The Pub

It’s one of those British things that just doesn’t exist in our culture – or at least it doesn’t in mine. Walking down to the local pub, just sitting around chatting and drinking. Quite a lot. On school nights even.
People go out in Canada, and some people even have a sort of “local”, but it’s just not the same thing. I know because I went last night. Dev and his friends always used to meet at the pub once or twice a week when we lived here 15 years ago, and I know he really misses it. There was never any planning involved – you would just go and people would be there. And sometimes people’s dads. And possibly even grandads. It’s an inter-generational activity. And weirdly, it still happens – same pub, same peeps. There’s a little more communication involved now via texting, but essentially, it’s the same.
It brings back a lot of memories, being in the local pub. I experienced lots of hazy, Magners-induced flashbacks. The sound of the DJ banter as he reads out the quiz questions, the patterned carpet, the sketchy door locks and cigarette-burned floors in the Ladies…
I think about the first time I ever ordered a round in this pub when I moved to England in my twenties. The landlord asked me if the 1/2 a lager was for a man or a woman. I didn’t get it, but later discovered to my intense disapproval that women get a different glass – one with a more “feminine” shape. I remember then as well that girls only ordered halves, not pints. Unwritten rule.
Things have changed since then, obviously, and I’m not as stroppy. Well, that may not be true, but I do like to think I’ve at least mellowed a bit. It was fun last night. Mostly watching Dev almost laugh himself off his stool all night. It makes me smile. And I get why he misses it so much.
I’m not saying I like everything about the pub culture here, but there is something quite romantically “England” about it. It’s a shame to see so many of the old pubs closed down and boarded up.
Of course, if I lived here, I don’t think I would find it quite as romantic. Especially since I’d probably see a lot less of my lovely husband:)