would estimate that over 85% of them were taken when I was on my own.
The big advantage of this was that I could travel at my own pace, and I could pace myself with my drinking (I have had a drink in all but a handfull).
I mainly drink alone after work however.
This is my time.
My break.
The dividing line between work and home.
It is my oasis of calm, a bubble of beeryness when I can leave behind all that has happened in the office so that it doesn't impact on my home life. It needs to be noted that I do not drive to work, facing a drive home would, I suspect, negate all that I have gained in the pub. I am not a patient driver.
I'm fortunate to have a good pub, with a good changing selection of beer just up from where I currently work, and whilst my stops are often for 10 minutes or less, it is an invaluable haven.
I will of course talk to the bar staff, I have known some of them for some years and there is the usual banter and story swapping during service. Once I have my pint though I make my way to a table far removed from the bar, or into the garden if the weather permits. There I have my own space. I can concentrate on the beer, for it is the object of my desire and the instrument of my unwinding.
I will, on occasion, tweet about what I am drinking, giving a brief appraisal of the taste of the beer and this also helps. Concentrating on something I love is the perfect focus way from the world, if only briefly. I am unsure whether responding to a tweet or e-mail counts as drinking alone however, I suspect not as the connection is there, but I don't find that this affects my solitudinal experience adversely. I am at liberty to respond or not as the mood takes me.
I will not speculate on drinking alone in company. I'm sure that many you have done this but it is generally down to personal introspection or being ignored, neither of which capture the essence of what I am trying to convey.
Drinking alone can be a wonderful thing.
I use it as 'me' time.
Pure self-indulgence.
Selfish ? Possibly but I see it sanity preservation, and as such a vital part of my routine.
And relax......


Thanks to Nathaniel Southwood a good friend of mine, for hosting this edition of the session and the first I have contributed to. I have had a few drinks with him in Norwich, thus proving that I don't always drink alone.