barfly's lament

On Friday I came upon a bar I had not been in before, here in my new town. I liked it immediately. Biker bar. Nice owner. She made a killer Tanqueray and tonic. Asked if I wanted it in a tall or a short glass. Then some cute bikers came in to deliver pencils for their scavenger hunt. They left and were replaced with a big ugly biker with a wonky eye who pulled out a dollar bill with Hillary's face on it and the caption "The Feminist States of America". The bartender thought it was funny and passed it over to me. Then the ugly biker pulled out a bill with Obama's face which he and the bartender also found hilarious; I didn't look at it.

They talked politics. I turned my attention to the man on the bar stool next to me so I wouldn't have to hear what they were saying.

Later that night I was with a friend and I mentioned my experience at the bar and he said he used to like that bar but then he knew people who worked there and when the owners had a slow night, they wouldn't pay the help. They did all kinds of stuff like that, he said.

It's not easy finding the perfect watering hole - that ideal combination of savvy bartender, colorful clientele, expert mixology, quality of tonic water, left-leaning politics, kick-ass background music. I'm willing to overlook one or two missing ingredients but treating employees unfairly, that's a hard one to ignore. However, in my quest for the perfect bar, I may give them another shot. It's a small town and there are only so many taverns to go around.

On a different note, although I doubt if I ever want to live in a part of the country with more gray days than not, I want to say that it's times like this that I truly miss my old home town...Portland, Oregon. An estimated 75,000 turned out to hear Obama. Of course, it didn't hurt that the weather cooperated. Bikini-clad supporters waved from boats on the Willamette River. 'Bikini-clad'? Truly a miraculous day. May the miracles continue.

(photo from The Oregonian)