sober and the small talk before play is harder than the play itself

is this just me? we played sober for the first time on a holiday in portugal last month, fully off the booze for me 14 months, my partner just didnt fancy any that trip. the actual physical bit, sex with another couple in a hotel suite, was honestly fine, brilliant even. the bit i found genuinely brutal was the 90 minutes of small talk at the bar beforehand. sober i find lifestyle small talk so STILTED, the same questions, "how long have you been doing this", "where are you from", "what do you do for work". with a glass of wine my brain skates over the boring bits. without it i was so aware of how scripted it all was. anyone else find the pre-play hour the hardest part of being sober...