It was a route I had walked many times before but never at this time in the morning. I was well aware of where I had been, what I had been doing and where I was going but there seemed to be something unfamiliar, something not quite right.

It had been a great night out that Friday evening, a great group of people socialising and enjoying themselves. Copious amounts of alcohol had been consumed, the empty beer, wine and champagne bottles were testament to that. The bar closed at midnight, people started to make their way outside. Someone shouted loudly that he had some drinks at his house and we were welcome to go back to his. A few took him up on his offer, myself included. We strolled up the road towards the house where more drink awaited us. The air was not too cold considering it was still winter and it was after midnight. Perhaps it was the influence of alcohol on the body that was shielding us from the cold, perhaps the intoxication meant we did not feel it as bad as it was. It was with some relieve, however, when we arrived at our destination, the warmth of indoors was inviting; the chance to lose the jackets again, relax and chill, have a drink and continue the joviality of earlier.

We sat around the table in the kitchen and with no television or radio acting as a distraction the conversation was soon in full flow, just as it had been earlier. I will not bore you with any details of what was said, there is a good chance you would not find it as enjoyable as those that took part and there is also a good chance that you may find it difficult to understand what it was about due to it being the kind of conversation that only a group of close individuals could have. Any outsider would have easily felt left out, not knowing the ins and outs of all that was being said. One thing for sure, everyone there was having a great time and the drink was flowing fast and time seemed to be moving just as quick. I do not want you, dear reader, to be fooled into thinking that we were all drunk, unable to walk, falling all over the place, unable to string two words together. If you have thought that then you do us a great disservice. Although the drink had been flowing there was not one person there who was ‘out of it’ as the expression goes. Perhaps the level of intoxication had managed to help open people up but the talk that was ongoing could not have been more coherent if we had all been tee-total.