TORONTO

Mayor Rob Ford admits he had an "unfortunate" slip this week by drinking after pledging to give up the booze.

But the civic leader said Wednesday he feels no need to apologize for his "personal, private setback."

While the news about him falling off the wagon generated international headlines, his decision to climb back on is unlikely to cause the same stir.

But the mayor insisted he has sworn off alcohol -- yet again.

"I am definitely," he said in an exclusive interview Wednesday night.

"I had an unfortunate setback, a bump, Monday," Ford acknowledged from his second- floor City Hall office in between returning constituent phone calls. "I have no excuse, but I am not apologizing for it."

Nor did he offer an explanation why he drank for the first time since last Nov. 1.

Or exactly with whom?

"I just don't want to get into it," he said. "I am not perfect. Something happened when I was out with friends. What can I do?"

He didn't get into a discussion about appearing in a video with, a source confirmed, his old pal, Alexander "Sandro" Lisi, who's before the courts on drug and extortion charges.

But in the past, Ford

has said Lisi isn't the person he has

been publicly portrayed as.

As for a recorded version of an apparently intoxicated

mayor doing a mini rant in

Jamaican Patois, Ford said it was just some good-hearted horsing around with friends.

The civic leader added he didn't intend to be derogatory, insisting he was joking to blow off some steam.

"I have a lot of Jamaican friends. I am from Rexdale. I coached football. Of course, I am close with a lot of Jamaican people and this is how we talk to each other."

He said no matter how it looked, it was benign.

It was, however, not lost on him that it was a cellphone video played around the world--once again showing him acting in an erratic manner.

Ford said he plans to move forward, put it behind him and get back on track, losing weight and getting heathy.

"You fall off the horse, you get back on the horse," he said. "That is what I am doing."

In fact, in between the mayhem at City Hall Wednesday, he said he went down to the gym for a workout.

"I think people know I do want to change my life and I am feeling well," he said. "But I am human. As I said, I am not perfect and I don't know anyone who is."

Ford also said that when the video came out he felt it was important to answer media questions honestly about the drinking episode, rather than offer denials for months as he did in last year's crack cocaine scandal.

"I am going in the right direction but this was definitely a bump in the road," he said. "I will get there. I am changing and I think everyone sees that."

On a lighter note, Ford said that while at the Steak Queen on Monday, one positive is he didn't break his strict diet.

"I had a chicken salad," he said with a laugh.