British Culture 101- The Pub

I'm really quite bored. Very bored. After an invigorating discussion of Charles Dickens in British Novel this morning, nothing particularly productive has been accomplished. I did clean my trombone slide. And I did go downtown to purchase some coffee (Starbucks fair trade Café Estima blend), because the stuff Mark bought at Sainsbury's is disgusting. Other than that, nothing very productive. Last night, Brandon, Ryan, and I hit up The Lion, and it got me thinking. Well, it got me thinking today, that maybe I could use this particular medium to enlighten those minds willing to be opened on the topic of British Culture. So anyways, here's my interpretation of that most Englishy of all English institutions: the pub.


The Lion


Mom and I enjoying a pint inside


Quite simply, the pub is important. Very important. British folks like the pub a lot, and frequent it a lot, typically sticking to a "regular" one. The adopted regular pub of the Luther crew is The Lion (pictured above). We sort of got into it because our neighbor David Juggins (the most English man you'll ever meet) told us it was good, and that every other pub around us sucked. We believed him. It's housed in an old brewery/millhouse building, and the interior is best described as the illegitimate child of a traditional pub and an Ivy League coffeehouse. The emphasis in any pub, is of course on drinking. However, not quite the binge drink/throw up in the street type you normally associate in the US. Drinking in Britain is a social activity, not a contest to see who can finish a 30 pack first. The beverage of choice among REAL ENGLISH PEOPLE is REAL ALE. It's definitely got a different taste than American beer (not that I would know, since I'm not 21 yet). For one, it's not carbonated. It's much more flavorful, a lot more sort of malty. As an officially transplanted Englishman, I have to say I've gained a taste for it. Like I said, Brando, Ryan, and I hit up The Lion last night and all of us commented on how we were looking forward to real ale, as opposed to some of the normal stuff we had when the whole lot of us went out to a different pub on Sunday. One cool thing about the Lion is that it features rotating local ales on what seems like a weekly basis. So it always has real British ale, not the homogenized commericialized stuff many pubs serve. Real cool. It's definitely an experience better exploited in small groups, we've found. The best conversations I've had in England have either come in Starbucks, medieval castle walls, or pubs. So in short, if you come to England, you should go to a pub. And if you don't, lame.

Right, that's that. Tomorrow we're taking a little day trip over to Lincoln to check out the cathedral. At night we're having a baseball social. So we might watch my Minnesota Twins World Series DVD, which would be cool. We're going to watch some baseball, I know that for a fact. I just got the call that I'm not needed for orchestra until March 10th, so that opens up my Sunday. Emily comes back sometime on Sunday, which will be really nice. It's been strange, it's been like a week of absentee dating. Like spring training, when only the pitchers and catchers have reported, but not the whole team. Bad analogy, I know. But speaking of spring training, I hope everyone is keeping up with the Twins. I know I have. I'm calling the rotation as follows.

1. Johan Santana (duh)
2. Carlos Silva
3. Boof Bonser
4. Sidney Ponson
5. Ramon Ortiz or Matt Garza

I'll probably be wrong, but no shame in speculating. I'm currently listening to a contemporary British jazz trombonist named Dennis Rollins. I downloaded one of his albums online because I'm going to go hear him on my birthday. I'm really digging it, he plays a lot of funk, sort of soul jazz. It's getting me quite excited. I better run, dinner's almost ready. Later.