Everyone should miss a flight at least once – as long as the location is congenial, the circumstances understandable and the mitigation reasonable. In my case the triad works perfectly: Rome; lunch; sloshed. It was an excellent meal in a little osteria on the Via Pellegrino, which curves gently behind the Vatican end of the Corso. I had caught up with an old university friend who was studying for the priesthood at the Venerable English College, and wine had been taken. “When are you heading back?” he asked, as the digestivi arrived.