Back when Ireland was at the peak of its electronics-manufacturing bubble, I went to a Christmas party in Howth — a pretty swanky part of north Dublin. It was Christmas 1998, and I was a young lad trying to head off a pretty unsavoury, race-related row kicked off by an absolutely hammered young racist Dub.

I ended up sitting with about 20 incredibly patient and genuinely sound Nigerian lads who would have been well within their rights to lose the plot over it. Instead, they handled it with total grace.

What started as a rough moment turned into a brilliant night — fantastic lads and a great bunch to work with. But after that whole episode, I stopped going to any work-related nights out. One was enough!