Firmly ensconsed behind the bar

As I type, thousands of people are preparing to descend upon Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. Considered by many to be the jewel of our region's social crown, a splendid time is likely to be had by many.

However, Noel the cook and I are sitting in what many would considered to be one of the region's many aglets. That's the word used to describe the plastic tip on the end of your shoelaces. Court Square Tavern's glory days as a Friday happy hour hotspot are more or less over, but yet we're still here, keeping things together.

But, here we are at 5:30 PM, sitting and hoping for people to come in. There's no marketing campaign to get people in here, more or less. ABC regulations prevent me from telling you what we have on special. It is in the middle of May, and this isn't the most appealing place to be for most people.

For me, though, I'm ecstatic to be here. I hope we'll get busy. I'm standing behind the bar and will be here until close, no matter what. For the first time in 38 months, I'm a bartender. I'll likely be doing this on Friday nights for a while, and I feel like I'm in the right place. Even if the rest of you aren't!

I know a few people will come in later, and I'm going to have a good time no matter what. I'll likely catch up on a few tiddly things here and there. But, I do hope people will come in. I like talking to people.

And so now, an experiment in live-blogging. Below you'll find a link to an installation of Cover It Live. Feel free to ask me questions. Keep me company.