And I've worked a few things out for myself as well, about friendship, ambition, rejection, success, failure, adversity and fortune. With any luck, some of these thoughts and observations will chime with episodes and challenges you have faced, or are facing, in your own life. And if they don't, well, hopefully, at the very least you'll get to have a good old laugh at my expense.

So lean back, pour yourself a glass, and try not to fall through the bar flap.'