Does whiskey count as beer?

Well I’m back to the grind so I haven’t had too much time to travel around and take pictures of cool shit. I have a veritable mountain of books on my desk that should be read, but I’d rather do this now. I have some other things that I’d like to write about later, but I figure I should write about what’s on my mind this very second so that it doesn’t slip away.

Yesterday, I met my friend in Central London, who had come from Toronto to see his family here. We met in the Covert Garden area, which I quite like despite its obvious touristy-ness. He led us to a pub, down a small lane, called the Lamb and Flag. I had always wondered before why pubs had names like the Lamb and Flag, Fox and Fiddle, or Crate and Barrel until my Irish friend explained the method behind such madness: Due to the fact that many people living in England in past centuries were illiterate, pub owners established a way to distinguish themselves from other taverns without having to put words on the signs that hung above the entrances. The likeness of the Queen (or whatever) was mounted on the outside of the pub instead of writing “The Queen’s Head.” Got it? Good.

Bald Flagman. See what I did there?

Anyways, he and I entered the pub to partake in the ceremonial consumption of an English ale. We talked about London and how I was getting along living in the UK. He then asked me what the biggest differences that I had seen and felt there were? At first I didn’t really know what to say. I then told him that the food was the biggest difference for me. I’ve found that in overall general taste, I don’t really like the food here. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in North America all my life and I’m so used to my food being pumped with sugar and salt that I don’t know what things actually taste like.

Side note: It’s not really a gripe, but something I’ve noticed in most or all the pubs and bars that I’ve been too is that when you ask for a pint of beer they give it to you quite literally overflowing. The foam always sliding down the outside the glass and when you pick the glass up it drips on your shoes and the floor with excess beer. It would be interesting to find out why this is so?

Anyways, we left the pub so take a walk around and I started to think of more differences between Toronto and London. One obvious difference is that you drive on the left side of the road here. It’s not really a novel idea. Who cares? Just be careful when you cross the street because I often forget which side the traffic is coming. What is interesting to me is how this translates to pedestrians walking on the sidewalks. Are we supposed to walk on the left side like cars do on the roads? What about escalators? Are we supposed to stand left and walk right? When I first got here, I figured that I should walk on the left side, but there were always people coming at me on the same side! There really are no set-in-stone rules about walking on the sidewalk, but what about in the Underground where there are actual signs that tell you what side to walk on because of the high amount of foot traffic down there? In the Green Park station on the Piccadilly line the signs told me to walk on the right, while in the Bond Street station on the Central line told me to walk left! Nothing made any sense! We need firm rules people! Otherwise it’ll be anarchy. Straight up.

We walked up Reagent Street, then east on Oxford, down some random avenues and lanes until we stumbled upon this:

Even if I had been really drunk, I doubt this would have looked any cooler than it already was.

More thoughts later, I need to go cook some dinner.

Love,

Seb