Midnight Pub

even alleyway pubs have their bar bellars

~tffb

I recall Ozzy Osbourne saying in an interview (Rolling Stone?) that he had his first drink when he was 14 in Liverpool, England. Him and a friend would go to a bar, and get a "Bellar", which was half lemonade, half beer. (The bartender likely justified that if it was 51% lemonade and 49% beer, age limits didn't matter - but I speculate). And they (Ozzy and his friend) called that drink a Bellar because he said there were always two old ladies at the end of the bar, who would "bellar" at Ozzy and his friend ("bellaring" meaning yelling at, or talking down to, I am guessing).

And now I feel a distant kinship with these ladies, as me and a few others seem to be "always present" at The Midnight - slouched over my digital coffee, running my index finger around the brim of the mug, side-staring at Smudge (the bar cat) as he explores the nooks/crannies of the beverage selection beyond me, listening to the best tunes the patrons put on The Midnight jukebox. And yea, sometimes bellaring at stop-ins (though, not in a mean way, but more jovial and "happy to see you!" way :)

I'll depart with the change in my pocket to put on Fugazi on the jukebox, a favorite of mine when I stop in here, and refresh the coffee anew.


tatterdemalion

I believe the conventional name for that beverage in English-speaking countries is a "shandy". Never had one, myself. I think the "lemonade" in question may be lemon-lime soda, too.

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bartender

The good thing about the pub being in a little alley is that even though the padlock was broken for a few days, not many people noticed! Certainly not kids, thankfully! But I like this Bellar cocktail, we might want to add one to the menu. What's for sure is that I'm always happy to see you tffb! Here's your coffee, by the way!

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tffb

Thank you ~bartender. I'll have mine a non-alcoholic varietal - so, instead of lemonade and beer, maybe lemonade and...ginger ale? That might taste ok.

Yea, SSL padlocks make the WWW more secure, so I keep my Let's Encrypt expiry bot e-mail address up to date and take action when need be, though I have it on auto-renew, so I don't usually have to do a thing.

And TY much for the coffee! Good to see the innkeeper keeping tabs on things.

later

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