Cheers, bottoms up

There's been a big mopping up session going on today at the bottom of the hill. Thank goodness that this mornings high tide wasn't as high as last night, and didn't make things worse. The pub was flooded along with several houses close by. When I went a walk down there, people were assessing the damage, the water had brought all kinds of rubbish up with it, as it breached the banks and covered the road. Several horses had been moved up into the village to higher grounds yesterday, and this morning they were walked back down to their fields which had luckily escaped the deluge. Some fields however are still covered in water, we now have ponds where there were no ponds before. One of the paths which I sometimes use is under water. Looking at the pictures of other areas, it seems we have got off lightly. Not good for the people who have to clean up, but it could have been much worse.

Moving on.......Austin asked me if I brewed my own wine. He noticed that I had paid £5 for a bottle at Aldi, and said I could make it myself much cheaper, at about 20p a bottle. Hello Austin. There is a reason for me not brewing wine, and it's the same reason why I don't bake cakes, and biscuits, and I don't make jam from foraged fruit.

I enjoy a glass of wine, but on the whole I don't drink much alcohol at all. I limit myself to one bottle in maybe three or four weeks, that way it stays a treat and doesn't become the norm. I only buy one bottle at a time, as and when I fancy a glass, and a bottle lasts me three days. If I had lots of bottles of home made wine in the house, I would be very tempted to have a glass every night, and could very easily come to rely on it as a comfort drink. This is not a good idea, excess alcohol does all kinds of horrible things to your body, screws your head up, pickles your organs, and is very bad for your health all round. I saw what it did to my father, he died at 46 through drinking every night. So, I would rather not put that temptation my way. I will carry on buying one bottle of wine from a supermarket, as and when I feel like a glass or two.

So where's the connection with not baking? In the same way, eating excessive cakes, and biscuits is not good for your health, there is too much sugar in it. I love cake, but, I don't want to bake them because I would scoff them as soon as they were out of the oven. I would rather not put temptation in my way. Cake once in a while is a treat, maybe for a special occasion. I sometimes buy cake when it is reduced to pennies on a yellow sticker at Tesco. Then when I get it home I find I have too much. So to get rid of the temptation I give most of it away.

Home made jam is much better than shop bought jam, but I don't collect berries and make it because you need to add a lot of sugar to it, and sugar is bad for you. Sugar rots your teeth and piles the pounds on your hips, I never buy jam for that reason.

I hope that has answered your question, a bit long winded I know. To sum up. I don't want 50 bottles of home made wine at 20p a bottle in my house. I would rather have one bottle at £5. Basically I am weak willed with anything that tastes nice. I have to be strict with myself because I don't want to be storing problems up for myself in the long term. I recognise my weaknesses and like to stay in control of them. Oh gosh, don't I sound boring. I'm not really  :o)
Toodle pip