Pubs: where more than just booze flows.

Society is a cacophony of metaphorical fountains. Whichever one we drink from can help to guide us through our often bewildering everyday lives, and in all manner of ways. being highly social (in a physical and/or commercial sense) is a fountain for keeping fit and maintaining contact with the important folk in our lives. Alternatively, working from home (whatever one's vocation) is often an ideal way to unwind, especially for the more introverted who call themselves humans. Whatever rocks your pad.

Now, me, being something of an ambivert, I'm known to drink from both of those "fountains" at various times, but another fountain which, for better or worse, I often embrace which is closely related to the second form (and no pun intended here) is the pub. That being said, I certainly don't mean here to sanitize or glorify the downsides of pub culture but rather to emphasize the "fountain" any pub can be AND the positive occurrences that can subsequently spawn despite the cons of pub culture like alcoholism, problem gambling and alcohol-related violence.

Firstly, a watering hole can be a fountain for prolonged creativity. How many legendary artists (from whatever field and known for whatever creative tones) must have crafted their greatest works while seated in a pub making their livers and bladders work overtime? I'd say thousands of them. For just one example, Mozart relentlessly frequented the pubs and coffeehouses of Vienna to open the creative floodgates (and to socialize), but here I must digress: drinking is just one fountain for creative thinking, with many much healthier ones being equally creatively inspiring.

Secondly, a pub can be a fountain for revolution. This word frequently has a dark connotation, due to the violence underpinning many uprisings, but like drinking culture, revolutionary action has as many pros as cons, both now and historically. Here a few modern examples of the connection between the drinking culture and rocking the establishment. Firstly, the famous worldwide student protests of 1968 saw disillusioned, angry young people from all backgrounds well and truly stick it to the man (on various issues), and with drinking a key part of youth culture then and now, it's fair to say many said students decided to rise up while they were drinking up. Secondly, the Beatles (who of course addressed the events of '68 in their classic Revolution) took their first steps to legendary status playing in Liverpudlian pubs, and then irrevocably changed not only pop culture but politics, too. Thirdly, Ronald Reagan once said, "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." To me, all great change ANYWHERE begins at ANY fountain for socialization, like a pub or a dinner table. Why? Because socialization naturally means conversation - the fountain for all plans and ideas we concoct with others.

To close, again, glorifying drinking or sanitizing its cons is hardly my intention here. I mean only to give due credit to the humble watering hole as a fountain for creative and political inspiration - the effects of which can taste just as pleasant as what most of us go to pubs for.

P.S. This piece pressed itself on me by a visit to Melbourne's glorious Young and Jackson Hotel, but was written (ironically) at my friends' house.