Friday, December 22, 2006

The Chairman cometh....

My oldest, dearest Drinking Companion in this crazy country, Tony 'The Chairman', is coming up to stay with me over the holiday weekend.... so any vague thoughts I might have been entertaining of continence and sobriety must soon be abandoned.

Appearances are deceptive with The Chairman - he seems so mild-mannered, inoffensive, dithery, distracted.... a stereotypical 'Ivory Tower' academic. You'd expect him to be tucked up in bed with a volume of Wittgenstein and a mug of cocoa by 9.30 every night. But he has a wild side. He is surprisingly fond of the long and late drinking session. I'm sure it will not be long before I shall once again be hearing his disingenuous catchphrase: "Well, we could have just one more. The night is still young."

He is surely the most maddeningly disorganized, selfish, indecisive, inconsistent, unreliable man I've ever met - but we've been through a lot out here together; and I love him to pieces. I have missed the old bastard since he moved 'down south' a couple of years ago.

I am bracing myself for four days of late-nights and constant liver-battery.

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