Love it

I arrived in London a few days ago. The whole "it's really going to end soon" feeling is coming on full force. I've spent two days just lounging around my friend Prue's house, as I've spent almost the last 10 days just walking around European cities. Couple that with bad drinking habits and it was only about time before exhaustion and maybe even a little bug set in.

But thankfully I have a nice warm bed and more healthy food than I can eat. Prue works with food professionally and when I showed up she had already cooked two lasagnes, a plate of English sausages and had bought beer, juice and other food for me. Since I've been here, she's also cooked me several additional meals including a real English breakfast.

Back to beer: so the thing here in Britain is to go to a pub and drink "real" ale. Usually this is "bitters," and traditionally is cooled by keeping it in the cellar. It is then brought up to the bar by means of a hand pump (not electric or a tap). I learned this from a book and kept it in mind. Apparently the "British Pub" is dying out, being replaced by chain pubs that serve refrigerated lager and have huge plasma tv screens for watching soccer. So for a "real" pub experience, these are a big N-O. While I was out yesterday I went by this place called "The Salisbury", which advertised itself as a "sports free pub" and mandates that nobody can wear soccer jerseys inside. It also advertised hand-pumped ale, so I decided that this would be my first foray into drinking in London. If it didn't have good beer, it would at least have character. It was beautiful inside, with elaborate windows and carvings. It looked trendy - had lots of young, good-looking people - but the beers looked legit and I ordered a "Bombardier" bitter. The bartender even helped me out with my important decision by giving me a few samples. Bombardier was a bit darker, more flavorful than the other, so I went with it. Really good, smooth all the way down, nice color, looking forward for some more good ales tonight.