After a heavy session on the ale the night before, Gordon had a nagging feeling that he'd forgotten to do something that morning before leaving for the crag.

If you mean I was climbing fast, it's true, because I had the luxury of being third man on the rope and not having to take off any runners. I think I was up the route in less than two minutes.

I was thinking more along the lines of you having forgotten to change out of your pyjama trousers.

Ah, I was a bit dim there! Strange that, as little as 13 years ago, people still had fewer hang=ups about what they were wearing at a crag. Most of us, in a spirit of jest, now largely lost, preferred to look faintly ridiculous. Those thin cotton trousers were fun to climb in, and very good on hot summer days if one's legs were already slightly sunburnt.