Life

I kicked off my own Mondays Without Meat, inspired by Paul McCartney’s Meat Free Monday campaign, with a green juice breakfast, Mexican tostadas and a tahini choco smoothie.

A couple of days camping with my wife and daughter at Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park, where I happily skipped the Rare Breed Beer on my alcohol free year.

On a campervan trip to Suffolk, I visited Wyken Vineyards without touching a drop of their wine, settling for sparkling apple juice while my wife drank red wine from a half pint glass.

At 40% through my alcohol free 2012, I admit to craving a drink on Friday nights but staying committed, with the blog now past 5,000 unique visitors.

My family and I held a London 2012 Olympic torch at the weekend, then watched the relay come through our village, where I may have been the only man without a pint.

On what would have been a friend’s 28th birthday, I remembered him losing his battle with Cystic Fibrosis at just 18, never once complaining despite years in hospital.

At day 74 of my alcohol free year, with 20% of 2012 done, I slept better on the flight to Brazil without a drink and shared 20 surprising facts about beer and booze.

Heading back to Brazil in 2012, I skipped the caipirinhas made with cachaça, lime and sugar, and faced my first ever sober long haul flight.

I remembered a friend who died from Cystic Fibrosis aged just 18, never once complaining despite years in hospital, as I carried on my alcohol free year in 2012.

This weekend marked the anniversary of my cousin’s son losing his battle with cystic fibrosis at 18, and I shared a BBC blog post from Tim Wotton on what life with the condition is really like.

I swapped my evening pint for juicing in 2012, starting most mornings with a green smoothie of apples, pineapple, celery, cucumber, spinach, wheatgrass and avocado.

News of riots at Sao Paulo’s carnival parade took me back to my own trips to Brazil, where Caipirinha made with Cachaça was always my favourite drink, now swapped for juice on my alcohol free year.