Wednesday, July 16, 2008
12:40 by FoxTwo It's very rare that I write about mundane things happening to me in my "subsidiary blogs" before I write about them here. However, I did write about how I found my long-lost drinking kakis recently here.
About a year ago, my regular drinking place closed. As such, us regular customers (who have been patronising the place for years) suddenly lost a "home". My buddy and I spent the past year flitting from pub to pub, trying to find a new "home". We thought we found a place somewhere in Chinatown.
Then a couple of days ago, an old friend and fellow pub patron from the old place, told us that one of the bartenders have found a job at a new place, and gave us directions to the pub. My buddy and I just thought we'd pay her a visit and check the new place out. After all, we haven't really decided on a "home" pub yet, although the one at Chinatown is currently serving as one. There's still something..... missing...
So we popped by the new place.
The first feeling that hit us was - ok this feels familiar. The decor, the lighting. Then we walked towards the bar counter. Yup, she was there (from the previous pub). She was happy to see us. We were pleasantly surprised to see a few more familiar faces - patrons from the old pub, a couple of waitresses from the previous pub (who are now working there). It was then that even more was revealed to us.
The owners are former regular patrons of the old place. They have even gone to the extent of contacting all the previous staff of the old place and offering them a position at the new pub. We can even see that some efforts were made to "preserve" the ambiance from the old place. It was no wonder that the place felt familiar the moment we walked in.
As we sat at the bar counter (our old positions at the previous pub), we started to feel more and more comfortable. Yup, this indeed felt like the old "home pub".
That got me to thinking - why didn't the Chinatown one feel like home?. The decor was pretty close to the old pub, so that wasn't it. The ambiance was almost the same, perhaps that was why we decided to frequent the pub in Chinatown.
No, it was the people. The community, so to speak. Same people, from staff to patrons, all talking, laughing, playing. It almost felt like nothing has changed. We're all still here.
So it didn't really matter where the place is. The location may change. The decor might suck or be better, but, the most important factor in the whole equation: the people.
It's even more omen-ish that a similar event happened in the virtual world to me recently though, and I think this is a real-life lesson to be learnt, and apply, to the virtual world.
Yes, I am home.
12:40 by FoxTwo It's very rare that I write about mundane things happening to me in my "subsidiary blogs" before I write about them here. However, I did write about how I found my long-lost drinking kakis recently here.
About a year ago, my regular drinking place closed. As such, us regular customers (who have been patronising the place for years) suddenly lost a "home". My buddy and I spent the past year flitting from pub to pub, trying to find a new "home". We thought we found a place somewhere in Chinatown.
Then a couple of days ago, an old friend and fellow pub patron from the old place, told us that one of the bartenders have found a job at a new place, and gave us directions to the pub. My buddy and I just thought we'd pay her a visit and check the new place out. After all, we haven't really decided on a "home" pub yet, although the one at Chinatown is currently serving as one. There's still something..... missing...
So we popped by the new place.
The first feeling that hit us was - ok this feels familiar. The decor, the lighting. Then we walked towards the bar counter. Yup, she was there (from the previous pub). She was happy to see us. We were pleasantly surprised to see a few more familiar faces - patrons from the old pub, a couple of waitresses from the previous pub (who are now working there). It was then that even more was revealed to us.
The owners are former regular patrons of the old place. They have even gone to the extent of contacting all the previous staff of the old place and offering them a position at the new pub. We can even see that some efforts were made to "preserve" the ambiance from the old place. It was no wonder that the place felt familiar the moment we walked in.
As we sat at the bar counter (our old positions at the previous pub), we started to feel more and more comfortable. Yup, this indeed felt like the old "home pub".
That got me to thinking - why didn't the Chinatown one feel like home?. The decor was pretty close to the old pub, so that wasn't it. The ambiance was almost the same, perhaps that was why we decided to frequent the pub in Chinatown.
No, it was the people. The community, so to speak. Same people, from staff to patrons, all talking, laughing, playing. It almost felt like nothing has changed. We're all still here.
So it didn't really matter where the place is. The location may change. The decor might suck or be better, but, the most important factor in the whole equation: the people.
It's even more omen-ish that a similar event happened in the virtual world to me recently though, and I think this is a real-life lesson to be learnt, and apply, to the virtual world.
Yes, I am home.
Labels: drinking, pubbing, self
