My current project has me working in London (Victoria) most of the time and that is a lot more convenient for mid-week events than Cardiff was. Now I have a gentle walk to Westminster station and then the Jubilee Line takes me directly to West Hampstead.
From there the social took a familiar and friendly route through the evening. The first step is a pint of draught Pilsner Urquell. This cost a ridiculously cheap £3, the pint I had the night before in Richmond was £4.20.Somewhere in the evening I had smazeny syr (fried cheese in breadcrumbs) with chips and tartar sauce. I keep thinking that I must try something else but I never do. A few more Pilsner Urquells were had too.
The evening ended with a large bottle of Zlaty Bazant, confusingly delivered in a small Pilsner Urquell glass.
Around the eating and drinking the evening was richly filled with conversation. Mostly this was held in English but sometimes it lapsed in to Czech/Slovak leaving me to converse with some of the other Brits there. These were typical pub conversations that were warm and interesting at the time yet are ephemeral too and little of what is discussed carries forward to the next day. Almost all that I can remember from the evening is that Veronika is not engaged despite wearing a ring on the appropriate finger.
The mix of people and the open conversational atmosphere make these evenings what they are and the Czech/Slovak food and drink are just nice touches that compliment them. At the end of the night we agreed that the best word to describe it was "gay", having first explained its original meaning to the young Czech and Slovaks.
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