So we were in the Hatchets in Bath...
...back when it was a fairly grizzly biker bar, last time I looked it was called "The Old Crow" or something, and was expensively trying to recreate the charm it used to have before whoever took it over fucked with it.

Anyway, 4 of us are having a quiet pint next to a table of skinheads - an unusual clientele for this bar, as, this being the '80s, it's more greebo and grease. You know that scene in Trainspotting, where Begbie kicks off a pub brawl "Which one a you raj cants glassed yon wee lassie?" etc? Well, that's what our cueball headed friends did here - full glass hurled randomly, only to (luckily) bounce off my friend's head. Then the entire table (a triangle of cueballs?) leave sharpish. "Right" says the harder members of my table, "They're not getting away with that...", so up they get and run after them. Myself and an equally timid friend follow at a brisk walk, heading up Parsonage Lane. Suddenly, *screaming* around the corner tears my hard mates, long hair streaming like digital music "Fuckin' Run!!!!" says Rob, legs like pistons as he barrels down the cobbles. In close pursuit are some *30* skinheads either looking for some aggro, or desperately in need of a toilet, I didn't stop to enquire. I "fucking ran!!!" all the way to the Ring 'O Bells in Widcombe.

...And, in the same pub, a truly sublime moment. I was sat in there having a post rugby pint, and in walked a man with a violin case. Falling into conversation with this chap, I bought him a drink in exchange for a tune, likening him to a minstrel of yore (He had a crispy coating that wouldn't melt in my hand). He played the most delicate, exquisite melody just for me, bringing the pub to a respectful, awe-full silence, punctuated with some genuine and respectful applause. He couldn't be persuaded to do an encore, or indeed even another beer, as he had an engagement in a few hours - as the first violinist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, I later deduced.
(Mousy Tongue ...Generally bemused by life..., Sun 8 Feb 2009, 5:37, 1 reply)

exquisitely lateral turns of phrase
"long hair streaming like digital music" especially. Click!
( squirrels emit silent screams has updog, Sun 8 Feb 2009, 6:30, closed)