NOW THAT THE holiday season upon us, perhaps you’re thinking about hitting the town to share a few beers with old friends.

But maybe you have no friends – that used to be a real obstacle.

Well, not anymore: Thanks to an events company called Kind Fairy all you need to do is get on the blower and order up a drinking buddy for the night. And not just any drinking buddy; you can tailor you request and order one who likes sports, or politics, or art – or even one who’ll whip out a guitar and sing to you.

The only real catch is that you’ll have to pop over to Ukraine to avail of this service.

“It is a pleasant companion who can enliven a boring evening,” Yulia Peyeva , head of Kind Fairy, told AFP: “Virtually all of our people are talented. They can play guitar, sing or recite poetry. Today you may want to talk about art and tomorrow to read Faust.”

It costs just 150 Ukrainian hryvnias (€14) to hire your special friend for the night, reports RTÉ, and Peyeva insists the service is offered on a strictly platonic basis.

However, she does add that there may be ulterior motives at play – namely that some clients consider therapy taboo and would rather discuss their problems with a stranger than seeing a psychologist.

Hmmm. And we were just thinking how wholesome it was to order friendship over the phone…