One Evening At The Pub

One can not be in this part of the world and not go to the pub, it would be like not going to buy a baguette when in Paris or not buying food from a street vendor in Bangkok.



I went to the pub with my colleagues on Friday, they were celebrating the departure of one of them and we were around 15 people. As soon as we entered the pub, each one of us was asked to give 20£, it would be part of the pot used to pay for the drinks. The person in charge of that money would have to make sure that no one would run empty. As I am not regular alcohol drinker (I almost never drink) I wouldn’t be able to handle drinking beer during the evening because aside from being quickly drunk it would also mean for me to be in the restroom every 30 minutes. I chose my drink randomly and was lucky enough to choose cider, I would maybe go to the bathroom every 30 minutes but I would get drunk less quickly. I was given my pint of cider and the party started as soon as everyone had a drink.



I really had a good time, I took the opportunity to ask what I could do on the island. I told them I wanted to go scuba diving to see the basking sharks, they laughed and said that the water temperature would probably soften my desire. I asked if their were problems with inbreeding as they were living on an island, they explained that only 50% of the island population was born there so there was little chance for any of them to marry one of their cousin. They talked about the TT, it is THE race of the island and it started in 1907. I was told that it was a crazy race and it was quite common to have people die or be seriously injured. Still it is quite an event on the island and the inhabitants flock to the side of the streets when the races are on.



I had one litre of cider in the belly when we had diner, it was a delight to finally put some solid on top of all that liquid. The mood was great, I have to admit that it was sometime difficult for me to understand what was being said; I had to get used to the accents, I had to manage multiple discussions and there was a lot of noise. I expected to hear people make fun of my French accent but no one did. After diner, we went back to the bar so that each one of us would get another half litre of liquid. We were not allowed to leave until the pot was empty, this would prompt the pot keeper to ask for a second round of money to the remaining party. When it was decided to change location to go to a pub where there was karaoke I excused myself and went to bed. I had 1.5l of cider in my belly and my bed had been calling me for quite a while, I slept like a baby.