Not a facelift but I am considering Morpheus 8.... has anyone had it? I’m scared but it’s apparently going to tighten me up, rid me of my jowls and smooth everything out?!
Hilarious if you’re as much fun in real life as you are on paper you’d be my first party guest To all the parties I never have, but you probably aren’t?
I am can funny and clever and hilarious and swear a lot on paper, people laugh and prob shake their heads.
But in real it absolutely knackers me trying to be Life and soul
such a great read, I was there with you.. funny as buggery
Loved this post. I live vicariously through you. I can’t drink any more and more to the point don’t really want to. So disappointing as I used to LOVE quaffing vast amounts of white wine but can’t abide how I feel next day, sometimes two days. Such a shame!
Years ago I had a Russian client (I’m a Pilates Instructor) for months and months who worked in ‘Agricultural Pharmaceuticals’. She was very dedicated and I would see her very early in the mornings a couple of times a week. And then I never heard from her again 😳 I wonder if she was a spy?
There's no one particular booze that sets me off... anything will do it in sufficient quantities. I just get the bit between my teeth and off I go... and I'm a horrible drunk, I can drink a lake without slurring or falling over, but worse than that I just get really repetitive and dogmatic and critical of whoever is in my line of fire, usually my poor darling husband who is throwing himself on the Kate-shaped grenade.
Today I bit the bullet and emailed the Sinclair Method clinic. It's on, baby... I'm ready.
Anything with tequila but especially tequila slammers!! It’s been ages since I went to a party where they erected on offer but at a wedding last year there were only margaritas on offer and surprisingly I declined them 👍
Port. Last time I came home and shouted at everyone that I refused to be a slave to them any more, why did they make me do inhumane things like cooking all the time and I was done with it all. I am currently thinking about a lovely tagine for tonight so it was really all rubbish. Loved the writing!
I'm one of those weird people who can drink a lot, but appear relatively sober. Yes I may have a slight stagger as I leave the table, but apart from repeating myself, just get a bit more animated. I want to dance, sing loudly to a few old favourites and scoff any food available.
If I became argumentative and started throwing glasses around, insulting the guest and throwing up over the sofa I may have to review my position.
Facelifts - obsessed by the work of Dr Dominic Bray. He doesn't carry out very many (as in one or two per day), does them under 'twilight sedation' rather than a general anaesthetic and charges like, £45k. I could spend hours scrolling his before and after gallery. He is an out and out magician. https://www.dominicbray.com/beforeandafter/
Have also experienced the joy of using naltrexone in the wild - and yes, the act of taking one makes you not really want to drink at all. I went to a lunchtime thing over the weekend, and stuck to one small wine (that I didn't really want) to be social and not weird. Walking home, I felt so free and in control. I have found that a quarter isn't effective enough for me (have 'drunk through' it at that level) so I take a half tablet.
Other findings: I get a bit of a metallic taste, which makes everything taste a bit different. 'Real' food tastes fine (the spiced tomato juice at the pub, the plain-pasta/cheddar/broccoli I shared with my children - all fine). Ultra processed food (the McDonalds I grabbed as a 'treat' on the way back) was disgusting. Diet coke was okay. Hammers home to me how insidious the UPF industry is - the only reason that their shitty, let's face it, food-adjacent products are edible is because they're designed to light up your opioid receptors. It's not nutrition, it's a drug.
Parties... I'm hosting (argh!) a dinner party (aargh!!) this Saturday... will be relying on half a Nally-T. Also going to scroll back through Esther's posts as I'm sure 'how to pretend to be a capable dinner party host' has been covered. I refer back to the 'How to Throw an Impromptu Xmas Party' post every year.
