Dirty Marti-not?

I went to a pub near LSE on Friday where a social event for my program was being held. I have learnt that pub-going after classes is a very common thing here in the UK-- students and professors get together after class and have a pint. I think it's a great way to encourage strong ties between students and the faculty-- so I give it the thumbs up!

HOWEVER, a funny thing happened to me at the pub. I have had next to no alcohol over the past month and a half. So I thought perhaps this would be a good time to have a Dirty Martini-- which over the summer in New York became my drink of choice. The pub was really fancy and had all sorts of nice liquors on display. So I asked a waitress how much a Martini would cost. She asked in disbelief: "you want to know how much a Martini costs?". I said that, indeed, I wanted to know how much a Martini cost. She then laughed and walked away.

Weird. I flagged the barman (or pubman). He came my way and I asked him the same question. He said, "oh, I don't know, 2 or 3 quid". For those of you unfamiliar, the Brits often use the word 'quid' to mean pound. Not sure why. So I said, "great, could I have a Dirty Martini, please." To which he replied, with a throaty chuckle, "this is a pub, not a bar" and walked away! A girl in my program saw my horrified face and told me that barmen at pubs love to pull these kinds of shenanigans-- ie. make unsuspecting foreigners feel super foreign.

So apparently, despite the fact that they are decked out like a full bar, pubs don't serve hard liquor. I wonder if maybe all the bottles of liquor they display are fake-- like those carton books that stores use in bookshelf displays.

Doesn't make that much sense to me-- but I guess not everything makes sense in life-- especially on certain sides of a certain pond. Lesson learnt. I'll leave the Martinis for when I get back to New York in December.

My apologies for not updating this in forever. Will write more (and something of more substance) soon. xx