Moving to Australia

I sit here writing this post on the 31st of August 2025.

For 41 and a bit years, I've spent most of my time in the UK. Yes, there has been an odd foray to Spain, Portugal, and Turkey on a summer holiday - I've always returned to Coventry, England, though, to carry on with life.

Tomorrow, my family will board a flight to Adelaide, Australia, to start a new life.

This ain't no summer holiday though.

This is intended to be for life.

If any panicked family members read this, we will, of course, make the occasional journey back to the UK.

Heck, we may hate it and return to the UK full-time.

It will be an adventure, and that is exciting!

The Great Unknown

There are so many unknowns at the moment, from things as simple as what company to use for internet and mobile phones.

To more complex choices, like schools for the children.

This is a blog about drinking, though, or not drinking to be more precise.

So that is also at the forefront of my mind, believe it or not.

"Will I be accepted as a non-drinker in Australia?"

Clearly, I'm not talking literally here. I don't expect to be turned around at the Adelaide airport security gates if I haven't got a suitcase full of Fosters.

(I know they don't drink that shite btw)

I mean, socially, I have a picture in my mind of Aussies gathered around the barbecue, all with a beer in hand, talking about the cricket, etc.

Then there are the migrant Poms that are already there (perhaps I'm supposed to use the term ex-pats? Don't get political Chris, you're not Stewart Lee).

We all know how much we Brits like to drink and once upon a time, the thought of meeting new people sober would have been nightmarish to me.

To be honest, I've looked at the statistics and both Countries have similar stats and levels of alcohol consumption.

Based on that, I really am worrying about a problem that probably doesn't exist.

At least not any differently from here in the UK.

Master of my own Domain

To quote Jerry Seinfeld, I am master of my own domain when it comes to drinking alcohol.

That will not change due to my geographical location.

I will likely encounter people who think I'm insane for not drinking alcohol, and those who are totally cool with it.

The trick is to not really care what other people think!

To me, not drinking feels good, and that is all that matters.

Using Alcohol as a Coping Mechanism

There may have been times in my life when stress-induced drinking was a thing. I briefly referred to awkward social gatherings, which is an example of drinking to cope.

On the scale of things, the stress caused by the entire move (from the UK to Australia) blows that out of the water, to be honest.

Over the last few months, it's often been too busy to find the need to distract myself with a coping mechanism.

When I have had a moment, though, I have spent time learning new web development technologies and reading books.

I wish I'd have gone out doing more exercise and running, but that simply hasn't happened.

Just finding something else to do, other than drinking is the key.

To round this up, how will starting a new life in Australia affect my sober life?

Truthfully, until it happens, I do not know.

What I do know is that currently, I have a working set of principles, and there is no good reason I should go to Australia and change those.

If I stick with that, I'll be OK.