I am very interested in this naltrexone bizzo, but my question - hope it doesn’t sound like I’m prying - is whether it would be effective if you’re someone who’s habitually drinking too much (ask for… etc etc - no duh, it’s me of course). I think from things you’ve written Esther you were in the habit of having a drink for the sake of it, but for someone who was properly trying (and struggling) to get booze intake down to a normal - ie not NEEDING it - level, does anyone have any experience of whether it works or not? I can’t imagine how the sheer muscle memory/situational pull of going to a party/dinner and immediately wanting a drink could be overcome by a medication?? How’s about if you’re drinking because of social anxiety? Or is that what the Method part of the Sinclair Method is all about? Helena, you said you drank through a 1/4 and that’s what worries me I would do! So many questions, sorry, it’s just I am sorely tempted but I keep throwing money at problems and am emphatically not rich enough for all my problems…!
I would advise anyone in your position to call The Sinclair Method for a consultation. They don't just give you a prescription, they spend time talking to you at length about your relationship with alcohol, where it started, where it is, where you fear it is going. They are just the most wonderful, non-judgmental people who have chosen to devote their lives to this and will help anyone at whatever level they are at. Naltrexone works by (basically) blocking your opioid receptors. So, yes, you are right - there is muscle memory involved here. But I refer to you Pavlov's dogs. When Pavlov rang the bell while presenting the food for long enough, he only needed to ring the bell for the dogs to salivate. The other half of the experiment that people forget to mention is that when Pavlov continued to ring the bell without reinforcing this with the food, the dogs stopped salivating. This proved that neurological links can be made - and then broken. If you take Naltrexone before every alcoholic drink you have, eventually you will stop associating the drink with the opioid hit and the muscle memory will cease to work. But, like all these things, it requires a certain degree of willpower and a genuine want for things to change. My counsellor was Jo and she was terrific: joanna@sinclairmethoduk.com
Well that is all very heartening, thank you, and also - it makes sense, which is always very important for me. I will definitely get in touch with them, maybe Joanna specifically. It’s wild to think how many health problems alcohol is associated with and yet this is such a niche treatment, I do wonder how long it’ll take the nhs to get on board! Just think, in years to come we will all be taking our naltrexone, our ozempic and our HRT and the staff will be rattling around empty hospitals…! X
a lot of candles. don't forget the music! instant atmosphere in those early awkward stages. I'm always amazed at the number of people who don't deploy this. boys always want to drink beer when they arrive x
This was marvellous to read - however many Margaritas it took to loosen all these good lines one after the other and drop them here is obviously the sweet spot. I dislike parties but would make an exception if I could find myself standing next to you, however since the Queen turned up in one of your last society sheets I think it’s safe to say John Venn himself would struggle to get our circles to overlap. I don’t really drink much anymore and am very unsophisticated with cocktails. I’ve never even had a Margarita but you have conjured them so beautifully in my mind I’d like to go out and get one now, like the way reading Hemingway makes you think chasing down a bottle of Sangria with a few whiskies, some brandy and yet more whiskey seems like the only way to spend an afternoon. Maybe soaked up with a boiled potato and fish you caught yourself. Whenever I do get out of hand it involves a complete misjudgement of how easily a drink with an orange juice mixer goes down, like a teenager with their first alco-pop. Vodka and orange is lethal and as the Buck’s Fizz is usually wheeled out before noon around Christmas disaster strikes early and hard and then proceeds merrily into a whole debacle where I have no idea what time of day it is or what I’m saying but there’s plenty of it to go around and much to keep the minute-taker busy in my three am anxiety spirals for years to come.
in the rum diaries he keeps having to go to the airport to the only restaurant in the area and eats hamburgers and drinks rum non-stop. this always makes me want to eat a hamburger and drink rum even though I don't like rum one little bit
In the last book I read they had gin fizzes, I don’t like gin but it sounded so good. Stick the word “fizz” on anything and I’m there. When I was 9 I wanted a martini after Kim Basinger offered one to the kid in My Step Mother is an Alien.
