Happy Australia Day!
Today I will be drinking a toast to Australia with its rich and complex history at the cricket test match at Adelaide Oval. And then I will stop.
Stop drinking that is.
As of January 27, I am embarking on a dry zone until the end of February.
I have dubbed this endeavour: Advance Australia Dry.
I’m doing it to mark Australia Day and give my health a boost at the same time.
Will you join me?
Here’s the back story.
Dry Zones are as Australian as ‘meat pie’
Given that ‘dry zones’ are part and parcel of Australia’s modern celebrations (to tone down flag-drapped, lost, angry thugs from channeling their despair and impotence through public drunkenness), I figured it was a good enough symbol for a personal act every year.
The seed was planted by a senior NT Government manager who does this every January. He got the idea from a former federal politician who was a doctor and who believed in giving his liver a ‘month off’ every year to regenerate (it is a remarkable organ).
I have chosen this period because of three reasons:
- It is a nice tie-in with Australia Day
- It is too hot at this time of year to drink wine (I only drink red wine, or ‘real’ wine as I call it)
- It means I can drink through Dry July with a clear conscience
Will you help Advance Australia Dry?
I am not doing this alone.
A few other people are joining me but I shall not name them here because I haven’t asked their permission. They are welcome to leave a comment to share the solidarity, and you are too.
If you use Twitter, you are welcome to follow Advance Australia Dry via the hashtag #advausdry.
One upside of this endeavour is that it gives me an opportunity to experiment with mocktails in my Thermomix – but that’s another story!
Cheers!