The Great Cue Ball In The Sky

People are so very different - and I wouldn't want to argue that that is not a good thing. How strange is it that one man's prison camp can be another man's holiday camp? People do actually come on holiday to this hotel. They quite probably never go outside for the duration of their stay. There is no need, and actually probably little point, as it's located amidst a rather dull suburbia. Apparently, one of the attractions is the means to eat and drink all day without ever having to get your wallet out! My reaction to such possibility of excess is to be driven the other way. I had a very small breakfast and an even lighter lunch, but I'm now feeling hungry and looking forward to dinner. I like that feeling of eating when my stomach is actually growling.

After my couple of games of pool last night, having showboated a bit at the end with a couple of trick shots, I let it drop to my playing partner about my old snooker record. This morning the whole crew here had heard and wanted to know more. It's not something I've thought about in years. As a kid I loved the Guinness Book of Records. I got a new edition every Christmas and poured over all those records. I so wanted to have my name in there. When I went to University (Royal Holloway College just outside London), I found a couple of mates prepared to indulge my ambition. This Snooker endurance record was one of only a few which seemed in anyway possible for a shy young lad with no great talent at anything except mathematics.

We played our marathon match during rag week of my first year. It was a fantastic way to get to know people because the table was situated between the hall of residence and the bar. We got support all day and much of the night too. It was quite crazy though. The days were surprisingly easy to get through but the nights were so hard. We were generally playing for an hour at a time and then had half an hour break. We couldn't really be allowed to fall properly asleep because it would have been impossible to wake us up again. We were literally zombies in the early hours of the morning.

One memory which I've never forgotten is of actually waking up in the middle of a frame. Dream and reality got utterly confused. Up until then my conscious mind had turned off completely. As I emerged from sleep I had no idea where I was, except that I had a cue in my hand and was playing a game of snooker. I kept playing shots and gradually things came back to me. I remember it as being more than a little scary.

One of my playing partners went through an even more bizarre episode when he completely lost any knowledge of the rules of the game. We thought he was joking at first but it was totally genuine. We had to tell him which ball to hit and what the objective was. He gave us these strange looks of incredulity, asking why and questioning what the point of it all was. It was hard to really answer that. The odd thing was that although he had no idea what he was doing or for what reason, the balls usually slammed right into the back of the pocket!

After it was all over we were invited straight out to an end of rag week party. I had no recollection of that beyond the first drink. Apparently I passed out and had to be carried back to my room. I slept for a solid 24 hours. I've never really been a party animal!

So, it's been a long and intense day here, but, as usual, we've achieved a lot. Things are now really coming together. I did escape for a short walk around the suburban block at lunchtime just as the morning fog was clearing. This was another of those gifts from the Blip Gods that I've almost come to expect. Thank you up there.

Edit note: Changed this from mono back to colour because everyone seemed to think it was a shot of the moon! I took this in the middle of the day.