A whole day has passed since the conclusion of the 2015 World Championship in Sheffield and I’m sure some of us are feeling a snooker hangover.
The entire season was jam-packed, particularly in the second half, but the month of April and the first few days in May was as relentless with baize action as it comes.
While the break from the constant play is obviously welcome, it can become difficult to readjust back to the normality of everyday life without the sport on our screens.
Matt Huart over at ProSnookerBlog wrote an excellent piece about the trials of attempting to escape the bubble of being at the Crucible full-time over the course of the 17 days.
Having experienced periods at the venue myself in previous years, I can fully endorse the talents that Matt and the other media guys, players, refs and World Snooker officials who spend all of their time in Sheffield have – it’s undoubtedly a skill.
But it’s also taxing on everyone else who watch from afar, albeit from the comfort of their own home.
Everything snooker-related becomes a part of your daily routine.
What time are the sessions on at? When does the television coverage begin? What sessions can I realistically afford to miss watching? Do I have enough supplies in? Who’s going to walk the dog? Can I possibly pull a sickee? Will my other half still love me come the end of it all?
So on Tuesday when I woke up I felt decidedly odd.
There was no round-up article to write, no upcoming match to preview. Twitter was as dead as a dodo but I still couldn’t help myself from checking every half an hour (it was less time than that but I’m ashamed). I was able to meet my girlfriend – who!?
Well, it’s Wednesday now and the hangover persists. I should enjoy this respite while I can but the obsession lingers on.
So what now?
Well, for any freaks out there, which seems to now include me unless I can make a recovery in time, there is actually some snooker to keep an eye on in May.
The annual Q-School gets under way on the 14th and runs for 11 days as eight amateurs graduate onto the Main Tour.
On the Irish front, it’s the National Championship on the weekend of the 22nd/23rd/24th, with the final 16 players gunning for domestic glory at the Ivy Rooms.
Of particular interest to everyone in Ireland that weekend in Carlow should be the AGM, in which players et al ought to have their say on how the game is run in the country.
Aside from that, though, it’s time to play the waiting game, with the 2015/16 campaign to get under way at the start of June.
Who knows a good hangover cure?
The next pro snooker is the Australian Open qualifiers on June 1, played at Crawley, near Gatwick Airport, for once not faraway up the country. Hopefully this will start a trend of bringing pro snooker further south.