Kocsis Irma: A tour of our Locals. (A very quick one) - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)
at the bar counter. Thirty-year-old ceramics ornament the walls. Nothing stronger than wine is served here. The yellowish-brown liquid in the miniature bottles of which there is a large collection behind the counter is neither tea nor brandy, but also wine. One of the bartenders filled them, by way of an experiment, to see how long wines will keep. A journalist once published a poem about this pub in Szabad Föld. Here it is: Football Rules The Atmosphere’s a wine-bar Where order and good cheer prevail Except when those who do the pools Squabble and join the fray. Otherwise, you’ll find this is A quiet, peaceful place. Anyone getting soused in here Will find it costs them dear. And not only in terms of money! Following football rules A yellow slip is given to those Who can’t hold their booze. And if that won’t work, a red slip Meaning you’re out on your ear Never to set foot again In the pub called Atmosphere. There should be other pubs like this, Other places of amusement Where disorderliness is a word unknown Because of red and yellow slips. At the foot of the stairs, a printed slip of paper tacked to the wall, with a coloured Christmas light bulb above it. Anyone making his way up the stairs is sure to see it. It is a mourning-card. This is the place they always put them, by the stairs. +Egri Borozó Egri Wine-Cellar VII. Krúdy Gyula utca 19 This used to be one of the maziest pubs in the whole of Pest, a tortuous labyrinth of a place. I used to go 38
