My Life In Drink

Due to an upcoming medical procedure and some unexpected support from some readers I have made the decision to try and control the booze. As a result and in relation to my recent fortieth birthday, I have decided to review my life with booze. I have other addictions. I used to gamble a lot, but because i do this for a living it never had any real control over me. I have slept with a lot of women, certainly in the hundreds but my emotional distance kept a lid on that. Booze is different I have an intimate relationship with drink that I don't really understand. It's always been there. On my birthday my parents related the story of the first time I got pissed, I was two years old. My mother had taken my older brother and myself to pick up my father from a voyage to Asia. As usual, my father did his handover and had a few drinks in the bar with the other officers some of whom were leaving, others staying. Then we went to have dinner in the officers dining room. As a senior officer my father and my mother sat on the larger central "Captains table" while the junior officers and other guests sat on the smaller satellite tables. Back in those days it was all silver service and the Chinese stewards brought the food to our tables. As I came in to my table no one noticed anything odd about me. they hadn't realized that after the engineers had given me a few capfulls of whiskey at the bar I had been swigging out of everyone's glasses and was completely smashed on Whiskey and Rum. I soon started attracting attention by hurling silverware around the dining room and laughing like a maniac. It was after I picked up a carving knife and threw it at the Captain that my mother excused herself and took me out of the dining room.

I was relatively normal after that, it was normal for us to have a small glass of wine with Sunday dinner and of course we were allowed a little more on New years Eve. Unlike my brothers however, I had a real taste for alcohol:

Ten to Fourteen. These years were characterized by me drinking on an occasional basis. Mostly beer. I had a serious interest in the music of the time, (nineteen eighty to eighty four) and got involved in a New Romantic band. But was a big Stones fan. Remember going to a few good concerts and starting to develop a real taste for Rum and Vodka. Key moment? Getting drunk on Four Bells Rum in Tema, Ghana.

Fourteen to Seventeen. Difficult times for the family. We really lost touch with each other physically and emotionally due to conditions completely out of our control. By Now I was drinking very regularly. Key Moment? Arriving back in the UK from a voyage on my fathers ship and being given some cash, finding a bedsit and a lot of Vodka to hole up in until we reconvened in South East London.

Seventeen to Twenty Three. The working years. My first job, quite rapid success at work, my first house purchase. The last time I drove a car after six car crashes, (I never drove while drunk - I was just really bad at driving). Heavy drinking years, mostly Vodka, beer and wine. Key moment? My first solo adventure in Asia. Getting arrested and beat up by the police in Laos whilst loaded on Vodka. First went out with the stalker during this period.

Twenty Three to Twenty Eight. Last Years in permanent employment. Then quit to go traveling to see what happened. Drinking very heavily by now. Had a relationship with the maddest woman ever. Key moment? Indonesia during the Asian crisis in Ninety Seven. Never having seen so much suffering before in my life. Drinking liter bottles of vodka the way a chain smoker smokes for weeks at a time. Bad times.

Twenty Eight to Thirty Three. Back in London try to make it back. Lost all my savings in Asia so took a few consultancy jobs in London and New York. Decent money, constant drinking. Lots of meaningless women. The Vodka and Tonic years. Key moment? My boss saying to me, you are the worst employee ever because I have no control over you. Everyone else I can sack and they are scared of that but you don't even need the job after I drank one bottle of vodka at lunch time.

Thirty Three to Thirty Seven. Living in Asia. Trading online and drinking non-stop. Relatively stable relationship with the Thai Princess, (not really a princess but from a high society family and living across from the palace). Got sick for the first time, bizarrely enough nothing to do with my drinking - some bone disease. Key moment? Leaving Bangkok with everything I owned, which I put in the overhead locker on my Emirates first class flight back to London, drinking everything I could lay my hands on because I knew I had only three hundred pounds to my name - The same amount I had back in nineteen eighty six when I left my family for the first time. Which is OK for a good lunch but not to rebuild your empire.

Thirty Seven to Forty. Read all about it here. The time back in London, aka the wilderness years, scraping by on a pittance. Struggling with drink. Health not too good and mood worse. reunited with the stalker which is either the best or worst thing that ever happened to me.

So that is it. Doesn't look like much when I consider the amount of money made and spent. the amount of women I have known and The places I have been. According to that widget thing on facebook I have been to 32% of the worlds countries. And yet judging by what I just wrote its almost as if I was never here.