Day 135

'Best Bar none', Pen on Paper

Again today I had to conjure up a drawing with limited materials and with the heady weekend I've been having so far it was only right that the surroundings I'd become accustomed to over the past few days be included in some way, shape or form.

In the rapid scrawlings of drunkard you can make out the optics of the local bar where me, my family and friends would spend some of our time whenever I get the chance to make it home. There is something great about your local as it's one of those places that is never too busy, you get to catch up with familiar faces and there is a welcoming atmosphere that puts you at ease as you know your in good company. It is also fair to say that some of the most entertaining experiences we have are from sharing stories at our local, trading witty remarks and pithy comebacks as we do our best to one up each other through the medium of jest. Most of the times you spend there follow a familiar path and whilst normally we get frustrated by repetition and the fear of becoming stuck in our ways, in this case the familiarity is one that is comforting and one that is friendly. This atmosphere that we experience is second to none as we are welcomed but on the other side of the glass it is a distinctly different feeling that we recognise. 

What I am referring to is those times when we happen to venture through the door of someone else's local to be greeted by the congregation of judging eyes peering right through to our very soul. Contrary to every thing that we feel when we are in our local this is the complete and unequivocal  reverse of all of those feelings, never have we been so uncomfortable, so out of place and so unwanted. Whilst in our local we wait for that familiar phrase, 'It's your round', here we await that interrogative question, 'so where are you from?', never has there been a feeling of unease like just after this seemingly innocent and basic question is asked. Under normal circumstances it's fine but in someone else's domain, a place where you don't belong the sinister quality of such a question, when uttered by a pathological drinker who is more furniture than man due to the amount of time he spends frequenting this establishment, is enough to send shivers down your spine. It is in these situations that we keep things to a minimum whilst still trying to appear affable and maintain an air of calm so as to do our best to fit in. It may be that his inquisitive nature is really just him attempting to be friendly but when your in an unfamiliar place it's difficult to not assume the worst. I find it compelling how the conflicting polarity of these two situations can occur under one roof as a result of something as petty as, yet some how ultimately defining as the particular grid reference you happened to grow up in. Whilst it can be difficult to know how to judge these occurrences we always now that at the end of the day... well it's night... but also that no matter yet there's always a place where every body knows you name and they are indeed always glad you came.