It struck me the other day that there are two or even three different pubs within the Taps. By which I mean that while there are what I would call the ‘proper regulars/the taps faithful’ there are also a whole bunch of other people who likely don’t even know that we exist, and indeed vice versa, but who are also, in their own way, Taps regulars.
[A bit like the two groups of people living side by side, but invisible to another in Chine Mielville’s The City and The City ]
Or maybe that’s unfair. It's not that they're regulars ‘in their own way’ but in objective terms. I mean after all they’ve paid their dues haven’t they?
They might be the people who come in every Friday and Saturday night without fail and love the pub. Who know the staff and one another. Are friends with the doormen and the DJ, and who quite possibly have their own sense of loyalty to the pub and one another.
To them we’re just a strange bunch of sad sacks who are always sat in the corner when they come in on a Friday or Saturday night. Or worse we’re the terribly rude people sat at the bar on a Thursday night who refuse to move when they come to the bar to order their drinks.
The idea that anyone might be there when they’re not might not even occur to them. I mean after all what kind of person goes to the pub everyday after work and during the day on a weekend?
In other words then, to them they’re not the interlopers. We are.
It’s a strange thought isn’t it?
No comments:
Post a Comment