Image: Perry Harris - another regular
There is a festival organised by some people who use our pub this weekend, and almost all the young lot (or youngish) have gone off to Bruton to spend the weekend in a field, so now there are only old or sensible people drinking in the early evening.
Yesterday I found myself in the middle of a row of friends at the bar and it struck me how egalitarian English pubs are. To my left was an airline pilot, a high-class restauranteur and a 1970/80s pop star, and to my right a seller of vintage clothing, a college lecturer, a publishing media man and a retired British Rail worker. I am a sculptor (of sorts). It could have been a scene from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, or a London Coffee House in the 18th century.
Tomorrow - as part of the Bath Festival - Robert Plant (and a few others) is playing on the Recreation Ground just over the road from me. Mr Plant is a shareholder in our pub, and sometimes pops in for a drink and chat with the locals.
Like I say, you get all sorts and they all come with baggage. Lots of it.
There seems a shortage in that line up of blue collar workers. Where do the boys off the buildings sites go on a Friday after work? Is there a dive up the road?
ReplyDeleteLots of the regulars are builders. They've all gone to the festival at Bruton.
DeleteThink how dull we would be without baggage.
ReplyDeleteThink how inexperienced we would be without it.
DeleteAh, the days of making baggage. We used to drive four hours to spend the weekend camping in a field. Just so we could go back to school on Monday. I wonder where we all are, now.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed collecting my baggage in the main - well, the lighter stuff anyway. The heavier sort was not so enjoyable.Rachel said think how dull we would be without baggage, but most children begin life without any and are far from dull. If you haven't taken some on by the time you are about 25, then yes, you would be dull.
DeleteScars are different to baggage. You can get those at any age.
DeleteI had to look this place up in Yelp and the reviews are quite sprightly. Love it or hate it but don't mess with Lawrie. Noel from Dublin says that the place is filled with "very friendly locals". Is that you?
ReplyDeleteI did mess with Lawrie once. He can be very vitriolic - especially after a few pints of cider. I can be friendly sometimes and I am always polite to visitors - until they get drunk and punchy, as one Texan did a year ago.
DeletePerhaps.those builders get 'poshed up' before coming in your pub. Our builder types often look quite smart at the week end - it is usually the intellectuals who wander about looking scruffy all the time. But then that's country life for you.
ReplyDeleteNo, they are as scruffy as hell. Usually, so am I.
DeleteYou meet people in Pubs that you might never otherwise meet; I once spoke to a Liberal in my local.
ReplyDeleteI once spoke to a Conservative in mine.
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