Creatures from Alpha Centauri

So last night I stayed at the Tilpa pub. Over a century old in one flavour or another, its a beautiful place to look at. Well, maybe beautiful is the wrong word for it. It is full of charecter anyway.

When I paddled into town yesterday afternoon (the town has a population of six I might add) there was a few cars around and the playground was full of children who had been recently released from the confines of the cars to stretch their legs. Adults were laughing and standing around in relaxed attitudes and the sounds of the kids at play all led to an atmosphere of conviviality.

Or at least so I thought.

When I walked into the pub for a drink and enquire about a room, you could feel the entire mood shift from one extreme to another. A rougher mob behind this counter they are, who'll ignore you as best they are able. I'm not sure if its because they don't see many new faces in these parts and are scared to talk to people they don't know or are simply showing their disdain for "blow ins" like me and other travellers.

Needless to say, I thought it was great.

"G'day" I said in as cool and tough a manner as I could manage. The woman behind the bar looked at me with unfriendly eyes.

"Um", I said convincingly. "I'd like a drink please". She thought about this for a moment. A hard look was in her eyes.

"What do ya want?" she asked obligingly.

Now Tilpa is clearly a place where Men are Men, Women are Women and Small Furry Creatures from Alpha Centauri are Small Furry Creature from Alpha Centauri. I considered her question for a second and, despite my dislike for it ordered a beer. I did this in the rather forlorn hope that I would be seen as a Man rather than a Small Furry Creature from Alpha Centauri which, from the initial looks I was getting was just where they thought I was from.

Sigh. The beer at least was cold.

Funnily enough, this was just the sort of reception I had been expecting. Pretty much all the travellers I had met who had come through Tilpa had waxed lyrically about the gruff, taciturn reception that they had recieved at the pub. "Mr. Personality" is how one person had nicknamed the publican. I was at Kallara station at the time, some ten or so kilometres by the road up river, camped by the river and talking with a couple of groups of people travelling through.

One person mentioned "Mr. Personality", people all looked at each other and started talking about the flat reception that they had recieved. People were relieved to find it wasn't just them - that the reception was poor for any traveller. So I knew what I was walking into and thought it was great.

I noticed that during the night the people behind the bar opened up a little, but only when talking to locals. When i was ordering a drink (even beer) I would be ignored for a moment or two (sometimes more) before being served.

I'm still not sure if it was because they wanted to appear tough or simply don't know how to handle strangers. Or Small Furry Creatures fro Alpha Centauri.

Same thing really.