'Tis the season to be jolly...

....and to humiliate yourself at the office Christmas party. Or not, as the case may be.

Late last Wednesday evening I was dispatched across Manchester city centre in the pouring rain and howling gale, to hijack some poor other randoms' festivities.
The mission, for the Independent features desk, saw me frantically dashing from bar to bar in search of a gathering of raucous, drunken office workers - preferably ones wearing party hats, tinsel and flashing earrings. Easier than it sounds, since most were either sitting at tables in private rooms where riff-raff like me couldn't bother them, or going out for their party some other night.
I eventually happened upon possibly the most sober group in Manchester - a bunch of youth workers who spend their professional lives dissuading teenagers from binge drinking. Judging by the other pieces in the feature, I think I drew the short straw...