Bottomless Cups of Beer: Liverpool Roulette
A long time ago, when I was living in Liverpool, new pint glasses were brought out. Imperial pint glasses of course, this being the empire and all.
These new glasses were quite narrow at the bottom, and heavy down there so they wouldn’t be so easily knock-overable. This was actually an odd concept because every weekend the pubs of Liverpool were jam-packed with empty chairs and empty tables. And people standing up drinking. The pint glasses were never in a position to be knocked over.
The pints were held for the duration of the drinking. In fact the piped music was always so loud that you couldn’t talk to the person next to you. So naturally you held your pint and talked to it for the night.
Watching short-sleeved men in the middle of winter standing up drinking, ignoring empty seats and tables, became even more fun when these new glasses were introduced - because they were faulty.
So every night drinking you watched and you waited. And you hoped it wasn’t your turn. Plonk-splash was the beautiful sound you heard whilst watching a bottom fall out of somebody’s pint glass.
One night I was lucky enough to hear plonk-splash, plonk-splash, plonk-splash, as I watched three men together in successive seconds lose their bottoms. So to speak.
Which reminds me, bottomless cups of beer are available this Friday in St Joseph for those of you traveling to see The Elders and Switchback - which I can confirm is only a bicycle trip away.
See also:
• Reason to Leave Ireland #162
• Lillies Bordello
• Ireland, Argentina and Germany
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