IT'S interesting what a girl will confess to when she's got a man holding her feet in his lap. Even if he is attacking her corns with a scalpel at the time. I guess it has to do with baring one's soles, so to speak.

There I was, chatting away with my chiropodist about the new licensing laws and the effect they might have on York's nightlife, and the next moment I was owning up to having had a bit of a reputation as a party girl.

Admittedly, this was in the 1980s. How times have changed. These days I'm more of a party pooper. The nearest I get to intoxication is the bubbles-up-the-nose thrill of a full-fat Coke. I'm contemplating trying Red Bull, but I suspect it'll give me palpitations rather than wings.

Looking back, I did a bit of binge drinking myself and, like most young people, never thought of it that way. Drinking, both as a student and then as a journalist, was a way of life. It made you do silly things and it gave you an awful headache, but we never worried about the risks, let alone the long-term health consequences.

Now I wonder whether I am paying the price. In recent years my ability to handle alcohol has decreased to the point when a couple of glasses of wine would knock me out. A month ago I had half a glass of Champagne and felt bilious for the rest of the night. I decided there and then that was the last drink I was going to have.

My doctor hasn't been much help. "Perhaps you're like one of those horses that eats a windfall apple and keels over," was what he said when I consulted him about it. Well, gee, thanks doc.

The truth is, women cannot process alcohol like men and it takes far less to have an effect on us. This is because women have more body fat and less water in their bodies, so the alcohol becomes more concentrated in the blood. As a result, they are at risk of developing liver disease more rapidly than men, and on less alcohol. It also makes them more prone to breast cancer and can bring on early menopause.

Still fancy drinking until 1am or even later, girls? As of Thursday, you'll be able to do just that in many of York's pubs. The theory is that this will dilute the number of revellers pouring into the street at chucking up - sorry, out - time.

It will also, believes Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, curb our binge-drinking culture and introduce us to a more civilised caf society, a concept that more than half of Britain's senior police officers are having trouble with.

They suspect, as I do, that come 1am - most pubs have asked for an extension of one to two hours - people will not be lingering over a bottle of wine discussing Jean-Paul Sartre, but falling into the gutter rather later than before and a great deal more tanked up.

A letter to the Evening Press from A Glover, of Norton, made the point well. Ms Jowell's concern for the rights of cinema-goers to purchase a nightcap before toddling home is touching, but thirsty film buffs make up a small percentage of late-night boozers. How can one tell? They wear warm clothes for one thing. If you see someone in Coney Street in a coat - a rare sight I know - they're definitely not out on the razz.

I sometimes feel resentful that I can't drink any more. Skidding around the dance floor at Reflex is really not tolerable when you're sober. I've tried it. However, I am going to York's City Screen soon to see Chunky Butt Funky, the most brilliant soul act which is so much fun you're on a high even if you stick to J2O all night.

Afterwards, we are planning to go on to the Evil Eye Lounge, something there wouldn't have been time for previously. So thank you, Tessa, I shall order a virgin cocktail and drink to you.

I'm not looking forward to dodging the drunks/pools of vomit/people urinating in the street/fighting in taxi queues on the walk home, but hey, that's a small price to pay for this new freedom. Besides, now the police can issue on-the-spot fines of £80 for being drunk and disorderly I'm sure people will stop doing it.

Actually, now the yellow lines have been removed in town, I might bring the car in. It's a novelty to be able to enjoy a night out and drive home and I sometimes forget I can do it. I guess there are benefits to not drinking after all.

Updated: 16:12 Friday, November 18, 2005