The company of women

For all my flatulence, I've never been comfortable in the company of blokes. Football bemuses me, I'm bad at telling jokes and the daft, banal banter that gaggles of men under the influence of testosterone spout, serves no other purpose than to irk me. The enduring male friends that I do have (as opposed to pals), share this same character trait.

I pretend of course. Christ, I do it for a living. What is Psychiatry and leadership if not smoke and mirrors? I've memorised countless sporting cliches and learned enough about the offside rule to pull the wool over the eyes of all but the most ardent sports fan.

But no matter how hard I try, I just can't care about bloke stuff. I find the company of women much more comfortable to be within. I'm relaxed and infinitely more inclined to open up, chat and just be myself.

Women tend to discuss the kind of things I'm interested in you see. Which is primarily other people. This suits me down to the ground, as I don't have to talk about myself.

I save that for you, my dear reader.