Had a few pints with Andy at the Neptune last night. There was some kind of folk musician playing some kind of blues influenced thing. Not my cup of tea but he was quite good, in an almost completely bland way. There is something grim and desperate about the Neptune. I'm never quite sure what it is. All the clientèle are men of a certain age (late middle age) and there is the air of resignation about them... what they are resigned to is beyond me. There is a desperate air of something... There are also always at least a couple of these late middle aged men who have had too much to drink and 'play up' in the kind of ways that toddlers do. Getting attention. There was one such character there last night who was clattering up and down 'in time' to the music and shouting out inane remarks to the performer. Another of these characters asked the jumper if 'he liked Stevie Wonder'. This puzzled the jumper who replied that he didn't. 'I thought you would' the other, equally drunk late middle aged man replied 'he was exuberant too'. As midnight passed by, the middle-aged barmaid began doing some kind of tango or waltz with some late middle aged men to a tune from the stereo - some kind of rock'n'roll number. My table kept being knocked. It was all rather claustrophobic.
I don't think I'll be drinking there again.