My husband swears by Myrkl to prevent hangovers and stop him getting pissed. The ‘science’ says that taking it stops some of the alcohol going into your bloodstream thus making the booze less effective and preventing hangovers. I tried it once and didn’t notice anything but if my husband has a work event (he works in marketing and there are still lots of boozy do’s he has to go to) he finds it works (and he’a capable of putting away A LOT).
Party sounds amazing. I would have gone head first into the margaritas and stayed until the bitter end,
waking up shame-faced the next morning, face palming at my behaviour. Spirits are definitely better with me re hangovers though. A night on the wine and little food is a recipe for a whole day breakdown.
I remember going to stay with a university friend at his echoing, almost completely empty (18th century?) apartment in Budapest in about 1993, when the atmosphere still very much had a whiff of immediate post-Soviet-ness about it. As far as we all knew, our friend worked for the “Foreign Office”, and would, during our holiday, regularly disappear for a few days at a time, only to return entirely unruffled looking, to take us out to the best underground drinking / nightlife spots in the city. He had the most gloriously beautiful, near 6 foot tall Hungarian girlfriend. Anyway, this is very long way of saying, how did we not realise at the time that he was a spy? Of course, we still don’t *know* this, but, I mean, come on! Wonderful piece Esther, I enjoyed reading this so much this morning, as I sit here with my youngest, already off school with a respiratory virus. As for booze, I seem to have my own built-in, slow-release Naltrexone, which is caused perimenopause.
OMG! I could hardly read past spicy margarita! My absolute favourite drink in the world. I'd have drunk them all and got shitfaced and still be hungover so well done you! You're a better person than I am. Next time you go out can I come too? xxx (ps just joking. Kind of. I reckon you'd be great fun to know in real life ;-) )
Cheap cider. Also known as ‘fighting juice”, in my house. I’ve lost friends over it. (Admittedly, some time ago).
Not a facelift but I am considering Morpheus 8.... has anyone had it? I’m scared but it’s apparently going to tighten me up, rid me of my jowls and smooth everything out?!
Hilarious if you’re as much fun in real life as you are on paper you’d be my first party guest To all the parties I never have, but you probably aren’t?
I am can funny and clever and hilarious and swear a lot on paper, people laugh and prob shake their heads.
But in real it absolutely knackers me trying to be Life and soul
such a great read, I was there with you.. funny as buggery
Everyone knows a fucking Catherine Taylor that makes you feel like a hobbit. The worst thing is that they are always lovely and charming.
she is so delightful
Loved this post. I live vicariously through you. I can’t drink any more and more to the point don’t really want to. So disappointing as I used to LOVE quaffing vast amounts of white wine but can’t abide how I feel next day, sometimes two days. Such a shame!
Years ago I had a Russian client (I’m a Pilates Instructor) for months and months who worked in ‘Agricultural Pharmaceuticals’. She was very dedicated and I would see her very early in the mornings a couple of times a week. And then I never heard from her again 😳 I wonder if she was a spy?
I love how we are all now wondering if everyone we know is a spy
There's no one particular booze that sets me off... anything will do it in sufficient quantities. I just get the bit between my teeth and off I go... and I'm a horrible drunk, I can drink a lake without slurring or falling over, but worse than that I just get really repetitive and dogmatic and critical of whoever is in my line of fire, usually my poor darling husband who is throwing himself on the Kate-shaped grenade.
Today I bit the bullet and emailed the Sinclair Method clinic. It's on, baby... I'm ready.
Anything with tequila but especially tequila slammers!! It’s been ages since I went to a party where they erected on offer but at a wedding last year there were only margaritas on offer and surprisingly I declined them 👍
Port. Last time I came home and shouted at everyone that I refused to be a slave to them any more, why did they make me do inhumane things like cooking all the time and I was done with it all. I am currently thinking about a lovely tagine for tonight so it was really all rubbish. Loved the writing!
port! that's so Georgian of you
I'm one of those weird people who can drink a lot, but appear relatively sober. Yes I may have a slight stagger as I leave the table, but apart from repeating myself, just get a bit more animated. I want to dance, sing loudly to a few old favourites and scoff any food available.
