he passed the mock half-timbered building at which his friend was landlord , and which of course offered its own opportunities for people-watching , were it after midday and so open to the public ; even then it seemed , as evidenced earlier that week , that hardly anything of real interest ever occurred in britains public houses before darkness fell ; it taking the extended consumption of alcohol , the drawing in of evening , and the threat of time being called to force the really dark and twisted stuff up out of the depths of the nations psyche .