It's My Round

Today

Lovely weekend at the flat in Brighton with my brother & his wife. We stopped at the Half Moon at Midhurst and had a pleasant if unremarkable lunch. David took advantage of his senior citizen status and had a set 3-course lunch.

Pubs continued to feature over the weekend. We tried 2 or 3 pubs in North Laine in Brighton before we were all happy. The William VI was too smokey, the Waggon & Horses too full. Paul was rather bursting by this time so into The Office. Not too much smoke and an easy Thai-inspired snacks menus. David & Joan wanted hot chocolate and I persuaded the staff to make them some, even though it wasn't on the menu. Too much "background" music for Joan so we had our lunch break in a tiny, rather down at heel courtyard.

In the evening before our supper at Terre a Terre we popped into Hotel du Vin for a cocktail. D&J professed to some ignorance about these delights but plunged in.

On the way home on Sunday David said that we are "pub dabblers" and that he rarely goes into one.

In My Day

As children we were not taken into pubs. In the 50s in London there was a definite feeling that they were for grown-ups only and Daddy was opposed to much drinking.

Once I reached my late teens, I and my colleagues at school began to visit pubs. a half of cider was probably what I drank, feeling rather wicked, especially if it was the lunch hour at school.

At college there was some pub visiting, but it was really Paul who introduced me to the idea of them being a proper place to go.

Our first date was at the Plough & Harrow in Littlington. Paul had so little money that he had to ration my intake.

Since then I've lost count. I've met dozens of friends for drinks or meals in pubs, popped into pubs on long journeys, had quiet drink at the local (wherever local was at the time), had Sunday lunch, evening meals, bar snacks, enjoyed classical concerts, folk and jazz. I've walked, driven, been driven. In Kilcrohane village life centres around Eileen's. Don't go there and you miss out on what's going on.

We've met people, made new friends, happened to see old ones. One thing about a pub for meeting friends is that there's no pressure on any individual to prepare food, clean the house wash-up etc.

I'm looking forward to the smoking ban, though, I must say.