If I became argumentative and started throwing glasses around, insulting the guest and throwing up over the sofa I may have to review my position.
Facelifts - obsessed by the work of Dr Dominic Bray. He doesn't carry out very many (as in one or two per day), does them under 'twilight sedation' rather than a general anaesthetic and charges like, £45k. I could spend hours scrolling his before and after gallery. He is an out and out magician. https://www.dominicbray.com/beforeandafter/
Have also experienced the joy of using naltrexone in the wild - and yes, the act of taking one makes you not really want to drink at all. I went to a lunchtime thing over the weekend, and stuck to one small wine (that I didn't really want) to be social and not weird. Walking home, I felt so free and in control. I have found that a quarter isn't effective enough for me (have 'drunk through' it at that level) so I take a half tablet.
Other findings: I get a bit of a metallic taste, which makes everything taste a bit different. 'Real' food tastes fine (the spiced tomato juice at the pub, the plain-pasta/cheddar/broccoli I shared with my children - all fine). Ultra processed food (the McDonalds I grabbed as a 'treat' on the way back) was disgusting. Diet coke was okay. Hammers home to me how insidious the UPF industry is - the only reason that their shitty, let's face it, food-adjacent products are edible is because they're designed to light up your opioid receptors. It's not nutrition, it's a drug.
Parties... I'm hosting (argh!) a dinner party (aargh!!) this Saturday... will be relying on half a Nally-T. Also going to scroll back through Esther's posts as I'm sure 'how to pretend to be a capable dinner party host' has been covered. I refer back to the 'How to Throw an Impromptu Xmas Party' post every year.
I am very interested in this naltrexone bizzo, but my question - hope it doesn’t sound like I’m prying - is whether it would be effective if you’re someone who’s habitually drinking too much (ask for… etc etc - no duh, it’s me of course). I think from things you’ve written Esther you were in the habit of having a drink for the sake of it, but for someone who was properly trying (and struggling) to get booze intake down to a normal - ie not NEEDING it - level, does anyone have any experience of whether it works or not? I can’t imagine how the sheer muscle memory/situational pull of going to a party/dinner and immediately wanting a drink could be overcome by a medication?? How’s about if you’re drinking because of social anxiety? Or is that what the Method part of the Sinclair Method is all about? Helena, you said you drank through a 1/4 and that’s what worries me I would do! So many questions, sorry, it’s just I am sorely tempted but I keep throwing money at problems and am emphatically not rich enough for all my problems…!
I would advise anyone in your position to call The Sinclair Method for a consultation. They don't just give you a prescription, they spend time talking to you at length about your relationship with alcohol, where it started, where it is, where you fear it is going. They are just the most wonderful, non-judgmental people who have chosen to devote their lives to this and will help anyone at whatever level they are at. Naltrexone works by (basically) blocking your opioid receptors. So, yes, you are right - there is muscle memory involved here. But I refer to you Pavlov's dogs. When Pavlov rang the bell while presenting the food for long enough, he only needed to ring the bell for the dogs to salivate. The other half of the experiment that people forget to mention is that when Pavlov continued to ring the bell without reinforcing this with the food, the dogs stopped salivating. This proved that neurological links can be made - and then broken. If you take Naltrexone before every alcoholic drink you have, eventually you will stop associating the drink with the opioid hit and the muscle memory will cease to work. But, like all these things, it requires a certain degree of willpower and a genuine want for things to change. My counsellor was Jo and she was terrific: joanna@sinclairmethoduk.com
Well that is all very heartening, thank you, and also - it makes sense, which is always very important for me. I will definitely get in touch with them, maybe Joanna specifically. It’s wild to think how many health problems alcohol is associated with and yet this is such a niche treatment, I do wonder how long it’ll take the nhs to get on board! Just think, in years to come we will all be taking our naltrexone, our ozempic and our HRT and the staff will be rattling around empty hospitals…! X
I can relate - I’m not rich enough for all my problems either!!
