The pub by the train station

On my way back to work today I did something I don't do very often anymore: I stopped at the pub by the train station on the way back for a drink. I used to do this fairly often back in Liverpool, about once a week, I was stopping by the pub near Lime Street station and was trying whatever guest ale was available. After a hard day of work, or a boring one, it was a nice treat. I barely said more than a few polite words to the locals, so socialising was not exactly the aim, but I would discover a new ale and the alcohol would make me feel juuuust a little bit numb for the train journey home. Now when I do stop for a pint, it is after I leave the station, not before I get in.

I was not very original stopping by the pub after work, especially not on a Friday: it was crowded. I drank very little, but I was there mainly for being there anyway. I don't feel like I really belong to this place, even after four years, by this I mean that I don't feel like a local. Probably I will never do, I never felt local anywhere but in Montreal and sometimes, to a lesser degree and for different reasons, in Liverpool.  Yet I do have some fond memories of this pub from early on: it was the first place I got in when I had that interview that got me the job that made me come here. It was where I had my first meal when I arrived in this town to settle. It is not my favourite pub in this town, but I like it all right. And it also sometimes a nice feeling being in a buzzing crowd, providing that it not too big a crowd.