Elm Tree
The quiz at Ye Olde Elm Tree (a pub which is considerably dingier and less pretentious than it sounds) is renowned for being among the hardest in Durham. Tonight, for example, they had one round that was all about prolific writers, and I hadn't heard of any of them. Which was pretty sad, considering one of them had managed to write 600 books...forget Asimov and Agatha Christie, these guys were ridiculous. And obscure.
But the beer round. Ah, the beer round.
Tonight's subject? American state capitols.
Get.
In.
Son.
We now have £10 to spend on drinks next time.
And I stink of smoke. Oddly enough, this is one of the last times I'll be able to say that after a night at the pub, since as of July smoking won't be allowed inside any public building in England (this is already true in Scotland). I'm a fan of this, generally, but nostalgia is a funny thing. Jim the cleaner was telling me today about a pub he used to frequent when he was a lad which had spittoons and sawdust on the floor - I wonder if people 40 years from now will think of smoky pubs in the same way? I'm not sure what the Elm Tree will feel like without its permanent fug of smoke. I'm also not sure I want to find out what smells said fug has been covering up for the past century.
But the beer round. Ah, the beer round.
Tonight's subject? American state capitols.
Get.
In.
Son.
We now have £10 to spend on drinks next time.
And I stink of smoke. Oddly enough, this is one of the last times I'll be able to say that after a night at the pub, since as of July smoking won't be allowed inside any public building in England (this is already true in Scotland). I'm a fan of this, generally, but nostalgia is a funny thing. Jim the cleaner was telling me today about a pub he used to frequent when he was a lad which had spittoons and sawdust on the floor - I wonder if people 40 years from now will think of smoky pubs in the same way? I'm not sure what the Elm Tree will feel like without its permanent fug of smoke. I'm also not sure I want to find out what smells said fug has been covering up for the past century.