BUA - My thirst is toast

Saturday afternoon in the east village and it feels like a sauna. It's time for a drink and i entered the bar BUA on St Marks Place and met a bartender named Shane. He was easy. "I'll buy you a beer."

"What does BUA mean,"i asked. "It means victory in Irish Gaelic," he said. "Are you an owner?" "No, it was opened by a couple of guys from Ireland: Ruari, Dave and Marc." "What will you have?" "What is Yuengling?" I asked. "It is an American lager." "Where are you from love?" he called me love. "Montreal". I think i actually asked him whether he likes U2. Was it because he was Irish, maybe. i think it was the heat. "I hate Bono. He doesn't care about poverty in Ireland."

"What do you do besides work here?" "I am studying political science human rights law at Hunter college," Shane said.

"I'm from a town of 1200 people and 13 pubs, " he said.

He then put on a band that i had never heard of - the Thin Lizzies (i think that's what they were called). "They're from the 70's".

I asked for some maraschino cherries and Shane gave me 4. A customer came up to the bar and i said, " i just ate 4 maraschino cherries and 1 stays in your stomach for like a month," and he replied, "oh, that's 4 months." I was a little tipsy.