I fulfilled that promise today. After almost two hours of conversation, I can say it: I have found my Oxford pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I was regaled by Crispien, a bartender originally from Devon who came to Oxford as a high school student. Alongside Crispien, Ace served up pints and insightful commentary about the local scene. Interesting point of contact: Crispien’s mother is from Texas, though he doesn’t remember what town she is from. I expect to learn more about this the next time I visit. Our afternoon conversation revolved around the queen’s passing (“Very sad for older folks,” says Crispien. “She’s the only royal I have any respect for.”), pubs in Oxford (“There are only a few independent pubs left, and they are the only ones with any character”), and his impressions of Americans (“You all are loud, you are friendly, and you don’t know very much about other people.”). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crispien also offered a warning to Americans who visit The Eagle and Child<\/em> pub when it reopens: don’t trust the waitstaff. Having worked at the pub in the past, Crispien told me that employees played a regular game where they would see which of them could convince visitors of the biggest whopper about this historic pub where the Inklings gathered to discuss their work. Crispien’s best effort at this game: he once convinced some pub tourists that Tolkein actually named the Lord of the Rings antagonist, Sauron, after his ex-wife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m looking forward to more conversation with Crispien. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Return home<\/a>…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post will be a quick one. Tomorrow is a busy teaching day for me, so I won’t have as much time to share about today’s ramblings around Oxford colleges (in short, we visited Jesus College, Lincoln College, and St. Peter’s). Instead of showing grand pictures of those inner courtyards, I want to talk about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oxford-city","tag-oxford-pubs"],"yoast_head":"\n