It was May of 1991 when I stepped into my first pub. I was in the process of moving from Upstate New York (NOT the CITY, for those not in the know) to Oregon, in which we had picked a little town in the Cascades off the Rand McNally called Oakridge. My wife and I took a month off to wander around a small island off the coast of France by train, thumb, bus, coach and foot. To this day I distinctly remember stepping into my first pub after disembarking the train at Victoria Station in a sizable village called London. My first pint of "Bitter". My first mushy peas. My first taste of British hospitality in its continuum of indifference to sheer joy.
Now I own a pub. But can I say this: What is a pub? As I spend anywhere from 0 to 20 hours a week behind my own bar, also known as running the front of the house, I have encountered the occasional customer that didn't realize that pub was short for public house. As a barkeep, an important part of the job is the disbursement of knowledge and entertainment, so the punter can leave a little better off than they came. And also serve them a proper pint and make them feel at home. Shouldn't a public house be a home? I hope so.
I'm now off my non-blogging binge, and am as unsure as to the grammar of that as the next guy who finds language a right kick in the pants. Thus begins a discourse on pubs. I hope both of you readers will take the time to comment and heckle as deemed appropriate.
2 comments:
Wait, 1991? First English pub or first pub period? I thought we were roughly the same age, and I entered my first pub, illegally, in 1987. The Raleigh Hills McMenamins, where a friend worked. I also misspent a good portion of the next few years in the Barley Mill shooting pool. Go in with someone who works at a McMenamins and you never get carded. Or didn't, anyway.
I had discovered Terminator Stout and was besotted. There were about 200 microbreweries in the country then, mind, and maybe ten in Oregon.
You lead me to Part the Second.
Post a Comment