The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Shaping Up For A Super, Sober Summer!

[Mouseface]

Hey, I'm Mouse

This is 'Gerald', our trustworthy, non judgemental Bus, full of a variety of posters who have travelled long and far, or even just joined us a few stops ago.

This is a place where you can be who YOU want to be. 24/7, 365. This lovely place is just like your best friend, there's no slagging off, no judging, just us.

Drinking or not, embarrassed, fed up of the way things are, or just lonely of living the way drinking makes you do, come and take a peek and see what you think.....

THIS THE LAST THREAD WE HAD

AND THIS IS WHERE THE BUS WAS BUILT, WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

We can't wait to meet you, we won't bite! Well, unless you ask very nicely.

Take good care until we see you. :) xx

Hi Guggenheim, how are you this morning?

No, he wont be going. He doesn't care enough to be arsed.

I'm sure he does, perhaps he's just crap at showing it (like a lot of men.). Hope it all goes ok ((hugs)) xx

Happy Birthday to me
Wish I was 23
I'm so glad of this buuusss
So proud to be one of us
Xxxxxx

Happy birthday baby

Happy birthday Baby . What are you getting up to?

Ma how did it go at the hospital today? You ok? Can believe WB not interested, I have been on antidepressants for 2 years and mine doesn't even know, never asks why I've been to the GP or what my prescription is for

Dd and I have been baking today. Ridiculously rich and indulgent chocolate chip chunk cookies on the dashboard for you all.

On phone while ds at training tonight so will post properly later. Love to all babes xxx

Another failed attempt. They can't get the probe thingy in. My cervix is like Gandalf, fending off probes with "you shall not pass!". Next stop ultrasound. Pissing fed up with it.
Think will go back onto ADs to get me through all this. Job, dad, health, wb.....
Am AF tonight though

Bloody hell ma - you're going through all that and have managed to remain AF tonight!! Why didn't they do ultrasound from the start instead of putting you through this? How are you feeling?

I've sank half a bottle of white and a bottle of rose and am now climbing the walls looking for something else. We only have bitter and whiskey in the house and I don't like either. Have just had a pint of water and DD has just put the kettle on so I'm having a chamomile tea. I thought I was doing well this weekend. Turns out I'm not xx

just a quick one. can I join? I also wanted to ask those who are still drinking what is 'normal' a bottle of wine a night....two bottles??

Hi all fellow bus passengers. First chance to get online today. So been thinking all day about how I must cut Down, especially after shit weekend and think - ok, will not drink til Saturday - don't usually drink during the week but will sometimes do if DH off - so I walk in after work and DH gives me - a glass of wine! I say - I am cutting down, remember - dh says ' it's a thimble full just because it's the last of a bottle that was open' - plus he goes back to work Wednesday so this really last night of his hols.

Don't know how I feel about this - relieved he doesn't think I am a total alky lost cause or annoyed he is not taking my cutting back serious?

It was literally about 30mls and I didn't have anything else even though there is plenty booze in the house. Just a bit blind sided he offered me it knowing I have admitted to problem drinking.

Welly - normal for me on a bad night would be 1 bottle wine plus maybe 10 gins. Normal on a good night would be half a bottle wine. I am very sporadic!

Hands - sorry to hear you are struggling - I am just starting out so time will tell how hard it is for me to cut down.

Evening, tis me, Mouse

venus - if ever a truer word spoken my dear friend, the tangled threads that weave together, bond us together and keep us closer that we ever see. xxx

Ma - clearly, your cervix is so off bounds with WB it assumes that all and any kind of ahem' intrusion is WB so shuts down and goes to DEFCON ONE!

Seriously though sweetie, I really feel for you as my womb is tilted backwards, so my cervix is half covered, and getting a smear takes them forever. They book my two appts now!! Cheeky.

Hands - is that today? The drink consumption? Tea is the way to go given the time. Alcohol takes and hour to have it's last effect on the human system once you've had your last drink....

When you said you thought you were doing so well, you were and still are. Do you know why? Because you're talking to us posting, saying how much you crave a drink, honestly saying it how you feel at the moment you type.

If you carry on like this, you really will see a huge difference in the coming weeks/months/years.

Everyone takes their own time to stop or become a controlled - take it or leave it - kind of person.

I look after a lady, She's 85 and I adore her. I volunteer for two elderly ladies, I get them their shopping through a local community scheme and I've become great friends with the elder of the two, but I do worry. She has similar health conditions to me, been in similar bad past relationships, like me.... and she takes no shit - like me!!

Doing the volunteering has really helped me to see that life is worth living, because you never know how much time life has left for you... I've started to wake every day in pain and discomfort but i know it'll pass.

The same applies for drink to me know. And everything else now. If I wake in pain, or sad about my mum dying, Nemo being ill, and almost dying oh so many times, feeling that pain, DD going through her GCSE's, DH working so, so hard and always having a cough, sniffle.... I need to be in the here and now.

And, at last, I have found a way to do that and it's to start the day deciding that for that day, I WILL NOT DRINK because I have no reason too.

Getting pissed might ease the pain I have for that day, but it will be back.

Getting pissed might stop me feeling sad, super sonic for an evening, but it'll be back, and when I least expect it. Twice fold.

The thing is, getting pissed and then having dry days doesn't suit me. I thought it would. I thought I could control it.... some Babes said that I should be wary of that.

They oh so right.

With me, now, I drink on special occasions, like anniversaries, weddings, very rare nights out and now I'm older, I'm wiser and...............

