For almost seven months, the senior regulars' table at the “Zur Post” inn in Eberfing was unable to meet.
Now the catering is open again.
What is it like when normality returns?
Eberfing - The beer garden of the “Zur Post” inn is well attended that evening. No wonder on the mild summer evening, the seductive smell of pub food hangs in the air. The round table has gathered at the largest table on the wall of the house. Six members are there at 7.30 p.m. Hans, the former innkeeper couple Peter and Rosemarie, Josef, Richard and Sepp are already sitting in front of their drinks when the meal arrives. Last names are not mentioned. “They don't have to be in the newspaper,” says Hans.
Anyone who comes to this table does not have the feeling that the group has not gathered here in the past few months, the picture looks so familiar.
The round of the regulars' table seems casual, and there is nothing else in the beer garden to remind you of the third wave of the pandemic, apart from the waitresses with their masks rushing from table to table.
"It's good that you can meet again"
When asked how the last seven months have been, Hans says: “A lot broke down.
It's good that we can meet again now. ”Josef explains the special location of the Eberfinger Stammtisch:“ Of course we kept in touch during the lockdown, it's not that difficult in the village.
We talked on the phone and saw each other from afar.
But of course that's not the same. "
Not all members of the regulars' table have joined the group again. Some do not want to be vaccinated and therefore stay away. When asked whether that put a strain on the friendship, Hans waves it aside: “Oh, you fight once or twice and then it's over. They'll come back when it's safe. "
It is now 8 p.m., and two other regulars join the group - Peter and Siegfried.
In addition, Rocky, Sepp's gigantic Bernese Mountain Dog, comes back from his foray to the inn.
The conversation turns to other topics.
It's about the regulars' table culture in the place.
She was already suffering before the outbreak of the pandemic, says Peter, who later joined the group and sat down between Hans and his namesakes: “In the past, people used to meet for a morning pint after church.
That was always the highest for me.
Young and old met at the inn.
But since church services don't take place here that often and you have to go to polling for them, that has stopped. "
Stammtisch members still remember old times
Those present are the assembled memory of the place.
You still remember the times when you had to leave the room when the regulars' table, consisting of the farmers from the area, entered the dining room.
"Then you had to go to the adjoining room," remembers Josef. "They would come to the adjoining room from time to time when most of them went home, but you wouldn't have done it the other way around."
Other stories are also told.
Rosemarie remembers, for example, the visits of the wife of the Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn to the inn: “That was always good business for the landlord when they came by on a bike tour.
But that's one of those things.
The poor people in Thailand and he's here spending the money with both hands. "
Rosemarie and her husband Peter ran the “Zur Post” inn together for 31 years.
“At that time, we also had a butcher's shop and our own slaughterhouse,” says Peter.
“They were always very hard-working hosts,” emphasizes Josef.
But they are also very satisfied with Bernhard Schmidt-Pauly, the current innkeeper.
“He always did well, that's why they liked to get food here during the lockdown,” says Peter.
Anyway, all regular carpenters are enthusiastic about the inn with its bowling alleys, the guest rooms and the seminar room.
Hans has meanwhile left, and Richard is saying goodbye too.
“The woman is at home alone,” he explains while putting on his mask.
"Health is the most important thing of all"
Yes, the mask - that triggers head shakes in those who remain.
“That may still work in the building.
But I don't understand why you need a mask on the way to the table in the beer garden, ”says Rosemarie.
In the meantime it has become cooler with dusk.
The landlord distributes candles on the two tables at which guests are still sitting.
A car drives by on the cobbled street next to the inn.
The noise is considerable, which the regulars' table discussed at once.
Peter asks if you could write something in the newspaper.
After all, it is a county road that could finally be paved.
When asked again about the last seven months, Siegfried says: “It has been seen that health is the most important thing of all.
We old people in particular noticed that. "With a hint of gallows humor, he adds:" But if you look around now, we were lucky.
We're all still sitting here.
Nobody died. "
Peter seems thoughtful: “When I look at my life, I have the feeling that things have always been uphill.
I've had to work hard.
But I was allowed to build something up for myself.
It always went uphill until it went steeply downhill in the pandemic.
Maybe it took that to slow us down.
In our constant higher, faster, further. "
It is now 10 p.m. and Peter, the former landlords and Siegfried are leaving.
The others stay for one last lap.
They will meet again on Thursday.
by Michael Sterr