‘Mike – stop shouting; you’re embarrassing me in front of my friends. If you say one more word, I swear I’ll never speak to you again.’ Mike, his scarlet face screwed up in rage, managed to keep his mouth shut but he pushed back his chair forcefully and stomped over to the other side of the table, closer to the rest of the group.

‘You have some lettuce on your neck,’ Hot Danish said, stifling laughter. Mike was too angry to respond. The row was over something petty but that wasn’t the most amusing part. As much as it sounded like a row between a couple; it was actually a heated argument between two former university friends. The guys had clearly spent too much time in the sun, drinking beer without having enough to eat. (The awful beach club restaurant service had delayed our dinner by several hours.)

Our childhood friends know our silly past mistakes so we can let loose and have fun. But sometimes things turn sour when we get carried away… Is it because we revert back to our puerile past when we catch up with our oldest mates or is it because our longstanding friends treat us like our former selves?

Similarly, our relationship rows are trivial at best; senseless at worst (wine throwing and ironing board surfing incidents spring to mind – moments that I had put down to passion). Perhaps it’s as simple (or moreover, as complex) as French writer Marcel Jouhandeau once said, ‘To really know someone is to have loved and hated him in turn.’