More of a placeholder for me to come back to as I carry on but I just typed some of it up quickly for an email and it’s something I’ve been meaning to blog.
So in order of preference:
James Squire Porter (rare, I think I’ve had it twice!)
Tooheys Old (much better on tap, but stubbies are nice too. This is the one I have marked down to look out for back “home”)
Little Creatures Pale Ale
Carlton Black ( only seen in stubbies and I can only get into two of ‘em before needing to switch. An odd beer)
James Hoag (sp? - Tasmanian, only seen in stubbies)
James Squire Pilsner
Coopers Green
Pure Blonde (way way better in stubbies, I’ve had bad bad pints..sorry schooners)
Coopers Red
Beers I don’t like.
XXXX
Hahn (of any sort)
Tooheys New
Carlton Draught
Victoria Bitter (VB)
Bee Neez
Beers I have yet to see:
Fosters!
I am looking out for Coopers Dark and Coopers Porter (possibly not their names).
I shall tag this post with drunk as I was once a boy scout and one should be prepared…
I’ve seen two movies in the past couple of days…it’s been quiet around here. First up was Jumper. I hadn’t intended to go and see this after hearing some poor to moderate reviews from friends but I had managed to get the wrong times for the movie I wanted to see and it was the only thing showing. So having said that, it was better than I expected. It was fun enough but with plot holes the size of Mars throughout. I think it’d probably work a little better as a TV show.
The second movie was Rambo. In a way it was just like Cloverfield, you get exactly what the trailer promises. No more and no less and that was just fine by me. It was stupidly over the top stupid carnage and I enjoyed it for just that. My only complaint was the obvious speeding up of some footage in the final battle scenes but the rest of it was perfect for what it was. Most enjoyable.
So after both movies I decided to walk home from Swords down along the waterfront. It’s a nice enough walk once you get about 10 minutes into it. Of course I was doing it at night so it was dark but with headphones on it was just fine. My soundtrack for the moment is Okkervil River’s The Stage Names. The walk is about 4 1/2 miles so an hour and a little bit door to door. Enough time to get a full rotation of the album in and then another couple of tracks. It’s good for thinking.
And I’ve been thinking about a lot…sometimes too much. I’m rereading the two phonebooks of Dave Sim’s Cerebus and there is a panel where Cerebus threatens to lobotomize his brain for thinking. I’ve had a little bit of that the past couple of nights.
Anyway some stuff I have been thinking about. It struck me in the past week…okay that’s a lie. It struck me while I was drunk on Saturday night. Lets back up a bit here. On Saturday I went to see Ireland play Scotland in the 6 Nations match in Croke Park. We won comfortably which was grand. I went with one of my uncles and his son. So after the match myself and my cousin both having folks to meet for drinks in town figured we may aswell team up to fight crime. Cue 3am in the basement of Hogans. At one point in the evening I had a complete brain to mouth failure (rare as that is!) and was unable to pronounce the word collaborate. I could barely get the “col” out. I gave up and said something else instead (it’s okay, I don’t think anyone noticed) but the next day I realised that I haven’t had any of the problems with loosing words that I was struggling with at the end of last year. So that’s obviously good news but a little bit of reinforcement of my internet diagnosis of stress!
Saturday night ended up fairly late and slightly messy as you may have gathered. I don’t think poor Sarah was quite longing for the days of V comic conversation but I’m sure the thought crossed her mind more than once. The night bus got me home safe in the end but of course this meant that most of Sunday became a write off. Oops.
Sunday evening saw more drinks in town along with a flying visit to Eddie Rockets and then a settling in the Bank for the rest of the night. Interesting evening for conversation. ‘Twas both very varied and at the same time not so. I had more on that but I don’t now. Hmm.
Alright I’m going to London in the morning and I have to be up earlyish. So I’m going to leave you with this gem from Reginald:
There’s no shame in holding onto grief, as long as you make room for other things, too.
First, and for the record, I have never slept with any barstaff*. Obviously this should be followed with some comment about not for lack of trying but I can’t recall ever really doing so. There was girl I worked with in a bar back in Dublin that I had such a crush on but that kinda fizzled out after a while.
Pint-Sized Ireland: In Search of the Perfect Guinness is a great book. I have been collecting copies of a similar book as presents for some people in the US before I leave. I was looking for more of that in Barnes and Noble in Georgetown when I came across this one. I figured it would do for one and that I’d have a read of it first. I just finished it in the pub this evening and it was pretty good. It’s one of the few recent books that does a good job capturing some of the spirit of Ireland.
So as I say, I was in the pub this evening. A good few months ago my friend Nick was over for work and crashed at mine for the weekend. We stupidly listened to Schro and hit a local club for the Saturday night. We were the youngest people in there by a long shot. It was, as best I could tell, an over 40s and twice divorced hook up spot. So we had some dinner and some drinks and we caught up and that was good but it was hardly a great night out.
However the food was pretty damn good and it’s quite closeby where I live here. So a couple of weeks later I stopped in and had dinner on the way home. Food was good, it was fine in the early evening and the bar staff were pretty nice. This became a habit and I’d stop in there once a week or so with a book or newspaper for a quiet dinner and a few pints. Ya know often enough to know the staff by name and to have them know what I want to eat and drink. It was pretty good.
Tonight I had what’s likely to be my last dinner in there and it kinda sunk in that I’m finishing up here when I paid my bill and said goodbye. With so many gone from the office and V leaving drinks not till this weekend there hasn’t really been anyone to say goodbye to yet. Have I ever mentioned that it’s odd over here?
One of my many leaving drinks in London was in a bar nearby work. It was, and I suspect still is, a shit hole. However it had exceedingly attractive bar staff, or so I was told. First it was Nick who started going there on a regular basis for the straight Polish boys he never had a chance with but liked to look it and then Rich took up the mantle with, the admittedly very cute but in a long term relationship, Karolina and so it took way too much of our money and our time for several years. Anyway quiet leaving drinks in there with Nick and Rich became less than quiet. While Rich left early on, we had hooked up with one of the previous barstaff and her sister. I was quite dunk that evening but and overwhelming memory remember is a sense of vague guilt when Rich walked back in around 11.30 after being somewhere with his girlfriend. I’m not sure why the guilt…okay I have an idea and Nick’s recollection seems to indicate the same reason but he was trying to avoid the advances of a young drunken Irish girl (the fool!!) and so is not a reputable witness and I choose to disregard his testimony!
Anyway the point is I guess I really am leaving. In just a little over a week I’ll be back to heading to Hammersmith five days a week and seeing what that life brings for me now.
Now where is that dunk thread?
*barstaff of course being the politically incorrect term for barmaids.