Hitch-hiking, we were sad to admit, was no longer the adventure of former times.  We lived in a different world now, one where you couldn't just hit out with a bag of provisions, wave your thumb, and get a lift anywhere in the country... For one thing, the volume of traffic in Ireland had increased so much in the past ten years it was a wonder there was any room left for anything else but cars!

Still the night wore on, and the yarns kept coming.  Anyone with a bit of recording equipment would have captured enough material for a fair-size anthology of hitching tales.  However, the regular and prodigious intake of Guinness by all concerned would be sure to make recall difficult - an unfortunate (tho' often merciful) effect of that cosmic beverage.

No doubt the conversation would have tailed off soon after, our weary brain cells moving on to dissect some other matter of pressing worldwide importance.  Usually by closing time we would prove ourselves able to solve all the problems of this sad muckball of a planet:- war, poverty, hunger, the romantic difficulties of our leaders (elected and otherwise).  But all of a sudden, in walked The Glass Hoover...

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