Overindulgence and heavy partying normally leads to feeling as if Death himself decided to do ten rounds with you in a ring when you wake up the next day.  I’ve noticed that the older I’m getting the longer and more painful the hangovers are.

In my early 20’s hangovers were but a mere myth.  I would easily go out, get rather trollied, go clubbing and be at my desk the next morning bright eyed and bushy tailed.  At the very most I may have needed a coffee.  Nowadays however a hangover will mean that I’m lucky if I see the afternoon of the next day and even then if I’m not vomiting it’s a major plus.  A typical bender will leave me ill for about 2 days now and although I have it sussed where I can normally stop before it gets that bad, sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men go up the proverbial shitter as soon as someone mentions shots.

Therefore this is a list of my favourite hangover cures for you all to try out as/when applicable.  I hope you never have to use it, however the only way I can guarantee that you wont, is if you don’t drink in the first place and if you’re willpower is anything like mine…

*  Before you go out eat something.  Make it something stodgy too.  Anything that’s going to line your stomach.  Research indicates the fattier the meal the better.

*  Make yourself neck about 2 pints of water before you go to bed, more if you can.  I’ve found that this will either eliminate or lessen the after effects.  Even if I have to stay up and go to the toilet another 3 times during the night it will be worth it the next day.  Bonus points if you are semi conscious enough to brush your teeth/take your make up off too.

*  Sleep.  Lots of it.

*  Fizzy Lucozade (it’s full of electrolytes that your body needs, even more so if you’ve been vomiting).  Did you know it was invented by a fellow Northerner?  My favourite is the orange flavour.

*  Fizzy Fanta.  None of this zero sugar lark.  I normally need the full fat stuff, if anything to help with the shakes.

*  Food.  When I have a hangover I normally only crave either of two things:  Pizza or Eggs.  I love the fact that I can order a pizza without even ringing up thanks to Domino’s website.  If you go down this route it’s worth looking online for money off vouchers.  My hangover pizza normally only consists of cheese, onion, mushrooms and possibly sweetcorn.  If a pizza is too much of a challenge then egg on toast is a good call too (boiled/scrambled/fried) or a banana.

*  If food is a complete no no then a mug of vegetable bouillon is pretty good too, purely because it helps replenish some of the salt and potassium you’ve lost due to the alcohol.  I’d never even considered this before until I read it elsewhere and I tried it and it definitely helped.

*  A shower.  If I’m able too I’ll throw myself into the shower where I’ll wash my hair (and the smell of cigarettes away) and myself.  Sometimes it may take all my strength to climb into it and I will just stand there for half an hour whilst I try and muster the very basic of motor skills whilst drinking the shower water (yes really) but once I’m dressed and dried I normally feel so much better.

*  I’m rather scared of taking pain killers when hungover.  I’m allergic to aspirin and a doctor friend once advised that taking Paracetamol is rather dangerous as it gives your already overworked liver even more work to do.  So I normally just do without.  At the very most I’ll either have a sachet or two of Dioralyte and/or maybe some Motilium to settle my tummy.

*  A good TV series, either a box set of something on Netflix.  I have to admit when my attention span is rubbish I’d rather watch a TV series than a film so that if I fall asleep during, I won’t have to rewatch the whole thing.  My TV show of choice at the moment has to be American Horror Story.

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I spent Saturday baking my now infamous “Boozy Christmas Cake”. After 4 hours of sitting in the oven and infusing my kitchen with delicious smells, it is now living in a Tupperware box and being fed shots of booze whenever it’s feeling a bit thirsty. It’ll probably continue to live like this until a week before Christmas when I’ll get some marzipan, apricot jam and icing to finish it off. I’m actually really proud of myself and my cake so far.

Make a wish…

Nom.

I decided earlier this year that this Christmas I would be making my own Christmas Cake. This came about after I’d heard the legend of a Christmas Cake recipe that listed a whole bottle of Jack Daniels in it’s ingredients (I bloody love JD). Apparently the recipe is/was by Nigella Lawson but I’ve scoured all of her books and all over the internet and I can’t find any mention of it. Reluctantly I’ve gave up on the idea of a JD Christmas Cake but I did find this recipe by Delia Smith that I’m using instead. I started the pre-soaking stage yesterday and I do believe that once this cake is actually done and dusted, one slice will be guaranteed to give you a hangover the next day. So far the mixture smells like mulled wine. The only changes I’ve made to the recipe is that I added in some dates, sultanas and mixed spice to it (I already had them in and thought they should belong in this epic cake), I also wasn’t able to get my hands on any cherry brandy either so I’m substituting that with some Celtic Spirit Black Mountain (it’s apple and blackcurrant brandy). It’s really yummy and reminds me of Ribena and jam.

For this year. Despite how Autumn and Winter look, what with the red leaves and snow I still dislike this time of the year. I really don’t like being cold. Below are a few photos taken during the Summer.

The laundrettes near where I live. The Toy Dolls wrote a song about it. When I was at Uni a load of French students rented the flat above it. There were some mad parties there. Lot’s of Daft Punk was played there if I recall. I’ve always loved the old Vaux adverts painted on the side.

This was taken at some stupid time in the morning due to me thinking it would be a great idea to go to the beach after clubbing so by my estimate it’ll have been around 5:30am. I remember getting some funny looks from joggers and people walking their dogs before they went to work. In fairness I was probably still drunk and am 99% sure I would have been splodging. Saves you from getting a hangover however as I discovered.

On route to a friends house.

A daft photo of me on a kids ride at the beach. Have I ever mentioned how much I love living beside the sea? Well I do.