Wine, the vape, the order, the bar and the phone

Every treat has its own book in this series, and this one has stayed on the logic that runs across them. But the logic lands differently depending on what the treat is, and some of the differences matter for safety. So, each in turn.

Wine, or whatever the glass is. This is the one to be careful with. Chapter 6 did the count, and if yours came out well over fourteen units a week, the NHS advice is to cut down, spread what you drink over three or more days, and have drink-free days. That's the blank day, and it's the right method. But there's a line the NHS draws that this book has to draw too. If you've become physically dependent, meaning that a day without makes you anxious, or you've noticed sweating, shaking or nausea in the morning, then the NHS says stopping overnight could be harmful and you should get advice from a GP about how to cut down and whether you need medicine to do it safely. That advice comes before any blank day. The NHS page on alcohol support names a free national helpline, Drinkline, and local alcohol services, and a GP is the place to start. The drink didn't do that, earlier in this series, is the book for the nightly glass once you're safe to change it.

The cigarette or the vape. The treat logic applies, and the earning is the same sentence. But nicotine adds a mechanism this book hasn't covered, which is that the relief of having one is largely the relief of a need the last one created, and that changes the method. The cigarette does nothing and The vape in your pocket are the books, and I'd read them before applying the blank day to nicotine, because a blank day with nicotine is withdrawal and needs its own handling.

The bar, the biscuit, the fridge. If the treat is food, The biscuit tin covers sugar as a reward and Eat when you're hungry covers eating for a feeling, and You were full ten minutes ago covers not stopping. The proper treat in chapter 20 is what all three would call pudding, chosen and sat down for. And the preface's caution stands. If eating feels out of control, or you undo it afterwards, that's the NHS eating disorders page and Beat, not a method.

The order, the parcel, the takeaway. You didn't want it yesterday is about buying for the lift, Put the card away is about what it does to the balance, and Cook the simple thing is about the takeaway that became Thursday. The daily here is the easiest to see on a bank statement and the easiest to blank, because the hour can be filled with the pan.

The episode and the phone. The next episode and The phone can wait cover the screen versions, and the blank day for these is the one that surprises people most, because the flat evening turns out to be about forty minutes long and then there's a whole evening in it.

Mine is different. It isn't, in the part that matters. It arrives at an hour, it comes with a sentence, and it can't tell a good day from a bad one. That's the daily, whatever's in the glass.