I couldn’t book a flight home till Monday, so altered my hotel arrangements to stay “in town” for the weekend. I’ll be without a driver for the weekend, but I’ve got a hotel near a tube station.
Regarding gen-yoo-ine English tipple, what would you suggest? I have a passable British-sounding mumble, and I’m trying to fly under the radar in the pubs ("Hey! I’m American! Anyone wanna mug me? - heh). Any help is appreciated. (I DO think John Smith’s is pretty good, though).
The trains from Slough to London are easy, and postal trains runthrough Friday night/Saturday morning for a late night in London. Did you see the weaponry and armour collection in Windsor Castle?
I wish. The husbandly figure and I were recently in London and they kept offering us Budweiser. Budweiser! :rolleyes: In the hotel where we stayed, the bar didn’t even have any English brews at all. Yeesh!
Well, as it happens, I drink Guinness and Stella Artois- yeah, I know, not English, but if you have never tried Guinness before- well, it’s probably the only good reason to have occupied Ireland. For an interesting twist on it, try asking for a Black Velvet. It will be expensive, you may well hate it, but it will be an experience you will never forget. It is also about as English as they come, having been invented in a London club to commemorate the death of Prince Albert (yeah, yeah, let’s not split hairs).
Harrumph…stuff & nonsense I had fish & chips this evening. With mushy peas.
John Smith’s is a passable imitation for people who don’t know their beer To start with, any real beer is on a hand pump, not an electric-powered nozzle (I’ve only once ever seen John Smith’s from a real pump). If it’s a good pub, all the real beer is worth sampling, and the staff will be able and willing to tell you what each drink is like, and provide samples. In a bad pub, they’ll just pour the thing and charge you £2.80. Take a look here, and make sure you check the option for ‘beer’
You may have found British food inedible, perhaps you were unlucky in your choice of restaurants, although you must have noticed there are plenty of MacDonalds here.
You should have felt right at home.
It’s Champagne and stout (often Guinness) to send the champagne into “mourning”. It has one benefit: the taste is NEVER as horrific as you imagine it would be.
This from an inhabitant of a country whose national dish is named after a city in northern Germany, generally served with a side dish whose name contains the name of yet another nationality that is not ours…
I have two alternate responses for you. The first:
Go #!+ yourself, you #!+ing smug %&¤÷+. I’m sure to be censured by the Mods for saying that, but you earned it.
The second: I changed my mind. There’s onle the one.
I had fish & chips this evening. With mushy peas.
To start with, any real beer is on a hand pump, not an electric-powered nozzle (I’ve only once ever seen John Smith’s from a real pump). If it’s a good pub, all the real beer is worth sampling, and the staff will be able and willing to tell you what each drink is like, and provide samples. In a bad pub, they’ll just pour the thing and charge you £2.80. Take a look here, and make sure you check the option for ‘beer’ 
