Party conferences can be emotionally draining.
Too much drinking, not enough sleep, rambling speeches, painfully niche debate, pointless points of order.
So it was not entirely welcome when a chirpy Scouse taxi driver taking me home one night gleefully informed me that my hotel was the scene of a brutal murder.
My bedtime reading was the court report from the Liverpool Echo detailing how the 90 injuries suffered by the victim were inflicted.
The crime scene was room six, which of course was mine for the duration of the conference.
I did note earlier how clean the room was.
It was in that frame of mind that I emerged to hear Jeremy Corbyn’s address and reflect on the state of the Labour party.
Like my hotel choice on the outskirts of Liverpool, Labour is in a difficult place.
Again its UK conference has been dominated by division and disarray over how Labour fights the Tory brand of Brexit.
The Labour leadership is slowly being dragged by its base towards supporting a second EU referendum, but the shift is exposing tensions at the top of the party.
Eurosceptic leader Jeremy Corbyn is fudging his position, in part because nailing his colours to the mast would haemorrhage voters from a core support that includes staunch Remainers of the metropolitan elite and disenfranchised Leavers from old mining towns.
Sitting on the fence is not a sustainable position though, if Mr Corbyn’s plea for a general election to allow Labour to take over negotiations is going to convince anyone.
Backed by his Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Mr Corbyn can only countenance a second EU referendum on the terms of the exit.
Sir Keir Starmer, who leads for the party on Brexit, went off message when he said Euroref2 could include an option to abandon leaving the EU altogether.
Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, has suggested delaying the exit date.
Such is the minefield that Europe presents for the party, that it is perhaps little wonder Mr Corbyn glossed over the issue in his leader’s speech.
On the other great referendum question of our generation, the UK Labour leader has also been out of sync with senior figures in Scotland.
Last week, he said he would not rule out approving Indyref2 if he was Prime Minister.
Richard Leonard, who leads a Scottish party that has been on an arduous journey convincing voters of its pro-Union credentials, was left picking up the pieces.
Mr Leonard said the next Labour manifesto, which covers a five-year term, would make it clear that such a request would be blocked.
The MSP, who is not well-known in Scotland let alone the rest of the UK, was a hit with the pro-Corbyn crowd in the venue.
But much of his conference was spent condemning an anti-Catholic remark by NEC chairman Andy Kerr and distancing himself from Labour chairman Ian Lavery’s call to “kill off the nationalists”.
I do not envy that job, but I suspect he enjoyed a better sleep in his upscale hotel than I managed.
