My Local Pub
Well, this thread has nothing to do with Thailand, but tonight was just one more night that made me think of the things I missed the most while I lived in Thailand, and one of the few things I will really miss when I return there:
MY LOCAL PUB
Although many South Africans are a bunch of "pisscats" of note, the pub-culture thing is not as established as I imagine it would be in England:
(little or no public transport; long distances between drinking holes, etc)
Well, since the age of around 16, I started visiting biker pubs with my mates ..
At age 16, in those days, one was allowed to ride a 50cc "motorbike" (and even then, and still today, nobody would be seen DEAD on a girly little step - through!)
As teenagers, and "big-deal-wannabee-bikers",
OWN GANG, PATCH AND ALL, we would order our drinks; get pissed out of our sculls; shoot our mouths off, and most often, end up getting our asses kicked by the real bikers
(DEFINITELY NOT PEOPLE WHO WOULD BE SEEN DEAD ON A FKKN STEP-THRU)
Well, we all grew older, learned how to stay standing and not vomit after a bottle or two, and how to ride a bike home drunk that your mates had had to kickstart for you and help you onto (yes, girls:
KICKSTART, there were no electric starts on harleys, ducatis triumphs and nortons in those days)
Well, plenty shit has gone down over the years, and the old crew (the ones that survived) have mostly moved on, but ALL still ride, and many wear "THE" patch, and ALL of us have kept close contact since the "old days".
Well, the old "c" has changed over the years, the new owners trying to change it's image and make it more "upmarket", but we still visit it, meet up with old friends, drink far too much "hooligan soup", and the owners still sigh a sigh of relief when we leave (but count the money and don't complain: youngsters of today don't seem to drink as much)
Well, tonight one of the guys I have not seen for 30 years pitched up, and he has not changed a bit ('cept physical appearance-wise) over the years.
A lot of shit went down over the years we have drank (drunk) there, and his little stunt stands out as one of the most memorable:
They had just started a new assistant barman, the previous one, our old friend who had watched us all growing up (?), having succumed to cancer, and this new guy, nervous as hell (it
WAS a rough biker pub), trying to do his best to impress both his boss and the bikers in the pub (a tough balancing act)
He had been warned by the other bartender (who was "in" on the deal) that the bikers were a bad bunch and that he should take no shit from us.
Well, as soon as the rookie thought he was getting the hang of things, the signal was given; the regular barkeep asked him if he thought he could handle things while he took a nap, and the rookie assured him he had everything under control.................
The minute the barkeep left, one of the guys who had a really hot (and 'kkin loud) v8 chevy truck parked outside, started revving it up, while two of the guys passed a chain through the window and started wrapping it around the till, the rookie loudly protesting and trying hard to protect his boss's property, hanging on to the till for dear life while one of the guys outside jerked the chain taught, to the accompanying sound of a 400hp chevvy doing a burnout outside!
Poor guy nearly had a heart attack.
Well, he made it through the first night, and mellowed somewhat after that.
I still drink at the same place; still see many of the same old faces; still see crazy shit going on:
Nothing has really changed over the years, and there are hundreds of worthwile and hilarious memories from that place that I will carry with myself, giggling (NOT sniggering:- that is for queers!) all the way to the grave one day
I am proud to have known these people, to be one of these people, and proud to have been a part of what I know will not be possible in the new, fukt-up,mind-controlled world that this has become.
On the other hand, I have two boys who have inherited my "fuck-you" attitude to life, and who might just be able to contribute and to perhaps maintain some of the old values they have learned about and experienced in the local bikers' pub with me...........
I hope so!
