The Tavern

Some years ago I lived in Spain and would travel back to England from time to time through Alicante airport. The airport there caters mainly for holiday makers and their tour buses but also had a small but loyal customer base of ex-pats flying from home to home or eking out their pensions in the sun.

The airport operated a long queue policy to annoy their customers by having 40 or so check-in desks all closed with all the passengers waiting anxiously at the few that were open. We would shuffle slowly along dragging our bags whilst jealously eyeing up the other queue to see if it was shuffling faster than ours. We were all getting on the same plane but somehow it was still frustrating to see other people getting on it first.

Once through the formalities and in the departure lounge I would head for the John Bull pub – an ersatz English, counterfeit home counties pub area partitioned off from the expanse of the departures hall. There I would drink overpriced Guinness sitting on a heavily upholstered chair next to a circular mahogany pub table. It was a decompression chamber letting me readjust from the depths of Spain and its claustrophobic spanishness and re-enter the English world again. A sort of half way house/pub to help me adjust. Anyway, The Tavern is a bit like that, England or maybe Australia reimagined in Phu My Hung.

Going to the Tavern serves the same purpose as the John Bull if you miss England but, as I don't, I rarely go there. Last night it played host to the school's irregular quiz night, eight teams of raucous and eager teachers trying to guess the answers to impenetrable questions that even the wildest guess couldn't provide an answer for. We occupied the third floor leaving the ground floor and outdoor terrace to the normal customers. The organisers shouted out the questions, the teams argued about the answers and the staff gamely ran about getting people drinks.

We came a close third losing out to the previous winners who clearly had pub quiz form. Next time maybe we'll be luckier. If only my team mates had listened to my right answers and ignored my wrong ones we could have won. But I liked the Tavern. It may be full of ex-pats and it may show football constantly but I might go again.