Beer today, gone tomorrow.

It was the level dropping in my bottle of lager that first alerted me. Just little sips here and there, nothing too dramatic but enough to leave me wanting another bottle...obviously.

Horror stories of Nick's school associates drinking in the park after dark did nothing to allay my fears that he could be developing a bit of a taste for the amber nectar.

So I did what any responsible dad would do and took him out to Tesco to buy, in a father and son right of passage kind of way, his first case of stubby bottled beer.

Not the high alcohol content stuff but enough to encourage him to drink in a sensible, supervised manner...and not to nick mine!

But already he's trying to push the 'one bottle only on non school days' rule.

I just hope he's as happy to return the favour and buy me a beer when he's 18.

As he would say 'yeah right'.