The Merton bar

I remember Annie V. She was in the Private Lives that M directed. She and S came to my room in Merton once, and S said: Let’s go to the [Merton] bar.

And I couldn’t admit that I’d NEVER BEEN TO THE BAR BEFORE! It was my third year and I really should have… The bar was a hole in the wall opposite the tv room. I used to look in there when – the 1st term – I went to watch Brideshead Revisited (SO long…) – and shudder. It resembled Bratislava on the day after the 1968 invasion. Or something. (Not that I’ve ever been to Bratislava…)

So we went.

And it was so AWFUL. A man I knew had just done a sponsored headshave (in 1984, way before it was so commonplace)… There were bristles all over the place. Probably a Bic razor…

I never went back!