Amongst my own

I caught up with my old mate Peter Cruickshank on Thursday. He’s an Aussie vet who’s leads the world in shaping cat’s ears after they have been ravaged by skin cancer. We met outside Putney Bridge tube station at midday and retired to the first open pub we came across.

We ended up at The Larrik on New Kings Road. It’s an Antipodean pub and a bit of a beer barn. (We were in Putney, after all.) But on a cold Thursday afternoon the wooden floors, high ceilings and sense of space it was kind of homely. It also helped that the Kiwi barmaid had left the heating on overnight so it was nice and toasty when she opened up. They had a couple of beat up leather sofas in the corner so we settled in for a drink. Or two.

I met Peter when I was travelling through Turkey back in 1993. He was there that fateful night at the Buzz Bar in Oludeniz when I nearly toppled off a table up on the roof top bar. I was trying to impress a pretty English film student and was deftly rescued from the abyss by a passing waiter who reached out and grabbed me before I fell.

At 9 pm we were still at the Larrik. We’d eaten lunch and dinner there, only getting up to turn our bikes or order another round. We probably would have stayed on the sofas until closing time but they had a band playing in that corner and had to move them out of the way. The pub was full by then so I took it as a cue to shuffle off back to the ‘burbs.’

I had a brilliant, brilliant day. I’ve been stuck up in my loft getting everything in order for the release of the new book so it was good to be out and about. And it was good to be in London. Coming into Putney Bridge, looking across the roof tops under a leaden sky, made my heart sing. It’s too goddamn green in Epsom some times!

It was also great to be among my own. There’s a distinct antipodean attitude that I was beginning to miss. Hanging in the pub, chatting to Peter and the bar staff, eavesdropping in on conversations around me, I got to soak it up. It was all very relaxed.

I also had a chat to the bar manager about why he called their burger with pineapple and beetroot a ‘Kiwi’ burger when I thought that particular culinary combination was particular to Australia. He told me it was popular in NZ as well and we admitted that we were more alike than we care to admit.

We agreed on a few things though. The All-Blacks are chokers. And the English football team would do well to emulate the spirit shown by their Union counterparts.