Dear Wine...

You haven't really had a hangover until you've had the wine flu and considering that when I drink these, I usually go for wine, I am more than familiar with its many charms. 

I have found that one of the least delightful things about getting older is that hangovers seem to just go on and on and on and even one glass of some cheap plonk can leave me feeling maudlin for days on end. There is some part of me that feels like I didn't sign up for this, not that there's anyone I can complain to.

This weekend with me having a few days off and the joint festivities of my Birthday and Paddies day meant that I found myself doing two nights in a row. This is something I haven't done since college and everything suggests I am no longer able for this sort of carry on. Yes, it might be only four years since I left college but time moves faster in your thirties plus the fact that I wasn't ever really able for that sort of carry on but I chose to ignore it because why deal with a problem when you can just pretend there isn't one. That's way more fun. 

So Saturday night I went to the gig with the boyfriend and thought I'd be very smart by limiting myself to three glasses of wine and then allowing myself a good hour or so to sober before going to sleep and thought surely that's a fail proof method to avoid a hangover. It didn't go exactly to plan. I didn't spend crazy money or have more than the three drinks but by the time the gig got going I was finished my wine and already getting a bit sleepy. And doing a terrible job of hiding my yawns. Which made me not the most fun as a date but it was either that or wake up too hungover to get myself out of bed. 

As foolproof plans go it still managed to fail and I woke Sunday morning with a mouth that tasted like sock and no desire to be dragging my hungover ass to a pub. It wasn't the worst hangover I'd ever had by far but it certainly wasn't pleasant and I would have much rathered burritoing on my bed watching shows and napping to packing a bag with what I hoped where wearable clothes and making my way to Clonmel for an Afternoon in the pub. Who does an afternoon in the pub , well lots of people on Paddies weekend but it's never been my favourite thing to do by any stretch. I don't mind a drink in a beer garden on a Sunny day but getting drunk while it's still bright out leaves me feeling all kinds of disorientated. 

 I ended up spending my afternoon in a pub I haven't been to in about 10 years (with good reason) that was so classy that it only had one kind of wine that tasted a lot like vinegar but only cost three something a glass so almost a bargain if you try your best not to taste it. I did my best to pace myself but without dinner I was tipsy after glass one and drunk after glass 2 but I managed to drag it out so I only drank 5 glasses in the five hours I was there, this pacing myself is a new thing but I think it serves me better than double vodkas and shots. By 10 I felt very merry indeed but I can't  say I was enjoying the bar much and by then it was pretty clear that the one drink we came in for 5 hours ago was possibly a lie. Most of the crowd had been out since the match at lunchtime Sunday and it was a bit messier than I would like. So I ran away (naturally I told the girls first) I knew the gym was having a night out and that they always end up in Bakers so I took a chance and stayed there till I sobered up enough to go home. 

This morning when I woke I think the word I was searching for was shook. I was okay not too pukey or too achey provided I didn't move at all. I decided that strategy was best and stayed beneath the covers for as long as humanely possible. While my hangover left me silly and shakey, I've had worse and so far (fingers crossed) the depression did not come with this particular bottle of wine. So maybe I escaped lightly. I still think I am too old for two nights of drinking. So maybe I'll wait a few weeks before I venture out again. Tomorrow, hopefully when I wake to realize I am now 32 I wont lose myself to a wave of depression. Just in case though, I have a back up plan.

I purposely stayed down in my parents place so I can do a crossfit class in the morning (and get some presents ) and half anticipating , half dreading my very own Birthday workout. At least it should beat the last remnants of wine flu out of me.