Social Pressure and incomprehension

I am encountering a lot of this at the moment. I am not sure if it is because of how people see me or how they see drinking as a whole. Whilst in the South of France we were sitting in Cannes having dinner watching the rich and the beautiful drifting past, I told a friend that I didn't drink anymore. He said, 'So when are you going to start again?' He assumed that I had just taken a temporary abstinence. When I said never. he said I was a twat and of course I would start again. I said he should go and give that supportive speech to the AA meetings!

Another friend I went out with last night just thought it was strange and a bit sad that we couldn't drink beers together anymore. He actually didn't drink as much as we would have done normally. Maybe in sympathy.