Rob for a few seconds before spotting him shinning up a lamppost.
There must have been around a hundred to a hundred and fifty people walking towards us. They seemed generally well ordered and, although obviously excited by everything that was happening around them, they also seemed calm and even-tempered. There was no jostling or fighting for position as far as I could see.
At the very centre of the crowd, standing slightly taller than most of the assembled humans, were two aliens. From where I stood I could see little more than the tops of their large, white-haired heads. As they approached, however, they gradually came into view. I glanced across at Rob but he didn't look back. He was transfixed. His eyes were fixed firmly on the visitors.
The people moving along with the aliens had formed a deep and protective circle around them. As they neared I was able to see slightly more of the creature's tall, gangly bodies. Although appearing willowy, slight and long of limb, they walked confidently and with clear strength and poise. They carried themselves with impressive dignity and composure and did not seem at all fazed or pressurised by the relentless curiosity of the humans gathered around them.
They were level with the front of the pub when the man appeared.
At first insignificant and looking to all intents and purposes like just another member of the vast alien appreciation society, he stood motionless in the middle of the pavement and waited for the advancing crowd to swallow him up. With his arms folded defiantly across his chest he stood and waited. The people moved around him - like water flowing round a boulder in the middle of a stream - but when the aliens reached him they stopped. The crowd fell silent when the aliens stopped moving.
'I want to ask a question,' the man spat venomously, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.
'Ask,' replied the first alien in a medium-pitched, slightly monotonous voice.
'I want to know why you're here?'
'You know why we're here.'
'What do you want?'
'You know what we want.'
The man stared into the alien's face and continued to stand his ground. The second alien remained silent. It pushed out its chest and lifted its head, making it appear a good six or seven inches taller than it had done originally. Other than that no-one else moved. There was a brief moment of silence and unexpected, almost unbearable tension.
'I don't trust you,' he hissed at the aliens, still glaring intently into the face of the first creature. 'I don't care what you say or what you do, I just don't fucking trust you.'
The alien slowly lifted a single hand into the air and uncurled its unnaturally long fingers.
'Stop,' it said, quietly and calmly. 'Just stop talking and take a look around you.'
Obediently (perhaps instinctively) the man slowly and cautiously turned to look into the faces of the vast crowd which surrounded him on all sides.
'What?' he mumbled anxiously.
'Take a good look around. How many other people are objecting to us being here? How many other people don't trust us? We don't want anything from you. We're stuck here until we can get home and that is all there is to it. We're sorry if you take objection to our being here, but there's really nothing we can do about it.'
The stand-off lasted for two or three seconds longer.
'I just don't believe you...' the man muttered again.
'Go home,' the second alien said in a softer, more soothing tone than that of its colleague. 'Please go home. We don't want any trouble.'
Rather than wait to see if there would in fact be any trouble, the two aliens instead neatly side-stepped the lone protester and continued to move down the street. All at once the crowds of people began to babble and chatter again. Less than half a minute later and the man was left standing alone on the pavement, arms hanging down by his sides dejectedly, the sound of the passing crowd still ringing in his ears.
'Shit,' Rob yelped as he slid down the lamppost and ran over to the table where I stood. 'Did you see that?'
'What was the matter with him?' I wondered. 'Poor bugger, I guess he just wanted to...'
'Not him,' Rob snapped, annoyed, 'the aliens. We saw one!'
'We saw two,' I corrected.
'I don't believe it,' he sighed, grinning from ear to ear. 'I just don't bloody well believe it!'
I climbed down off the table and picked up the remains of my pint.
'Shall we head