At a function the other day, I was kindly offered a choice of drink; the first, a Virgin Mary (sans alcohol), the other, a Bloody Mary.

Somehow, the idea of drinking a Virgin Mary sounds all wrong, completely and deeply heretical.

Like,

"What will you have?"

"Make mine a Virgin Mary."

It's just the religious overtone: To drink the mother of the Son of God just can't be right.

On the other hand, imbibing a Bloody Mary before the sun was even over the yardarm seems like a sure way to find oneself on the well trodden road to hell.

I won't tell you what I had, the devil's in the detail.