A few weeks ago I took out my work team to celebrate the end of an important project in which we had all enjoyed success.

I left my car at home so that I could enjoy a few drinks but during the evening I got carried away in the freedom of the evening and I was very drunk and high spirited as I left to catch my train home.

My wife had kindly offered to me a lift home from the station, so I texted her to say which station I would be arriving at (there is a choice of two!) and at what time.

A few moments later my boss, who shares the name as my wife sent a message saying “wrong person”

I sent her a message back apologising for disturbing her at such a late hour and that I was drunk!

She wrote back “It made me laugh”

I wrote back “It made me cry”

When I arrived at work on Monday, I was a “laughing stock” but I fueled the humour by suggesting that the text exchange between me and the boss, that had been meant for my wife, had been more intimate in nature.

I pondered later why I was prepared to make myself a “laughing stock” and the butt of the joke to my colleagues.

I realise that for me, to live fully is to love and to laugh and the absence of either in my life would be “no laughing stock”

My next blog will be “Empathy”

William Defoe