An ex-addict's five question quiz that'll reveal if you have a drinking problem...
By Catherine Gray Published: 20:40 EDT, 26 May 2024 | Updated: 20:40 EDT, 26 May 2024 e-mail View comments The first time I drank during the working day, I was 29 — and if I could pinpoint the moment my troubles with alcohol began, that day would be it. I was leaving a job where I knew that almost everyone hated me. I'd been behaving like a brat and was taking a sickie a month for a while, so it wasn't surprising, but it did mean my last day (the faux nice speeches, the passive-aggressive gifts, the sparsely attended leaving do) was going to be stressful.
And my numero uno coping strategy for stress was: drinking. I got the Tube back to my home in south London , telling myself that I wanted to change my clothes for later (hello, denial), then just-so-happened to see a New Zealand sauvignon blanc (my tipple of choice) in the fridge, and just-so-happened to pour myself half a glass. It's my last day, after all! It made me feel better.
Fuzzier, warmer, less clenched about what was to come later. Huh, my brain thought, that worked. Day-drinking: win.
Catherine Gray's troubles with alcohol began when she was 29 - she admits her number one coping strategy for stress was drinking By the time I was 30, I was being told by my long-term boyfriend that he thought I needed to quit drinking. And soon after, he dumped me. My naturally slim frame had acquired a bulge over the top of my jeans; I stopped wear.