Why good evening to you delightful folk. I trust you are well. This next tale details one of the first chance meetings that I had in a pub in London. St Stephen’s Tavern sits in the shadow of St Stephens Tower, that emblematic home to Big Ben at the end of the Houses of Parliament. The bar is small and always chock full of tourists and local so you’ve really got to wrestle your way through to get a drink. It’s usually pretty hot in this Victorian-style pub so something refreshing like a Hopping Hare is what I’d recommend.
Legend has it that it was one of the first pubs to install CCTV and had a direct line to Parliament so that Whips in the House could spot if MPs had sneaked out for a sneaky pint and call them back to vote and such.
I was a mere wide-eyed youth of 18 soaking up the Big Smoke when I wandered in here for an evening drink. The place was unusually quiet and I got a seat at the bar and sat musing to myself when I heard a voice pipe up from behind me.
“You do know it’s not allowed for people to drink alone here?”
An elderly Scotsman in a sober suit settled down next to me and ordered himself a pint. After introducing himself he offered me a second and I’ve never been one to refuse a drink. Once he’d discovered that I was a penniless student, he refused to let me pay for another round, making this evening not just a spontaneous delight but a damn near free one too!
It transpired that he was in the fabric trading business, travelling across the world selling differing cloths to different people. Most of his time, though, was spent in Mongolia, the most sparsely populated country on Earth. The tales he told me about this empty, wild and remarkable country held me enthralled.
He told me of the capital city of Ulan Bator, the tent city that the Soviets had concreted over; of the Mongolians' reputation as the hardest drinking nation on the planet; of their awe inspiring abilities on horseback and their obsession with riding, archery and wrestling.
The two of us drank long into the night and though I have never seen this besuited Scotsman since his words have stayed with me to this day. In fact, last year I finally fulfilled an ambition held ever since that night and went there on my way from Moscow to Beijing.
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