a gentle place

Posted By Harry on July 23, 2010

(Given the title of this site, and my previous posts, some of you may feel pubs are a strange thing to write about.  But gentleness, in its multitude of forms, is often found in unexpected places …)

I was never particularly partial to pubs. I associated them with sad and sorry men, loose inebriated women and broken families. Perhaps it was due to the fear of alcoholism that was engendered in my 4 siblings and I from a very early age; having experienced alcoholism in their childhoods my parents were not about to let it mar those of their children.

But then I moved into a 100 year old cottage at the end of a country lane that commenced its path near the front door of a pub.The pub. The ‘local’. The hub of the community. (Quite serendipitously, Sue and I had enjoyed our first beer in Tasmania at this pub – or hotel as they’re often called in Australia – when we had come across from Western Australia on a 5 day house-hunting trip. While sipping our beverages, under what I in my paranoia perceived to be the miffed eyes of 2 locals incensed at us for entering their space uninvited, I turned to Sue and whispered, I don’t think women are allowed in this section. Two years and two rented houses later, we moved into Avondale – the cottage at the end of the road that starts at the pub.)

Sue, always first out of the blocks when meeting neighbours, had us down at the pub the moment the first boxes were unpacked. And not surprisingly became a local long before I did.  Not due to my lack of presence at the pub, or because of any social ineptitude on my part (or so I believe), but due to my persistent internal maxim that pubs were not a choice place for one to spend leisure time. I’m not sure when that belief shattered and I allowed myself to become a local, but I do vividly remember the first night there that I felt a local …

Driving home late from work on the day that I had received my Australian citizenship I received a call from Sue asking me to pop in and have a drink with her and some of our neighbours.  To celebrate your newly acquired Aussieness.  The pub carpark was dotted with the same locals’ utes and cars; Friday’s the locals’ night – quiet drinks amid scattered conversations of the week that was.  But opening the door revealed a different Friday night – a loud chorus of Waltzing Matilda sung by an impromptu choir of revellers who had been awaiting my arrival for over an hour spilt out the door shattering the carpark silence.  Aussie flags adorned the ‘top shelf’ and blue, red and white balloons hung from wherever there was a light or a makeshift hook.  And a box wrapped in red, white and blue tissue paper awaited me on the bar.

An Aussie flag adorning the 'top shelf'

Surprised, somewhat embarrassed and feeling undeserving (I didn’t consider myself a local just yet) I opened the package to discover:

• a can of VB (Victoria Bitter)
• a pack of Tim Tams (classic Aussie biscuits)
• a jar of Vegemite (legendary Aussie sandwich spread)
• a stubbie holder with the pub’s insignia (a must have) and,
• a blue singlet with Aussie flags sewn on (I’m yet to see an Aussie bloke actually wearing one!).

True blue Aussie fare for the new Aussie.

Aussie flag on Avondale's quintessentially Australian Hills hoist - erected for the celebrations by the 'locals' of course

Pots of beer flowed my way from locals that knew me and many that did not. Congratulatory hand shakes were aplenty. And I felt home amongst family. The essence of the good ol’ country pub had seeped in and displaced previous misperceptions. I finally realised how fortunate I was to live at the end of the country lane that starts at the door of the best little pub there is.

Yet another Aussie flag decorated the house

So local pubs, pots of beer and firepots (the pub’s large furnace-like woodheaters that allow external activities to continue unhindered by Tassie’s chilly winters) have become things I promote rather than talk about with disdain. Life has again reminded me to keep silent on things I know little about. Gentle lives are abundant at the local pub.

Categories: Community
Tags: Beer, Community, Family, Friends, Local