I met a genuine Russian today!

[weswood]

I was out and about and stopped at Target (Department store) and these two guys were outside on a bench speaking a language I didn't recognize. They were still there when I came out so I asked them what language it was. Russkies in Baytown, Texas! Who'd have thunk it! They told me where they were from, I couldn't pronounce it, never heard of it, said it was near the Pacific. They were "tourists" I think they came over to work, and now they were just out sightseeing. Didn't think to much of Baytown, but I don't blame them. South Texas in the middle of summer ain't the place to be.

WOLVERINE! THEY"RE HERE!

[Cdnwolf]

Well.... when I was in Cuba on vacation in April, I met a lot of rich (and hot looking) Russians. They are the new rich tourist of the world.

[Littlearmies]

In 1990/1991 I was working on a privatisation contract for the British Government in Hastings (a has been seaside resort on the South Coast - Americans think some of those New Jersey type places for atmosphere). Soon after the Wall came down I met a couple of hefty guys who had walked into my local with three good looking girls.

As they wanted to play pool and I had the table we had no option but to chat together. As I was quite keen on the girls and they wanted to practice their English this turned into a bit of a session. They were over for language lessons and one of the guys mentioned they had real difficulty getting visas to come to the UK.

I explained to them that I didn't live in Hastings per se but that I was staying there while I worked and that I actually lived near Stevenage (a town with about 100,000 people 30 miles North of London). When I mentioned this they gave each other big grins and said "We know Stevenage - British Aerospace Guided Weapons, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Satelite Division, Martin Baker Ejection Seats..."

While they were buying the next round I asked the best looking of the three girls how they knew so much about Stevenage - were they spies And the answer was that they had been a Major and a Captain in the Soviet strategic rocket forces based near Moscow before being riffed a few months earlier - Stevenage was obviously on a tartget list. They were now in business building dachas.

At the time it slightly took me aback to meet two guys who had their finger on the button to vapourise me a year or so before - but they were nice blokes...

[pmulcahy11b]

I was out and about and stopped at Target (Department store) and these two guys were outside on a bench speaking a language I didn't recognize. They were still there when I came out so I asked them what language it was. Russkies in Baytown, Texas! Who'd have thunk it! They told me where they were from, I couldn't pronounce it, never heard of it, said it was near the Pacific. They were "tourists" I think they came over to work, and now they were just out sightseeing. Didn't think to much of Baytown, but I don't blame them. South Texas in the middle of summer ain't the place to be.

WOLVERINE! THEY"RE HERE!

Tell them to come up to San Antonio or Houston -- the weather's not any better, but there's a lot more to see.

[jester]

You met a Russian Did they have tails and horns and burst into flames upon contact with sunlight

[pmulcahy11b]

Did they have a lot of vodka and have submachineguns not even available to the Russian military

[weswood]

You met a Russian Did they have tails and horns and burst into flames upon contact with sunlight

Actually they were nice young men sitting in the sunshine drinking hot beer. Yech!

[jester]

Actually they were nice young men sitting in the sunshine drinking hot beer. Yech!

Sitting in the sun drinking warm beer!

that alone tells you they are minions of the underworld! Beer is meant to be be drunk cold while sitting in the shade. Hmmmmm, and that makes me want to have one...be right back

[Mohoender]

Sitting in the sun drinking warm beer!

that alone tells you they are minions of the underworld! Beer is meant to be be drunk cold while sitting in the shade. Hmmmmm, and that makes me want to have one...be right back

That makes britain the doorstep of hell (no offense). Always thought that the british had something disturbing.

[Targan]

That makes britain the doorstep of hell (no offense). Always thought that the british had something disturbing.

Yes, that is definitely one thing about the British that we Australians find disturbing. Beer should indeed be drunk cold. And it needs to be real beer too, not that rats piss that Americans call beer

[jester]

Yes, that is definitely one thing about the British that we Australians find disturbing. Beer should indeed be drunk cold. And it needs to be real beer too, not that rats piss that Americans call beer

Targ,

I find most of your post to be inflamatoruy...except for your implication of what we are forced to endure that is called beer. Thern again I usuakly drink importedstuff or local brews vice the ovberly sweetened piss water that is sold all over from the major brewers. MMMM makes me long for some of the better smaller breweries... a mnice Rogue ale, or Steamboat or some of the others... this week I will be hitting the locl brew pub and then th lovcal brew pub by my boat for a couple growlers of goos stuff...alas, with me that stuff lasts two three days if I am lucky.....to bad you folks don't ligve closer...then again if you did well lots of beer, mates and gamming tends to upset the girlfreinds/wives so matye it is a good thing we are so dipsersed

[Mohoender]

Yes, that is definitely one thing about the British that we Australians find disturbing. Beer should indeed be drunk cold. And it needs to be real beer too, not that rats piss that Americans call beer

That is true but that is nice also as it allowed me to have a lot of fun while I was in college. After all these college guys had drink almost a keg of sparkling water, I only had to present them a small glass of alcohol (men alcohol I mean: at least 50o) to get rid of them and remain the last standing guy in the party.

However, the american honor is well defended by the Bostonians (Again!) who are making a very good beer (Samuel Adams) and by a number of pub and breweries that are making some wonderful brand.

Else, as I was born in Belgium, I love very strong beer and my favourite remain the "Rochefort 10" a 12o brown beer. Concerning the blond beer, the Australian Castlemaine remain (IMO) the best (I haven't drink one of these in 15 years) along with the japanese Kirin and the Mamba of Ivory Coast.

Aren't we going away from T2K here

[Targan]

However, the american honor is well defended by the Bostonians (Again!) who are making a very good beer (Samuel Adams) and by a number of pub and breweries that are making some wonderful brand.

Else, as I was born in Belgium, I love very strong beer and my favourite remain the "Rochefort 10" a 12o brown beer. Concerning the blond beer, the Australian Castlemaine remain (IMO) the best (I haven't drink one of these in 15 years) along with the japanese Kirin and the Mamba of Ivory Coast.

Okay so maybe I was engaging in some sweeping generalisations. I do like Kirin. I haven't tasted this Samuel Adams brew of which you speak but I shall keep an eye out for it and hopefully if I can find some I will have cause to take back what I said about American "beers".

[kato13]

Okay so maybe I was engaging in some sweeping generalisations. I do like Kirin. I haven't tasted this Samuel Adams brew of which you speak but I shall keep an eye out for it and hopefully if I can find some I will have cause to take back what I said about American "beers".

I have only drunk beer once (A horrible Korean concoction called Hite) so I cannot express personal knowledge, yet the whole concept of Sam Adams beer intrigues me. The owner of the company, Jim Koch (Sam Adams was an American Patriot and Brewer), seems to have a single minded determination to make the best beer possible. He even went to European glass makers to have them construct a beer glass which keeps the beer cooler and maximizes the effervesce. Even though I am not a fan of the product category, I do respect that this guy really puts maximum effort into his craft.

[TiggerCCW UK]

Before I stopped drinking I had the good fortune to visit the Sam Adams brewhouse in Boston. Lovely bar with great friendly staff (although this was back in '96, so they're probably different staff now). Sam Adams beer is one of the nicest I've ever had, especially their then fall beer, Hazlenut Brown. The normal Boston Beer, their standard brew, is pretty good too. When I was in Boston they used to do a free tour of the brewery starting and finishing at the bar with a few free drinks. By the fifth day they knew myself and my friends by name and were just giving us the free drink tokens without having to go to the tour