Night Out

One of the many advantages of having a nanny is that Jason and I have a date night once a week. Another advantage is a nice authentic Italian meal every once in a while!

Last weekend we went to a pub in Cambridge for a quick Thai dinner and then to another (The Red Lion) one close by for a drink. There were not too many people in the Red Lion-an office Christmas party and a table of drunk mostly Scottish men. They were quite entertaining and we got a few chuckles from watching them. Mulled wine and mince pies are the tradition this time of year, so when the Christmas party had leftovers, the pub staff walked around offering free warm mince pies to everyone.

Tonight we opted for heading into Cambridge for pizza and drinks. Since its Christmas time-most restaurants were full with Christmas parties but we managed to snag a table at the Tapas restaurant. One of the problems we have run into going out in Cambridge is that the crowd is pretty young. So after dinner we decided to check out a pub in Sawston (village next to ours) where Jason had seen a pool table earlier on.

In the past when we have gone to our local, 'The Bees in the Wall,' we get that everyone stops what they are doing to stare at the intruders kind of feeling. Sawston is more of a blue collar town so we were hoping there would be a more welcoming reception.

Once we stepped in everyone turned to to look and waved a hello with a smile. We sat at the bar and ordered a beer for Jas and water for me. A woman sitting at the bar apologized for the noise-"X Factor" was on tv and the votes were in. She detected we weren't local and proceeded to engage us in a conversation. Turns out her son is named Jason, after Jason and the Argonots as well. Every once in a while someone would walk over and shake hands with us and say a few words. It got a bit crazy after half an hour and she bar maid started yelling at someone. Next thing we knew another woman and then the one we were talking to went behind the bar and started serving. We thought-cool she needs help and all these people jsut chip in. Wrong.

We were talking to the owner-made sense then why she kept getting her class replaced with fresh beer every 15 minutes. It was quite fun sittin around talking to these people, noticing all the missing teeth with the camradery. Wish our local was more like this.