It’s hard to be sociable with work colleagues out of hours when the popular pastime is going to the pub and getting blind drunk, possibly followed by staggering to a nightclub and getting paralytic.

That’s just not my style.

As a student, I did this from time to time – I wasn’t proud of it, I didn’t like it.

I like socialising, and I like going to pubs – I just don’t like living in them and losing all sense of mind, balance and constitution.

I like a few drinks – even that’s pushing it these days. Maybe a couple of pints or a couple of glasses of red wine.

I’ve had some unfortunate cocktail moments, and I won’t be touching those in large measure again.

I don’t understand the predominantly British culture of getting drunk as often as possible, then boasting about it as an achievement. All it achieves is losing a lot of money (and often, effectively, vomiting it down the drain). I’d rather save my time and money for things I’ll remember and enjoy.

Most of my friends aren’t into this sort of culture either – I suppose that’s not a surprise, as the groups are by nature quite different. Don’t get me wrong; I get on with my colleagues but I’m just not into the social attachments. Quite apart from anything else, it’s boring sitting in a pub all evening – the drink just makes it go quicker and be easily forgettable.