(Overheard on the bus at midnight. Two men, both slurring, slumped on the back seat and reeking of an evening of liquid exuberance.)

“What did you think about tonight, mate? Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah.”

“I dunno what you reckon, but I reckon that the…the life force has gone out of ‘ammersmiff these days”

“Yeah.”

“It’s so important for a place to have a life force, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“Hammersmith used to have loads of it, but these days…well, I dunno, it’s just gone, ain’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe next time we could go on a train down to Clapham, there are loads of pubs - great pubs, they’ve got so much life force, mate, it’s untrue! What do you reckon, should we do that sometime?”

“Yeah.”

“I tell you what, how about this, why don’t we go out tomorrow night, I’ll drive - I won’t drink any more than a couple of shandies - anywhere you like in London, anywhere at all. What do you think? Fancy it?”

“Yeah.”

“The most important thing in the world is life force. You have to be places with good life force, you have to find them”

“Yeah.”

“Otherwise you’re nuffink.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll find somewhere with life force, mate, I promise. We’ll find it.”

“Yeah.”