Drinking Sensibly

Greetings, and a belated Happy New Year

Another slapped wrist for me, for neglecting my blogging duties. In the weeks since my last missive, we've had Christmas and New Year, and I've had a birthday. But the hole in my chin remains, although I'm reliably informed that it's getting smaller.

So how was the festive season for you? Ours was nice: we spent the Christmas period at my Dad's place in Bognor, and descended on my brother Dave for Christmas lunch. As for oral intake, I'm afraid that my role was mainly confined to watching others chewing and slurping, but it was all very pleasant anyway.

We were back home for New Year, and had a relatively quiet time, with a few friends round for the evening. Flaunting medical advice, I actually consumed some alcohol! Champagne and all proper drinks still being too harsh for my palate, I opted for some Sainsbury's Pink Fizz. This is a beverage presented in a sparkling wine bottle, the label of which describes it as an "aromatised wine product cocktail". It comprises some non-descript Chenin Blanc wine mixed with hibiscus flower extract, and comes in at a whopping 4% ABV. It's booze for pre-teens, or a Christmas tipple for teetotallers. Don't pitch up at a dinner party bearing a bottle of this stuff, or your host may rightly spit in your food.

Anyway, Sainsbury's Pink Fizz tasted okay to me, and I managed a couple of glasses
on New Year's Eve, with no ill effects other then the scorn of my family and friends, but I've not tried it since. The bottle stands forlorn in our fridge, untouched in 2011. We really ought to chuck it down the sink, but throwing away alcohol - even of such poor quality - goes against the grain, so it may still be there next New Years Eve.

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In my idle moments over the festive period, I've been looking back at earlier blogs, and I've been struck by how unprepared I was for the ordeal ahead of me. I'm not sure whether this was because the medical professionals didn't tell me straight, or whether I chose not to hear the truth.

In the early postings, I was assuming that it would all be sorted within a matter of a few weeks, and even when it was decided that they would be butchering my face, I was expecting everything to be back to normal within six months: the eternal optimist!

I also told the world that I would be in hospital for two weeks. How was I to know that there would be complications and further operations, which kept me inarcerated for over six weeks, from late June to early August? I anticipated having a tracheostomy for 4-7 days. In the event, I kept it for about 4 weeks!I also vastly underrated the sheer misery of chemo and radiotherapy.

With hindsight, I actually think it was no bad thing that I was so naive about what was in store for me: if I had known the truth, I would certainly not have entered the whole process in such a sanguine state of mind. On balance, now that the worst is behind me (fingers crossed), I'm glad that I didn't know in advance just how awful it was going to be.

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In the hope that I may one day be able to move on from Sainsbury's Pink Fizz, here are ten songs about sparkling wine.

1. Champagne Supernova - Oasis
2. Sparkling Wine - Red Sovine
3. A Glass Of Champagne - Sailor
4. Bubbly - Colbie Caillat
5. Drinking Champagne - Willie Nelson
6. No Sex In The Champagne Room - Chris Rock
7. Champagne Charlie - George Leybourne
8. Champagne Life - Ne-Yo
9. I Drink Sparkling Wine - Pjs & Art
10. Pink Fizz - Albert Marland

Cheers!

RP