Today we made our first real mistake of the year: we started buying stuff for Christmas. We bought some presents for family and friends at the Bath Ales Brewery Shop, but probably spent at least twice as much on beer and cider for ourselves. Not that we are selfish, of course. Well, not very.
By now we were in the festive mood so where else to go but Asda where the shelves are rapidly filling with things you don’t need or want. Mercifully, we did not spend too long looking at the Christmas possibilities – we bought the nuts many weeks ago, for goodness sake – but we did fall victim to the massively reduced Baileys bottles conveniently located at the entrance to the store, £17 down to a tenner. It would be rude not to, I reckon.
Baileys is not my first choice of alcohol. I tend to have one late at night when all the beer and wine has run out. I would not choose to watch the evening football on telly with a large tumbler of the stuff because I’d be slaughtered before half time. But we really should not have bought it today because we usually end up drinking it long before Christmas. Or we put it in the loft, forget about it, curse, buy another bottle and discover the original a few days before the summer holidays whilst sorting out the suitcases.
I would prefer to do all the food and drink shopping in the lead up to Christmas, in the weeks, or preferably days, before The Big Day. December is usually a boozy enough time anyway, so I am not so much tempted to scratch around for a nightcap of Port from a bottle I’m sure I left somewhere in the front room (or was it the kitchen?).
I intend to go easy on the alcohol this year which is another one of those things I say every year and never manage to achieve. I just want some Metaxa, a good single malt whisky, some Port, sherry, some top notch red wine, some Prosecco and some Cava, cider, beer, a few bottles of lager – and that should do it. In other words, I’ll be virtually dry, at least at night when I am asleep.
Anyway, that’s enough booze chat. I need a drink and soon.
