circling over Shannon

expression, Irish English.

When an individual stalls for time in order to appear somewhat sober when in reality, they likely are far from sober.
Based on a diplomatic incident in Shannon, Ireland on September 30, 1994 where a heavily inebriated Boris Yeltsin circled over Shannon Airport for an hour on his aircraft, before landing and refusing to come off for a while before emerging, seemingly sober but only if you didn't look too closely.

"Ah, but surely we can go now. If we stall much longer, his da will think we're both circling over Shannon!"