Good morning all. This month's session is hosted by Nathaniel Southwood- the righteous pimp responsible for beer and music musings over at Booze, Beats & Bites- and concerns the concept of solitary pub trips and how the beer blogging community feels about them. Since I like to consider myself part of this esteemed fraternity, I felt it would be wise to weigh in on this topic.
I'm no stranger to my own company. Over the last few years, I've come to the conclusion that it's sometimes easier to go somewhere by yourself rather than attempting to rally a group of people to accompany you. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy going to the pub with any number of my friends to sample some great beers and socialise in a different context, but every once in a while there comes that moment when none of your friends are as interested in visiting the pub as you are. Maybe you saw a webpage advertising a tap takeover at a pub that only you seem to be excited about attending, or maybe only you can justify a 40 minute train journey to a pub because of its impeccable selection and beer quality. Speaking as one of the few extremely enthusiastic beer lovers among my circle of friends, I would happily rearrange most plans and reassess my finances to accommodate situations like those mentioned, but in all cases I would still ask around first to see if anyone wanted to come with me before I committed to going alone. Generally I can get a small and interested group together, but in those rare moments that I can't convince even one person I will most likely head off on my own, and I don't mind that at all.
By means of an example, there was a De Molen Festival at Craft Beer Co. during November last year that managed to compel me before I'd even finished reading the advertisement. I asked my flatmate and a couple of other beer-centric friends if they wanted to go and was met with no success, so I decided to take the trip out to London on my own armed with my wallet and a copy of The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson. Whilst it wasn't exactly the best pub trip I've been on, it was still worth the time and money as I was so interested in the range of beers that I was perfectly happy getting through a good book and sampling some offerings from a top brewery. Not the first time that I've had a drink on my own, and I know it won't be the last. In the preceding two weeks I've gone out for a drink by myself at least four times, and although I do feel slightly out of place in the milieu it doesn't concern me too much, so I'll continue to do it.
The aforementioned example is definitely in the latter in regards to my lone pub experiences- the most common reason for these situations is that I'm trying to kill time before meeting people and I've found a pub with a good enough atmosphere to justify spending an hour or two in beforehand. Regardless of how it ends up happening, I don't personally think it's odd going to the pub alone, and it certainly beats the sorry sight I've seen in the past of couples sitting opposite each other reading books and not even enjoying each other's company. I'd take myself over that any day!
Until next time....
Cheers for posting.
ReplyDeleteI've had many experiences where I've travelled somewhere far away (usually London) just to go to certain bars etc. It's become such an frequent occurance that I no longet feel out of place.