It’s early April and we’re having London like weather in western New York; damp, rainy and temperatures that chill me from the inside-out. In full disclosure, I’ve never been to London, but I’ve seen movies. Mounds of dirty snow, like black coal, still linger in plaza parking lots, fighting a losing battle against the slow creep of Spring’s warming temperatures.
Tonight, after a three-month winter hiatus, our small cadre is gathered at a neighboring bar for an evening of brotherhood and beer, heavy on the former and light on the latter. We motored a few miles to ‘the north side’ to revisit a bar whose motto is, ‘the place to be’.
If a few ‘old’ friends want to sit, talk and hear each other, then, yes, this is ‘the place to be’; a long bar, a couple of overhead televisions tuned to sporting events, dart boards and a dimly lit back room with a pool table. Picture it.
We opted for the back room and a wobbly table where we could spin yarns and talk about our senior worlds, away from disinterested regulars who huddled, round-shouldered, at the bar, closer to the taps for quick refills or benign conversation with the barmaid,
Our muster starts with a toast to our health and well-being. A clink of the glass mugs sends a reassuring message to each of us that we’re in good company and we care about each other. Then, the chatter begins.
There was a palpable happiness in the air. And why not, friends are reunited and we have a chance to talk about stuff that has no interest to others. It has taken us years to get here, and we’re in our element, as one would say. .
One of us has a new car, a Tesla, the hybrid vehicle that performs every task a driver could want, except the final one, a last look, just to make sure. Sensors are processing information constantly to give the perfect driving experience. The driver of this car is a former fighter pilot whose skill set will easily transfer to the high-tech sophistication of a Tesla.
Technology is wonderful whether it’s in a car or gadget,and it’s often on display in our bar rendezvous. We show pictures of grand kids, check news updates, get stock information and find the fastest way home from the bar, if necessary, all from compact computers, our phones. However, when we walk to the car after an evening of social niceties, our focus is still on our conversation and fellowship. Our phones are pocketed while we continue to pay attention to each other and to where we are in life and the wonderful evening of companionship just concluded.
More importantly, though, we pay careful attention to where the hell we’re walking. Seniors don’t fall well!
Hence, we take one last look…
“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
Mark Twain on friendship
Steve
srbottch.com
Dedicated to our neighborhood ‘gang’…
S'amusing 
Sounds like you had a wonderful evening with you friends. I have been taking a walk down memory lane in my own posts of late [although I am a bit younger than you – I think my childhood was so much better than my own children’s for many reasons not the least of which is technology] . It is so lovely to remember all the amazing things from our childhood and life. A most enjoyable read.
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Some of my earlier stories are about childhood days. ‘My Front Porch’, ‘My Shoebox Family’, ‘Waving at Airplanes’, and other memory stories. I hope you’ll scan through and find some of them. I agree with your observation about childhood days. Thanks for reading.
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Great tribute, Steve. It’s not the falling, but the getting up that worries me 🙂
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Thank you, Derrick. My adult daughter is fascinated with England I think it goes back to her childhood when we gave her a James Harriet book. I read one of your blogs to her recently, especially about your dinner descriptions. If she ever visits England again, you will have to be in her itinerary 😄. Thanks for reading my post.
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She’ll be welcome, Steve
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Excellent atmosphère description.I wish I was there.
But my Dear friend,it’s now
the 10th bar chronicle.You spend too much time there.LOL😄
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We would enjoy your company. I don’t know if my friends have ever met a pure Frenchman. It would be a great experience 😂😂
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You are a wonderful writer and story teller. Great work you must keep up.
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Jim, Thanks so much. It’s my associations with good friends that give me good fodder for these stories 😉. All my best!
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Love the Bar Chronicles. I have something similar. “The Usual Suspects” get together over coffee almost every day at St. Arbucks. The only off limits topic is politics. Everything else is fair game.
I write about them every so often
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Interesting about the off limits topic of politics. We haven’t ruled it out but we generally don’t discuss it. We keep it light and pithy. We’re 85, 75, 71 and 66, or so. Just a nice, casual evening.
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It’s off limits because we have a couple of guys with pacemakers or high blood pressure. Having them keel over would dampen our day.
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I could see where it would. As for our group, I’d hate to give up a pint of Guinness to attend to one of the others. But then, there others in the group who could handle if. After all, it is a Guinness..,
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