Dominic

In a pub there is talk of the last tube.  I realise that time is running out and turn to the table behind me.  A man with excitable hair is sitting alone with a pint of Guinness.  'You've done this everyday of 2012?' he asks.  I tell him that's correct.  He presses the button on his i-phone.  The screen is cracked.  'Do you know what time it is?' he asks.  'You've got twenty-six minutes left'.  I tell him that's why I'm asking.  'What'll you do is I refuse to tell you?' he asks.  I tell him that he will leave me in dire straits.  'It doesn't sound like you've got much of a plan', he says, 'but if you want to know my middle name I'd be delighted to tell you'.  He does.  He is Irish.  From Limerick.