The Regulars

Haven't you always wanted to walk into that cozy coffeeshop, or that pub on the corner, or whatever the place — you know the place — and have your order waiting for you on the counter (and added to your tab)?

I may have found the place. Two weeks ago, a few friends and I visited a quiet little pub called The Montague for their advertised pub quiz Thursdays at 8:30. We hadn't decided whether to partake in the pub quiz until the very last minute, when they had just started reading questions. So of course, we were the people who interrupted the entire quiz to "buy in" to play. It costs one pound per person, with all money going to the final pot for the winner at the end.

My group played under the name "The Americans Who Tried Their Best"... and we did, but to no avail. Most questions centered around Scottish and British TV, events, people, etc, and half the fun was trying to understand the questions being read in a thick Scottish accent. A nice old bartender, whom we've fondly nicknamed Angus, kept coming to our table and slipping us the answers. Even with that, we still got dead last.

A large group of us decided to go back for the quiz the following Thursday, which happened to be my birthday. Before we left, we mentioned to the bartenders that we would be back for the 24th, and begged them to throw in some American questions.  I ate dinner in with some friends that night and then went to the quiz. We showed up to find they had written an entirely American-themed quiz for us! It may have had something to do with us bringing in 20+ more customers that night... either way, I doubt the Scottish locals were too pleased at the quiz contents. Pathetically enough, my team tied with another team of friends for fourth place. The Americans did not win the American quiz. Granted, most people there had about ~20 years on us age-wise.

Part of the group

After my trip to Stirling on the Jan 25-27 weekend, my flatmates had arranged to do a flatmate dinner on Sunday evening. Katy made a delicious English roast. My flatmate Gemma, who is from Scotland, went home for the weekend and came back with a delicious birthday cake for Camille and me!

The Table

Camille, myself, Katy, and Gemma

I just got back this afternoon from my weekend home-stay in Shap, which I'll write about sometime this week. It was so much fun. Tonight I'm off to celebrate the superbowl Scotland style. Kickoff is at 11:30 pm, I think. Thankfully I don't have class until 2 pm tomorrow, so I think I can at least hold out until halftime.