IT was a warm Friday as I slipped into the pub. The boys were in and Roger was at the bar and was miffed, I was distressed to hear, on two counts. Firstly, a round had just been bought – so I didn’t have to dip into my pocket, with Ivor kindly stepping in and buying me a fine glass of Doom Bar.

Pint in hand, I listened as Roger launched into his second complaint, which centred on me referring to his black vest, which I mentioned in last weeks’ article, as his best such outfit.

He pointed out that the sparkling white one he was wearing on this occasion was not only the actual best one, it was also a designer entity, something the sartorial Roger doesn’t usually concern himself with. Moreover, this fetching number had much wider shoulder straps, or whatever they are called, something the best-dressed shearers on Bodmin Moor are wearing this season.

The other team members were more sanguine over comments involving them in the column – Dave the Sand said he was just glad to get mentioned and Micky hadn’t read his name anyway, as he never does. Roger seemed to calm down with an additional Carlsberg to deal with and we could move on.

Conversation thereafter was wide ranging. One of the locals even tried to claim that global warming is caused by humans pumping oil out of the Earth’s crust, maintaining that the oil underground normally cools the Earth.

After trying to explain, on that warm day, that the crust temperature isn’t related to the Earth’s core temperature and anyway, oil is a lubricant, not a coolant, we felt it was time to make a dignified withdrawal, posh white vest and all. A very pleasant hour it had been.