It was around about then that I started to tune out, but for all intents and purposes I still appeared - to the untrained eye - totally engrossed. It's a special knack I developed in Taxation Law tutorials and fine tuned working in real estate. Without actually taking anything in, I can look a man in the eye through an entire conversation, nod at the appropriate moments and bluff the occasional vaguely related question to set them back on their way. It works a treat and although as a tactic it may appear crude, I put it to you that it's much more courteous than many other methods available to the bored listener. I'm nothing, if courteous. When you have the attention span of a cocker spaniel it can help you through some decidedly tedious situations.
Anyway, the minutes passed in a blood stained, liniment scented blur of scrums and fly halves and before you could say converted try, Jim made the call for last drinks. And strangely enough no one seemed that bothered. I'm not saying that Mick wasn't charming in a mono-topical kind of way, it was more that the day, the fresh air, a big feed and a few beers had really taken it out of us. I'm not sure if Brecon was the type of place that kicked on much after dark anyway, but for the first time in a long time, I really had no desire to find out.
I woke early to the slightest of hangovers. More a thirst than a hangover and if I'm honest, nothing an OJ and a steaming mug of Java wouldn't mend. The flimsy lace curtains did less than the condensation build up on the windows to block the sun from our room, but I didn't care too much. It was a bright new day, I was in a whole other country and down the road, Hay-on-Wye promised more book shops in one square mile than I could scour in a month.
'Morning Craig, how's the head?' I croaked as Tut stirred to life in the bed to my left.
'Surprisingly good thanks Doddo. And yours?'
'Yeah. Kinda weird that second day hangover thang, it's never as bad as the first.'
'True. You should write an article on that theory mate.'
'Well mate, note sure if it's worthy of an article, but I may just mention it in something I write one day.'
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