Brace yourself. If you are thinking of having a cheeky, but quiet, mid-week drink down the pub, you won’t be alone.

Tomorrow marks the last day of Dry January, a month which is growing increasingly popular as four weeks of cleaner living after weeks of guzzling.

After the excesses of Christmas and New Year, many people are ditching the alcohol for January to give their liver a rest and maybe raise a bit for charity.

And fair play to them. Every little helps.

But without sounding holier than thou (because I wouldn’t practise what I preach), surely from tomorrow it should be “let’s get back on it slowly February”.

After a month of gin drought, it can’t be good to celebrate the re-launch with a binge, can it? In the past few days, I’ve heard about people who haven’t just jumped off the wagon, but taken a flying leap over it with gusto.

Because they couldn’t quite hold out until the end of the month, many gave up at some point over the weekend “because it made no sense to start drinking mid-week”. If that’s the case, why not hold out until next weekend?

Still, as someone who hasn’t taken up the challenge, I have little to shout about.

My only defence is that I’m drinking less anyway, but not for health reasons. Sadly, the older I get, the less I can drink. Forget Dry January, I’m on Cut-Down 2017.

On the odd occasion that I do drink mid-week, any more than one measure and I’ve a headache all next day.

Bizarrely, my body does seem to have settled into a drinking calendar and while I can enjoy a few more tipples at the weekend, my tolerance levels are now so low, I’m a far cheaper date than I used to be.

I once gave up alcohol for a whole year, even going on an all-inclusive holiday where the bar staff were completely flummoxed, and run ragged dragging the non-alcoholic beer and fruit juice from bar to bar as we moved around the hotel. Did I feel better? Of course I did. But was it as much fun? Definitely not.

So to all the members of the Dry January Club – enjoy the celebration but beware the hangover.