h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh yes after studying in Bangor North Wales for three years I made the mistake of walking into a pub on the island. The locals just stopped talking, the jukebox clicked off, and pool balls stopped dead in their tracks on the table. It was similar to "An American Werewolf in London" when the two tourist guys walk into that pub on the moors and the locals say "Your not welcome here, now leave and keep to the roads!!!". The north welsh also have this habit of speaking english until you walk into the room/shop, then changing to welsh so they can call you things without you knowing it. Shame really as Im all for them keeping their language alive and kicking. But why is it when they swear they switch back to english? blah blah blah frrrith nigor thheeesss blah ya bastard!. Oh and for some reason written on the inside of every toilet door in north Wales are the words "PISS OFF ENGLISH SCUM, WE DONT NEED YOUR MONEY". AND DONT BUY A HOLIDAY/RETIREMENT BUNGALOW THERE UNLESS YOUR SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS, it will be gutted by a firebombed within minutes of your moving in.

If it only takes a day to dig up an area of rainforest the size of north Wales, why not just dig up north Wales? We could then concrete it over and use it for a carpark for people to use when shopping in Chester.

There's nothing wrong with the N wales pubs, you just had to know
which ones you could go into without getting the cold shoulder.

I also studied at Bangor (doing a 4 year course for my sins )
so I've been there a few times.

Yes but being a pub (ie. PUBLIC HOUSE) any member of the public should be able to walk in and not get the "cold shoulder". I mean in England we dont give people a hard time in our pubs because they wear shell suits and carry sheep under their arms now do we? I do feel that we should get a petition going so that Max Boyce be banished from UK soil forever.

5 years ago II moved from Bangor to do a PhD in Aberdeen. Now scots REALLY HATE the english (I watched Braveheart in the cinema there, and I swear if Id have opened my mouth in there Id have been a gonner) but I could walk into ANY pub and feel ok, although funnily enough their toilet doors still had PISS OFF ENGLISH SCUM WE DONT NEED YOUR MONEY but with the added WE HAVE OIL THANKS.

I hope you added to their "AND DONT BUY A HOLIDAY/RETIREMENT BUNGALOW THERE UNLESS YOUR SIR ..." that the should learn our language properly if they wished to use it - i.e. YOU'RE...

I don't remember ever seeing such words on any toilet doors when I was there - but I guess I didn't use the same ones as you...

I found making friends with locals (albeit of English & Irish origin) who had already been accepted was the way to go. And my landlord & landlady on Anglesey were two of the nicest (Welsh) people I met - £15 a week rent (1991/2) AND they made us birthday cakes !

Blue

Some friends of mine have a home on Anglesey...a little place called wrny Willn...or some such thing....we went there for a short holiday one year with our 2 young daughters...
It was meant to be a break following the death of my father....my daughter however ended up in hospital wirh Meningitis....such fun we had...NOT!

I'd rather get on a plane to somewhere warm....

Haha yes correcting spelling really riles them.

There are nice people in North Wales, I quite agree, just not many of them. For example the owner of the HARP pub in Bangor was cool. She had this glass collector called David (pronounced DAV-ID) who was an old version of Popeye. To make matters worse he had a twin brother (Wouldnt like to go for a swim in their gene pool). He just grunted really but he added to the atmosphere.Never saw him eat in 3 years, he just smoked non stop and drank Guiness. His liver and lungs must have looked like sponges that had been soaked in oil and mucus for a week, before then being repeatedly run over by a tractor.

Turning into a Bangor reunion then is it

The Harp was a cool pub, the last time I went in there, last summer
sometime, it hadn't changed a bit (well appart from repainting the
walls the same colour as they always were), the old tattered seats
and tables, the big old juke box, which played proper records.

The best bit about that pub was of course the free baked spuds one
night during the week, always packed out then I remember.

Phil

Reunion yeah.

I think Monday night was pub spud night. I havent been back in over 3 years but would like to go as a couple of mates are still there.
Was David still there in the Harp? He had really bad arthritic hands too. You couldnt miss him if you saw him, he looked like shit.
I used to like the 'fat cat' too at the bottom of Lon Pobty, a bloody 50 degree steep, mile long hill I had to trudge up every day to get to St Marys halls of residence. The Ship was good too.
The great thing about the harp is that it was always dark in there. The juke box also had tonnes of 70s and 80s stuff on it, and also had "long tracks" like Layla, stairway to heaven etc so you could make 50 last a week. Had a great pool room too.

Now you mention it, monday does seem right for the spuds.
I can't remember if David was there, but then again there was a few
beers had and it was a saturday afternoon. The reason I was in Bangor
was I couldn't be bothered going walking up a mountain or two with
some mates
The fat cat is still there, along with the pubs carrying on down the
high street.
There is a new(ish) pub, where the redeveloped castle hotel is,
oppposite debenhams, and the old glan was last seen as a firkin pub.
Redeveloped union and all that as well, makes me want to be there
now even if it's proably raining

Perhaps we should get together anyone else who was at uni there and
do a collaborative effort about Bangor and the university.

Phil

Yeah when I get some time we should write a little ditty and submit it. Check out th webpage or something i guess for some basic intro, and then just rip the piss out of the place.

All done in the best possible taste of course

hi, i've got nothing to add to the subject, so I'll just say HI!!

Yes Phil it is raining- in fact it's pissed down all week except Friday. I live 2 miles up the hill from Bangor, but have nothing to do with students!

I've never noticed the language as a problem in pubs (or anywhere else) there are some nice and some horrible people wherever you go and silence in pubs too. I don't like Anglesey much though- too flat.

Ah what a suprise, but then it hasn't been too nice down here in
London either, but at least the rain is proper rain, good and solid
stuff, unlike the wishy washy stuff round here most of the time

What you say is correct about pubs in general, it all depends on where
you go and who you go with or meet along the way.

It's probably a good idea not to have too much to do with the students