cuba and TJ hughs

I sit in Cuba, but my mind wonders back to TJ Hughs in Liverpool. For 4 pounds I could buy a chess set with short glasses for pieces. The box did say that combining drinking with chess could only make a god thing better. However, it did strike me that drinking shorts and playing chess were sort of incompatble as the mind is dulled by alchol (otherwise we woud all drink juice). After 7 days in cuba things are more clear. Part of the plot of the book our man in Havena involves a game of draughts played with whisky bottles. A gun is required and this is the only way to get it. Part of plot of the book takes part in the Hotel Saville that is close to the (cheaper) hotel I am staying. Spooky. It is good thing that I don't travel to learn about myself.