They both expressed disappointment. They worked in an amusement centre. I had noticed several as I searched Lifford for a place to stay. It was very popular, they both agreed. It would be open the following day and I could go if I wanted to. The clock on the wall ticked slowly. It was now only a quarter to two and the dance wouldn’t be over until two and it would surely be half an hour after that before the owner of the house would get home. I asked about Strabane, just over the bridge in the North, but they said they didn’t go there much. Fifteen minutes was then filled with an account by the aunt of a robbery at the amusement centre. We agreed that times were bad, but it was still only five past two.

They talked between themselves for a while, the two of them, while I sat on the sofa immersed in self-pity. I was going to rest for several days, I decided, and in future I was going to walk in small doses. Over the next hour we made several efforts to talk to each other, some of which succeeded to a limited degree. The proprietor finally returned and relieved the aunt and her son at a quarter to four. She found me blankets and opened out the sofa to make a bed.

I fell into a deep sleep, to be woken in the morning by a question: What would I like for my breakfast? I sat up and looked around. It was nine, she said, some of the other lodgers were having breakfast. Did I want mine now? I said I would wait for a while.

It was afternoon when I woke again and the sun was hot. It was time to wash myself, pay the bill and move on. There was still a festival on in Lifford. A group of boys had brought a huge transistor radio to a piece of grass near the customs post at the bridge. They sat with their shirts o....drinking cans of beer, trying to attract the attention of a group of girls who were sitting on the windowledge of a nearby shop and indulging in horseplay. In the main square a man sat on the stage and played traditional Irish tunes on an accordion; people stood and listened.

Around the corner there was a field where there were to be races and games, but most of the children were attracted by a