Somehow I manage to find the UK in the CR. Last night I went out with a large group of people - a few people I've met within the past few weeks and a number of newbies. I was seated and surrounded by 2 Welsh men, 2 Irish women, and 4 English guys - we were later joined by another English couple from Liverpool. At one point there was a Canadian too.
We were in the largest Irish pub in Prague (while it was great fun I doubt I'll return as it's a seriously overpriced tourist trap - beers were between 60 and 100 kc where in my neighborhood place a full sized beer is between 22 and 30 kc - right now it's about 19 kc to the dollar).
I have never been to areas these people were from and so have never experienced their pub culture - therefore I will tell you that the night was like something out of the movies.
It was November 1st, and while Halloween isn't really a big deal over here there were a number of people coming through in costume - which lent a rather festive air to the evening. And the music was blaring - you truly had to be sitting next to the person to have any hope of trying to make out what they were saying... even sitting next to my conversational partner I was at a disadvantage as I am NOT at all familiar with the variety of accents at the table - or the political tensions.
Turns out the Welsh feel oppressed by the English - and the guys were teaching me how to tell off the English if I ever felt they were a bit bossy - they were teaching me in Welsh. Obviously the Irish have a few issues too - not a big deal during the night though... and Liverpudlians have a terrible reputation - that's the 'cultural' region of England, but to the English it's better known as the most violent region - and the people as unintelligible, which I now have to agree with. I needed the other English to translate for me... and they couldn't always do it! I was only able to make out a fifth of what the girl from Liverpool was trying to tell me... The Irish girls I could understand at the beginning of the night, but their accents increased in direction proportion to the beer consumed.
The night was a little over the top - the costumes, the crowd, the range of accents, the excitement, the cold, the tourist-y party vibe... and as the night went on the music got louder and the real singing started... everyone knew the songs - a great dj mix for any party, any country apparently - the crowds started singing, and then singing turned into dancing and the floor was taken over and chairs moved, so those singers started standing on benches and tables and the costumes got more outrageous and the songs better and better and finally everyone in the bar was singing along! It was a little surreal - strangers with their arms linked and beers sloshing and belting out Grease songs and Oh Delilah and some Sinatra and Elvis and U2 and ABBA and, oh, so much more...
It was a blast.
We stayed till closing and then moved on to another bar - which was too crowded and so crossed over to the Harley Bar (as in Harley Davidson Motorcycle Bar) which was pretty cool, too.
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