Definition

English Pub: [ing-glish or, often, -lish]/pʌb/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [puhb]:
-noun

Born centuries ago out of a national need for safe drink, the English Pub is not just a "bar" or "tavern" as it's usual definition suggests. By adding hops, yeast, and malted barley to the un-potable water, and serving it in ridiculously comfortable establishments (ie. fire place, dark wooden furniture, ambient lighting, a dart board), the British have created a place for community. It's not a "den of iniquity" or a place for hooligans to gather. It's a place you can step into on a coffee break, have a meal, or even meet with a church group.

We've been in Corsham, Wiltshire for the week. J. Clif and his father are our kind hosts. We've been staying with them at "the Rectory."

Corsham: a small community of about 13,000 made up of 5 churches, a small old city centre with high quality local businesses (including an amazing cheese shop, butcher, health foods shop, and a bakery where we finally found the elusive eccles cakes). There are 7 pubs, two of which are (according to locals) the "best pubs in the region." Life is lived at a slower, more comfortable pace here. Our days have been filled with tea, leisurely breakfasts, country walks, coffee, English baked goods, cheese, more tea, and new English Ales.

It's been educational as well as relaxing. On Tuesday evening, I had the distinct honor of being the first woman to be invited to the local Anglican Church's Men's Discussion Group. How did this happen? Well, as Jon's dad, the Vicar with the keen sense of humor told the group, "We couldn't very well leave our American guest home alone, and frankly she's much better looking than any of you." I was flattered to have the exception made for me so that we could listen to Jon's talk on immigration policy, a subject on which he had become an expert while studying at UBC. This took place upstairs at the Royal Oak, a local pub. The meeting takes place once a month with a different guest speaker and discussion theme each time. We, Jon included, weren't quite sure what to expect with this group. These are locals. Some generationally so. What do they care about immigration in Canada? How about in Britain? The US? Could it possibly get ugly?

Trying to imagine this set of circumstances playing out in small town America, I automatically assumed that people would be staunch in their opinions. First of all, this is a group of older men gathering in a pub on a Tuesday night. I had a vision of "Joe Six Pack" (is it too passe to use that term now? Sorry, guys.) getting together with his buddies. I suspected them to see the issues in black and white. I was almost sure they would be polite since "they're English" (a stereotype utterly destroyed for me by the football match we attended in Bristol... that's another story), but that questions would be sparse and opinions set and immovable from the start.

Not so. Not in the least. The questions were surprising, intelligent, well thought out. All were engaged. The discussion was animated for a good hour and a half.

You cannot discount anyone. You can't assume what they know or where they've been. You can't assume that all Brits are pro-Obama, as Jared learned during a conversation with a local man in an Oxford pub. You can't just assume that the wacky Corsham local with holes in his sweater sitting next to you in the pub has no idea about where you come from. They travel too. When they go to small town Georgia and talk to people with roots that have lived there for generations, they can make conjectures too:

"It's good for a person to have roots and to know where they come from. It gives you stability. Stability it important ... or is stability important...?"

Whoa. That one made all of us at the table stop and think. Hmmm. Is stability important? Wow. And I've never thought of rural Georgia that way before. Come to think of it, I've never thought of rural Georgia ... at all really. Maybe I should go there before assuming.

Corsham: Good people, good drink, good education. GREAT week.

- Steph