It was 1998, and we were in the Carrefour hypermarket in Compiegne buying a few essentials before utilising our Euro passports at a brief check in Calais before crossing the Channel seamlessly into a different European country.

As my holiday rule is ‘we drink the local brew’, I was looking for a bottle of pernod to bring back to allow me to enjoy a leisurely pastis in the driving sleet of an Aberdeen backie during the late summer.

There were dozens of different brands on offer, and my browsing was concluded by the co-owner of the former endowment mortgage shortfall pointing out ‘the very one for you’.

I supped ‘Fanny’-based pastis for months afterwards, but never saw Craig Hignett play in an Aberdeen shirt at that time.