Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Time to own up

A few people have asked me what a Pundy House really is. Well, here's the story...

When I started blogging a year ago I had really no idea how the system worked nor what I was trying to do with it. In some trepidation I signed up for Blogger and immediately found myself being whisked along by its wizardry as I set up the blog. One of my first problems was to find a title.

I had a few ideas in mind - The Write Stuff, that sort of thing. Smart, punning titles. But when I Googled my ideas they had all been taken. I began to panic. Fortunately, at that point I recalled a conversation I had had the day before with an old school friend who I'd become re-acquainted with through Friends ReUnited. We had benn reminiscing about how we had worked as students for a couple of summers in a brewery in Edinburgh. The brewery was located at the bottom of the Royal Mile, near the Palace of Hollyrood. In fact, it was on the site where the new Scottish Parliament now, expensively, stands.

My friend reminded me that one of the supposed perks of working in the brewery was that after your shift was ended you could go along to the Pundy House (an old bothy or shed) where you were served free beer in milk bottles. The beer, for whatever reason, wasn't fit for sale and was called Pundy. The Pundy House was full of old guys who had seen everything and generally had a pretty jaundiced view of the world and were quick to tell you about it.

So, more by accident than design, I guess the name fits my blog perfectly.

Oh, as an historical footnote, I'm pretty sure that the standard of debate in the old Pundy House was rather superior to what we get now in the building that's replaced it.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:42 pm

    At last. And the name's perfection itself. Reminds me of a friend's tale of working in a brewery where the second quality stuff was piped to taps scattered throughout the building. The workers called it "scuzz." While they were drinking it. All were permitted unlimited access, all day, so long as they didn't stagger. Some of them carried cups, on laniards, which were called "scuzzbuckets." I won't name the brand, which is still going strong, but I understand there's very low turnover in the labor force. We sots are loyal to a fault.

    And Pundy is our favorite quaff.

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  2. Anonymous2:45 pm

    Now I know. And as JTA said, "the name is perfection itself." And the 'view' is great from the pundy house.

    You're a wonderful story teller, which, in my book, is better than being a wonderful writer.

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  3. Anonymous4:12 pm

    Great name, now there's a story, imagine the characters, their opinions, where they lived . . . .

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  4. Anonymous4:35 pm

    Oh dear, I wonder how many of us ended up a blog name that we fell into. Me too Pund, I had something dreadfully sophis and writerish in the beginning. Every variation on my lovely theme was taken and I stabbed in my present name in temper! Truth prevails I suppose!

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  5. Anonymous7:38 pm

    Better than me: I was faced with the same "name your blog" dilemma, and thought I was being so clever thinking of harry potter's patronus as an alternative personality being a great name for a blog. But becuase i am female, "patrona". The trouble is, I was in such a panic by the google question that I typed in the title from memory and misremembered the word -- hence my blog is called Petrona (Debra Hamel later on pointed out my error; I lived in blissful ignorance for the first few months).

    Thanks for the story, though, I really like to know the origins of blog names --- and you have retained a little bit of the past here, very nice.

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  6. That's brilliant! Thanks for sharing ...

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  7. Anonymous2:15 pm

    Great story......great place to be

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