London trip includes plenty of pub stops

When my wife and I ate there with him, he was very familiar with the menu. He told us to avoid eating the peas served with the fish and chips. Moreover, he ordered the beer for us, John Smith's. He also informed me that while the pubs close at 11 p.m., the bars stay open until 2 a.m. and that even though the tube stops running at midnight, buses keep going. I did not ask my son which class had taught him such salient facts.

I thought fish and chips were Londoners' basic pub fare, what the cheeseburger is to the American tavern. But when I visited the Dove at 19 Upper Mall, a short, scenic walk along the River Thames from the Hammersmith tube station, I was taken aback.

This pub has been around since 1796, and it is where James Thomson wrote "Rule Britannia." I expected it to be steeped in British tradition. But instead of ordering fish and chips, the couple sitting next to me ordered a cheeseburger and fries. I was relieved to learn that the cheeseburger couple was from Germany.

They left and soon the scene in the pub became very English. A foursome came in: three people and Hector, a large setter. The people drank pints of ale, and the dog curled up underneath their table.

Hector, like many denizens of London's pubs that I visited, turned out to be a model of British decorum.