Almanac Pubs: Mstry Pb – Frydy Nght Drnks
Twilight. Peel Street.
Pulsing with purpose. Chirps off-stage. Little eruptions of colour, of movement. Bars and secret nooks and tiny eateries.
It and Leigh Street run off Hindley Street and these evolving clusters also show Adelaide’s bold new face. Not just the ever-sprouting steel and glass towers or modern bowl of the cricket ground. The fizz is affirming.
Claire instructed me kindly to ‘walk down the street’ — and I did, trusting her logistics. Stepping along the gray pedestrian lane, a voice called out to me. I know this better than a Beatles’ song.
The sky stretches upward as it can in late August, promising rebirth. It’s crisp — pyramidal heaters guard the doorway.
I’ve been summoned to a bar called Bckyrd. I gather wine and beer. We sit. It’s the bubble to which I’ve pinned my week — Claire’s hand warm like a winery fireplace.
As a linguistic device, Bckyrd appeals to me. It’s an example of consonantal abbreviation and is a marketing tool. Think of Tumblr, Flckr, or the Primal Scream album, XTRMNTR. Also known as disemvoweling (Freddy Krueger areas) or graphological deviation (worrying if suggested by your proctologist). Drop one of these terms into the chat when you’re next at the footy club.
Fairy lights above. Open sky. Three levels of Bckyrd, but we stay grounded. Can a bckyrd really have three stories?
Exchanging thoughts, little prayers to each other. Conversation like Sunday tennis — parabolic lobs, wayward shots, long rallies.
It’s a heartening hour. Tonight, I’m Mcky Rndll. Vowels gone. Age gone. Almost.
See — now I feel edgy. Influential.
More from Mickey Randall can be read HERE
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About Mickey Randall
Now whip it into shape/ Shape it up, get straight/ Go forward, move ahead/ Try to detect it, it's not too late/ To whip it, whip it good
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njyd ths s mch; y r ` str. kp thm cmng
I so want to write thnks but I won’t. Appreciate your encouragement, Karl.
Kn Cnnghm – the commentator who vowels forgot. Must be an Adelaide thing.
XTC – fave band.
Hey Mickey, I get the vowels and consonants bit but I remain captured elsewhere by Claire, surprise surprise! How could I not be?
I hear her “a man walks down the street” and, with the greatest respect, the rest of your narrative seems to dim a little. I become totally captured by a mental picture of you as I crank up Spotify and play Paul Simon’s “Call Me Al”.
That evocative smorgasbord of lyrics tumbling over themselves as you try to keep up with the song paints an vivid background against which I keep posting that cheery face of yours in your Almanac biopic. How could all these things be happening to my good mate, I think.
Oh, then I think hey hang on, this is a bloke who doesn’t walk down the streets of Glenelg, he runs. Yep, now I get it.
RDL
Very good PB. I think Bruce got all of KG’s vowels.
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity, he says, ‘Amen,’ and ‘Hallelujah’
Thanks for your Friday evening thoughts, RDL. Paul Simon always a good prism through which to view the world. Chevy Chase a treat in the music video too. Not quite Ty Webb in Caddyshack but noteworthy!
I’m enjoying the eternal tour of Adelaide bars and pubs, Mickey.
Thanks.
Thanks Smokie. We’ve now done 56 Mystery Pub visits since we started in mid-2021. About half a dozen have ceased trading and others have been reborn. At our current rate of one per month, I reckon we’ve a few years left!
Excellent Mickey can’t deny I admit never heard of-Bckyrd
Until I walked in at 5.03, neither had I.
Thanks Malcolm. Top day at AO yesterday.
Mickey: brilliant, once again
by the “numbers”, as some like to say in 2025: 56 visits at one a month – got me thinking – it’s somewhat like my ‘Barossa red wine of the week’ – I reckon I’ve got a few years to go on that front, too!
As I’ve said to Ian Hauser & JTH more than once: I’ve started something that will last longer than any Phil Gould “5-year plan” (the number of years always questionable!) at Penrith, or the Bulldogs!
Thanks Russel. A decent bottle of Barossa red a week? Should keep you going for a few lifetimes!
hand on heart, Mickey – I am NOT drinking the bottle of ‘Barossa Red Wine of the Week’ on a weekly basis …
what does this mean though?
i may need to dig a hole (or, better still, in true Lutheran Church tradition) organise a working bee to dig the hole for a cellar!!