So there I was again in London yesterday having been persuaded by t'other half to go to the Picasso exhibition at the National Gallery. Never did see anything in Picasso that appealed to me so I sloped off on some pretext or other to take a couple of photos from the balcony, looking down Whitehall to the Big Ben clock tower.
Anyway to get to the point, I nipped into Chandos which is the pub frequented by the "literati" of London and traipsed upstairs for a swift half. I won't bother you with the tale of the up-tight American tourist berating the poor bar-girl for not making him a "proper" Martini. Nor with the same man requesting a shepherd's pie and not getting "what I expected"
No, what really got my goat was they had a nice real ale on hand-pump so I asked for a ½pint "in a jug". "We don't do jugs", said the barman.
"Oh" says I, "why not."
"Because they can be used as weapons", he replies.
Sounds familiar - terrorism act, S43 stop and searches, freedom & civil liberties!
"And we don't do photos either" he says. At which point it became all too much and I had a coffee in the nice Italian next door.
Can't remember the last time I saw beer served in a jug up here... Not that I'm that often in a pub you understand....
I have to admit that my living near Edinburgh is in truth a form of exile and in fact I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Weegie currently just confirming all the rumours that circulate the dear green place about 'Embra'....
Now; Japaneese tourists... On more than one occasion I've sat down beside what I've assumed to be a fellow professional cameraman only to later learn that this was the guy's 'holiday' gear and he like to make really good video of Sco'lan'... Which, along with the beer, and the Kelvingrove museum, and the folky pubs and even scantily dressed sopranos on the streets of Embra during the festival make me glad to be up here and no doon therrr..
Och aye the noo! as we (allegedly) say in these parts.
I was nearly thrown out of a pub in Edinburgh once for insisting on having the only draft beer they had served to me in a jug (70/-). Which says it all I suppose. Then I went to Glasgow, fell in love with Charles Rennie Macintosh (I'm at a funny age too, don't ye kna' laddie), and found Arran Ale and Deuchars - on draft, in the University.
As I met t'other half in Glasgow many years ago, guess where I have the greater fondness?
PS In my recollection, London stopped being London around 1970, just as Flower Power was fading - a bit like my memory. Only it wasn't "busty substances" then it was ....ooops who's that knocking at my door? Gotta go quick and dispose of the...too late!
Actually it's a funny thing about Japanese tourists "wot" I noticed. For example, I was in Paris last year and was snapping away merrily at the Arc de Triomphe when I noticed a huge crowd of Japanese touristy snappers. And the thing that struck me was they weren't the slightest bit interested in the architecture or the scenery or French street life or whatever. They took their photos of themselves standing in front of the great landmarks as if to say "I wos 'ere".
Most peculiar, Mr Christian.
a shepherd's pie and not getting "what I expected"
It's probably the recession - suitable shepherds won't be venturing this far south of the border now..
Do you think that if you'd been, say, a Japanese tourist you'd have had the same hassle?
Despite being actually Scottish a predillction for jugs has never been my thang... Short, dark sultry and built like a well sooked straw works better for me. Thus the 'nice Italliana' seems like a better plan in the first place... Particularly if she has the sort of hair that goes curly at the ends.... (excuse me, I'm at a funny age!)
Joking aside it's just this sort of crap that has made London a virtual no-go area for us. To the point where we slap a £400 per day surcharge on our usual £650/day rate JUST to work in 'the smoke'... I used to enjoy an annual shopping trip in London near Christmas... ain't done that in nearly a decade!And this despite being trained in London aspart of the Thames News team.
And the notion that, as a paying customer, your skills as a photographer (at any level) are unwelcome in Chandos condems it to obscurity. Which is a bit of a PITA in social history terms.....
London (Def:) A place that existed up 'till about 1995.....
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