It drops us into a vigorous current, a constant state of misguided control. The doomed generation takes a final step forward, ignoring all the signs … - Hunter S. Thompson

Not much of what he said was original. What made him unique was the fact
that he had no sense of detachment at all. He was like the fanatical football fan who
runs onto the field and tackles a player. He saw life as the Big Game, and the whole
of mankind was divided into two teams — Sala's Boys, and The Others. The stakes
were fantastic and every play was vital — and although he watched with a nearly
obsessive interest, he was very much the fan, shouting unheard advice in a crowd of
unheard advisors and knowing all the while that nobody was paying any attention to
him because he was not running the team and never would be. And like all fans he
was frustrated by the knowledge that the best he could do, even in a pinch, would be
to run onto the field and cause some kind of illegal trouble, then be hauled off by
guards while the crowd laughed.

The waitress had the appearance of a very old hooker who had finally found her place in life

These things happen. One day you run everything, and the next day
you run like a dog.