I.Just.Can't.Do.It.Anymore.

I.Don't.Want.To.

I've missed so much of my life, Nemo's life, DH, DD, friends, life, the whole shebang!!

I LOVE LIFE, and always will xxx

Night Babes xxx

Stuck - for me at first, it was a case of cutting down, I was sure I'd fail and I did. I stopped, the had the odd one, two, three, four etc, it crept back for me so I had to be 100% dry. And it worked. Now, I say when, I say how much (never a lot!!) and I say when I stop xxx

Morning all.

Hope you had a good day yesterday Baby, did you do anything special?

Hi to welly, welcome to the bus. I don't think there is such a thing as 'normal', everyone is so different so you have to go with what suits you best. What level of drinking are you comfortable with? Does it affect your mood, health, happiness, that sort of thing.

Stuck if you want to have completely AF days you can use other reasons to avoid drink, if you think the message isn't get through but don't want to declare yourself an alkie

You can say that you are on a heath kick and are detoxing, or that you are really thirsty and just want a big glass of squash, or that you have a headache and will just have a cup of tea and a rest. Or just say, no thanks, not right now, maybe later.

I've cut right back for a long, long time now and dh still say 'are you sure' sometimes when I turn down alcohol. It's such a part of our culture, we noticed two eastern european men leave the pub garden yesterday lunchtime and both of them had only drunk half of their pint. They just walked off and left the rest. British people don't generally do that. I'd rather have a coke than leave half a glass of wine behind.

mouse lol at DEFCON 1. Will pm you tonight.
welly normal for me is about a bottle a night in a bad run, a couple of glasses a night on a good run and the very very occasional AF. Was only AF last night as still hungover from Sunday!
quick wave to all

Gah! found you again!

I managed to log myself out entirely and then couldn't manage to get back in. I briefly though about the quantity of time I spend on Mn & maybe I ought to stay logged out but couldn't stand the thought of that!

Last time I ever try to name change lol!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY baby

Happy Belated Birthday Baby, hope you had a fabulous day ??

Happy belated birthday baby!

Flying check in before sleep. So tired I can barely keep my eyes open.

Hello to the new posters.

khalisi, you ok babe? You're a bit quiet.

mouse awesome, inspirational words. Thank you.

G'night all

Mouse Thanks for the inspirational words (again!).I've just spent nearly an hour typing a load of crap. I've just read it back and realised it was very tedious so I've deleted it. Mouse and all you other wonderful AF ladies, one day I'll be where you are now! . xx

Hope you had a good day babyj xxx

Good morning, Babes!

A very happy belated, baby! Sorry to have missed your b-day, my darling babes! Hope you had a good one!

Welcome Stuck!
Good to see you are settling in well, babes!

Welcome to you too, Welly! I had so many visitors over the weekend and managed to stick with a glass of bubbly and max two glasses of wine.
I run a lot and after 15ks on Sunday I had no desire to drink. This carried over to Monday.
But I'm not planning on running everyday so I'm still struggling to keep a good balance on the other days. I've discover AF beer with grapefruit. DELISH.
I think we each try to find our normal. For me it is just trying to find the measure that allows me to remember the events of the previous evening.

Hey April! I'm fine, thank you, my lovely. Really enjoyed our run on Sunday! Although I had the house full I very selfishly took time out for myself! Couldn't let a babe wait!

Mouse, my darling, your post left me in tears. You all mean so much to me. Really.
My life could be a hell of a lot more difficult but I always have at least one of you there, in my kitchen, telling me alcohol will not solve the problem. Listening. Letting me go me, me, me without judging.

Thank you, to all Babes.

Hi babes,

Thank you all for your lovely birthday wishes, had a very chilled day at home, not because I was depressed or not drinking just because I'm always on the go and it was a rare treat to potter around with no "place to be" by certain time so my neighbour and I enjoyed a blether over coffee and baklava (a ridiculously good selection of sticky wee pastries from Lidl), she even had a few fizzy wines but I wasn't the least bit tempted. My relationship with booze is a strange one, I can go weeks without giving it a thought but when a depressive episode hits me like a train it becomes a weapon to hurt myself with, knock myself out with quite frankly dangerous amounts of booze, right now I don't recognise that pitiful woman with unwashed, matted hair and unchanged clothes who weeps and sleeps alternately for days. I know I should simply not have that first drink but last time it happened I don't even remember having it. I had to cut a huge clump of my long blond hair off as it was so matted I couldn't untangle it and lost a stone in a week. I'm getting so much better at reading the signs, but it still catches me out every 6 -8 weeks.

For those of you that don't know me well I went to the doctors a few years ago to discuss my anxiety And my bottle a night habit and ended up at the centre of a social services enquiry, it was horrendous so I don't want to seek medical help as the system betrayed me, but with the wonderful love and support of you guys and my own methods of helping myself, good diet, excercise, mindfulness I reckon I will win in the end.

I'm running out of juice so I'll pop back later xxx

Baby sticky goo sounds yummy You are doing brilliantly Baby Hippo Birdy for the other day and an AF birthday, so so well done

I've been having some huge 'fuck it' moments over the passed few days but I'm still sober by the skin of my teeth. Emotionally very close to the bone. Up and down moods, it's not pretty This sound pathetic, but I feel like my life is boring without booze does that make sense to anyone? I'm off to a festival at the weekend and it will be my first sober festival, sober dancing!!! no yummy cider for me Has anyone noticed how many ads there are on the tv for freking booze WTF And breathe.......

Waves to everyone x