I remember attending a Christmas party a few years ago. At the time I was around 8 months sober and on the night I drove. I had great time with my friends and the food was really good. As the evening progressed most of the party were getting more and more drunk. I think out of the 20 who were there it was only me and two other ‘drivers’ who were sober. I noticed that one of my friends who was normally quiet was getting really loud and swearing quite a lot. Years ago I would never have noticed but it struck me as odd and out of character. When some of my friends spoke to me their breath smelt really bad and they were slurring and stumbling about. I noticed in the restaurant that there were a few families just out for a quiet meal. I felt really uncomfortable that my friends were being loud, swearing and generally obnoxious. They were completely oblivious to the scene they were creating but you could see some families felt quite threatened by their behaviour. By 11 pm I couldn’t wait to get out of there so I quickly said a few goodbyes and left. I don’t even think they realised I’d gone. On the drive home I thought about the evening and I was so glad I didn’t get involved with the drinking. I was equally glad that I could go to bed that night safe in the knowledge I’d wake up without a hangover.