Keep thinking if I stopped spending so much £ on wine I could kill two problem birds with one stone 😆
a lot of candles. don't forget the music! instant atmosphere in those early awkward stages. I'm always amazed at the number of people who don't deploy this. boys always want to drink beer when they arrive x
This was marvellous to read - however many Margaritas it took to loosen all these good lines one after the other and drop them here is obviously the sweet spot. I dislike parties but would make an exception if I could find myself standing next to you, however since the Queen turned up in one of your last society sheets I think it’s safe to say John Venn himself would struggle to get our circles to overlap. I don’t really drink much anymore and am very unsophisticated with cocktails. I’ve never even had a Margarita but you have conjured them so beautifully in my mind I’d like to go out and get one now, like the way reading Hemingway makes you think chasing down a bottle of Sangria with a few whiskies, some brandy and yet more whiskey seems like the only way to spend an afternoon. Maybe soaked up with a boiled potato and fish you caught yourself. Whenever I do get out of hand it involves a complete misjudgement of how easily a drink with an orange juice mixer goes down, like a teenager with their first alco-pop. Vodka and orange is lethal and as the Buck’s Fizz is usually wheeled out before noon around Christmas disaster strikes early and hard and then proceeds merrily into a whole debacle where I have no idea what time of day it is or what I’m saying but there’s plenty of it to go around and much to keep the minute-taker busy in my three am anxiety spirals for years to come.
in the rum diaries he keeps having to go to the airport to the only restaurant in the area and eats hamburgers and drinks rum non-stop. this always makes me want to eat a hamburger and drink rum even though I don't like rum one little bit
In the last book I read they had gin fizzes, I don’t like gin but it sounded so good. Stick the word “fizz” on anything and I’m there. When I was 9 I wanted a martini after Kim Basinger offered one to the kid in My Step Mother is an Alien.
My husband swears by Myrkl to prevent hangovers and stop him getting pissed. The ‘science’ says that taking it stops some of the alcohol going into your bloodstream thus making the booze less effective and preventing hangovers. I tried it once and didn’t notice anything but if my husband has a work event (he works in marketing and there are still lots of boozy do’s he has to go to) he finds it works (and he’a capable of putting away A LOT).
Party sounds amazing. I would have gone head first into the margaritas and stayed until the bitter end,
waking up shame-faced the next morning, face palming at my behaviour. Spirits are definitely better with me re hangovers though. A night on the wine and little food is a recipe for a whole day breakdown.
I haven’t considered a facelift but am having viscoderm injections next week - supposedly is smooths out all the lines… we’ll see!
report back!
Will do! Apparently takes 8 weeks for the full effects to show.
I remember going to stay with a university friend at his echoing, almost completely empty (18th century?) apartment in Budapest in about 1993, when the atmosphere still very much had a whiff of immediate post-Soviet-ness about it. As far as we all knew, our friend worked for the “Foreign Office”, and would, during our holiday, regularly disappear for a few days at a time, only to return entirely unruffled looking, to take us out to the best underground drinking / nightlife spots in the city. He had the most gloriously beautiful, near 6 foot tall Hungarian girlfriend. Anyway, this is very long way of saying, how did we not realise at the time that he was a spy? Of course, we still don’t *know* this, but, I mean, come on! Wonderful piece Esther, I enjoyed reading this so much this morning, as I sit here with my youngest, already off school with a respiratory virus. As for booze, I seem to have my own built-in, slow-release Naltrexone, which is caused perimenopause.
OMG! I could hardly read past spicy margarita! My absolute favourite drink in the world. I'd have drunk them all and got shitfaced and still be hungover so well done you! You're a better person than I am. Next time you go out can I come too? xxx (ps just joking. Kind of. I reckon you'd be great fun to know in real life ;-) )
I'm a total bore you're not missing anything
That’s what I mean.. only on paper