Hi babes, I'm back after an internet hiatus. Had a week-long holiday in the south of France (lucky me, I know). The town was gorgeous as ever but it wasn't the smoothest of holidays - DS1 came down with a gastro bug that left him in bed for two days. And the sea was too cold to swim in for most of the time we were there, which was a disappointment. There's this cold northwesterly wind, the mistral, that can strike any time of year, and it takes the water days to warm up again afterwards.
I did drink a bit on holiday because it was very hard to be surrounded by all the delicious wines in the supermarkets and restaurants and not partake. Going to the south of France for me has always involved drinking copious quantities of chilled rose, so I felt very deprived, especially at first. Still, when I finally succumbed and had a glass, it seemed like an anti-climax - not as lovely as I was expecting after I had built it up so much in my head. The one glass was a bit of a trigger though because the following day I drank half a bottle. That's a laughably small quantity compared to what I used to drink, but I still woke up in the night with a headache. Which made me realise how great it is NOT to have drinking-related headaches all the time. I used to have a dull headache all day long, and now they've finally disappeared.
So in relation to what vicar and others were talking about a few days ago, yes, you do start feeling better! I stopped drinking on July 1st, and for the first few weeks the headaches just carried on, but now I'm headache-free, hurrah. And feeling better than I've felt in ages. I'm definitely up for the dry August as August 1st was my day 1. On the one hand, I feel stupid to keep 'relapsing' (I've had five day 1's in a month!), but on the other hand, I'm feeling much more psychologically committed to staying dry than I was a month ago. Even if the odds are than I can have a glass or two and not fall straight back into problem drinking again, I'm not sure that it's worth it to me to take that risk. Wine is delicious but not THAT delicious and there's just too much too lose. :) Like sober said, I still miss wine, but it's not worth giving up this new and improved life for. Sing it babe!
Also read a fun book on holiday, Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. It's a chick-litty type of novel (not my usual genre) but I greatly enjoyed it. The heroine goes to rehab (primarily for drugs not drink, though drink has a part to play as well) and the story is apparently drawn from Keyes's real-life experience as a recovering addict. The heroine is kind of implausibly un-self-aware for much of the novel, but her slow journey of self-realisation is quite well done, I thought. One bit that particularly resonated with me was when she realises that she is actually quite emotionally immature when it comes to dealing with psychological pain, because her automatic response whenever anything distressing happens is to reach for a mood-altering substance. I did that too: rows with DH, anxiety about work, boredom with the kids all made me reach automatically for the bottle. I almost forgot that it IS possible to ride through the negative emotions without the help of alcohol, and come out on the other side. It's not pleasant, but it's empowering to realise that you CAN actually make it through a bad feeling without numbing it with wine.
True to form I am writing a post of saga length - sorry!
hope, your posts make me so sad. I am cheering you on like everyone else. Get help from Women's Aid or wherever you can find it, and get away from this soul-destroying prick!
littlewhitebag, I'm so sorry about your mum. Thinking of you. 
Well done for making it through the wedding.
Congrats to margaret on the weight loss, that's amazing! 
at sober and the fish tank - that's top of my list for today too. Nothing to cheer one up like a sparkly bright fish tank.
Off now to enjoy that lovely post-holiday effect when the DC are so happy to rediscover all their toys after a week in a tiny cramped flat that they are ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES ON THEIR OWN. OMG, how much longer will this bliss last? (crosses fingers)