Decided on Sunday to stop drinking for a couple of weeks. I don’t drink at home much so it’s only in the pub that temptation strikes. Last night was the first test. Arrived, ordered a lime and soda, sat sipping it – this isn’t so bad. Sarah and Steve and Sarah’s friend Alex were there, I sat listening to a story Sarah was telling and reached for my drink. She stopped telling it. “Odd”, I thought.

“Um, that’s my cider.” said Alex.

Cue mortification. As soon as my brain was momentarily distracted my hand had reached out for the reassuring shape of a pint of lager (well, it looked like lager). Hats off to Pavlov. None of poor Alex’s cider passed my lips, thankfully. But this might be tougher than I thought.