Drinking alone ...

sorry - Bijou!

NotSpaghetti good for her!

Kalu
I was just wondering if I have a glass of wine and DH doesn't feel like one, am I drinking alone?
He's there but may have a whisky later - when I'm having a cup of tea!

Bijo a consultant at Swindon hospital used to recommend a glass of red wine each evening with dinner for the patients on the ward.

My mother in law (mid 90s) has a measured shot of g&t as she prepares her dinner each evening. It's her little ritual and she gets a lot of pleasure from it. She always has a few nuts or nibbles of some sort with it and once the food is in the oven she puts on a cassette tape or the radio and has a little dance.
I would not take that away from her.
When we visit it's a joy to behold! I hope I'm up for it when I'm her age!

Dorra, thank you! The voice of reason.

When I lived alone after divorce I made a point of going out and purchasing nice wine for me to drink at the weekend - alone.

I think we have moved on from seeing home drinking (alone) as the sin/bad habit it used to be. We are much more aware of the perils of addiction/alcoholism today.

I remember talking to colleagues when I was a rookie in work - in my early twenties, and my line manager - a very well spoken, stern woman - said she got in after work, kicked off her shoes and had a nice gin and tonic. I remember being truly shocked and secretly thinking she liked the bottle. It coloured my view of her. She was quite a staid woman

Other colleagues said they'd have a whisky when I used to go home to a nice cup of tea. I was easily shocked!

A few years later with more experience and stress under my belt, I used to do exactly the same thing - especially on a Friday night! (I still smile to myself and think of my colleague.)

I enjoy a drink or two Dorra ?

I don’t know why some posters are so virtuous about being teetotal. If you have had a problem with alcohol in the past and have given up, fair play to you, you deserve to feel pleased with yourself. If your religious beliefs prohibit alcohol, ok. Likewise if you have a condition that means alcohol is off the table. But if you have never had alcohol, why would you suppose you are more virtuous than people who do drink? Does it not occur to you that perhaps you are missing something? Or are you afraid you have no self control and would end up under the table? And yes, why is it ok to drink in company but not alone? Because we solo drinkers drink to excess, poor depressed loners trying to dull the pain of our miserable existence? I have a glass of wine nearly every evening, and sometimes a g&t too, or a glass of port or sherry. I like beer too, especially Belgian and German wheat beers. I enjoy choosing my wine to accompany my food, look forward to the new rose wines from Provence each summer, and the release of Beaujolais nouveau in the autumn. I enjoy the varied tastes, you see. . (Like many, I knew a few alchoholics in my family, but they weren’t fussed what they drank. )

Don’t drink alcohol alone or with others !

Well done BlueSapphire for keeping up the family traditions. ?

I often drink one small sherry with an ice cube in it when I prepare the supper.

We often have a glass of wine at the weekends. DH would never drink if I wasn’t here. I thoroughly enjoy a chilled glass of wine on a warm evening, or even a cool evening ?

That’s not ‘drinking alone’. It would be wasteful not to finish it! I made a promise after my husband left me that I would never drink on my own, which I considered the ‘slippery slope’. Now I will have the occasional glass of wine that’s left after Sunday lunch with my family, but never open a bottle just for me.

I have switched to beer now, as wine doesn't agree with me so much any more. However, I try to drink a maximum of twice a week because of the calories. Alone or with other people. I find that it can creep up on you.

Maggie and moorlikeit it certainly smacks of double standards - stand outside any pub at closing time and see the number of people leaving who are obviously intoxicated and apparently that is OK because they were in company, yet a person sitting at home alone having a glass of wine, or anything else, watching TV is castigated as a potential alcoholic.

Living alone should not preclude the enjoyment of a glass of wine, beer or other tipple. It certainly doesn't mean that you're either an alcoholic or likely to become one. I find that implication judgemental and discriminatory as it singles out those that live alone.

Plain daft to slate lone drinkers. So it's ok to drink as much as you like as long as you're in company but if you drink half a bottle of wine on your own say twice a week (because you live alone), you're an alkie?

I cannot see why there is a problem having a drink on your own. When you live on your own are you supposed to abstain? Why, you are still the same person. I very often have a glass of wine with a meal. It's hard enough after a lifetime almost, with someone, eating alone, mowing the lawns, making all the decisions etc. And just being alone. You still like the things you always did, including the odd drink. If there are those that take to the drink in a big way, that's a shame as with all addictions but perhaps it eases things for them.

Why on earth should there be a stigma about drinking alone.
Sometimes it is hard enough being alone, without being given a message that it wrong to have a drink if you aren’t in a crowd.
Nonsense...if you have an alcohol problem it will manifest in company and when you are alone.

There’s a difference between drinking or eating alone and drinking or eating in secret, no?

I still have half a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream that is about 15 months old ( It's supposed to keep for 2 yrs without needing to go in the fridge ), as well as a bottle of Grand Marnier that has been opened for years, which I sometimes have with coffee and cream. I only ever have about 3/4 of a glass of wine or half a bottle of Stella Cidre/Grolsch with food, about once or twice a month. I even have coffee with cream and a bit of alcohol with a croissant or pain au chocolate for late breakfast on the weekend. There's nothing wrong with drinking alone, as long as you have it with food to enjoy, and not to get blind drunk to block out life's problems. If I'm going to the shop I would never have any alcohol or eat raw onions or garlic before. I think it is common courtesy not to go shopping reeking of things.

I drink once in a while and sometimes drink alone - but only 2 glasses of wine, and only once every couple of months. I have a family history of alcoholism and I'm very careful not to drink too much.

I haven't had a drink for a few years, just seemed to go off it. But before that I always had a glass or 2 of wine alone in the evening. My husband worked such long hours at that time so I was often alone after I'd persuaded/forced the children into bed.
. I never drank to excess, just because I enjoyed a good wine. Nowadays I don't miss it at all, but husband always has 1 or 2 beers in the evening, so I guess he's now drinking alone!

DH and I always enjoyed a glass of wine at 6pm. After he died I felt very guilty if I had a drink on my own. Now, after nearly four years on my own, I have a glass or two or three if I feel like it. The dog is always with me, so I’m not really drinking alone.

I am drinking alone on a Saturday night and it suits me just fine.

Friday is my no- cooking day off and we eat out with my 3 g-children if they want to join. I have 1 or 2 glasses of rosé wine depending on how it affects me otherwise I might have to plan my route out of restaurant so as to be able to walk out with decorum. Lightweight or what! And then, rather than enjoy the nice , mellow alcohol induced mood a little longer I can’t wait to get to my bed and SLEEP.

Gabriella No-one on here has advocated drinking and driving - I never do. What was being discussed was whether being at home alone and having a drink is a bad thing and the general consensus is that as long as it is done in moderation, then no it isn't

I am not a driver but no one I know would ever drink and drive.