Subject: speaking of Gatherings...
Author:
Posted on: 2009-08-14 23:23:00 UTC
Cassie and I are vaguely planning a two-man Gathering in Preston sometime over Christmas. I say Gathering; the principal purpose of the day will be fangirling (on my part at least) over Torchwood's Gareth David-Lloyd in a pantomime. Would anyone else be up for that?
ARGH. I'm terribly sorry to have to tell people this, but the karaoke bar we were thinking of going to is problematic. Their website *says* they open at 1pm on Saturdays, but apparently "open" does not translate to "running karaoke in the public bar", even though they advertise as, y'know, a karaoke bar. The DJ who runs the karaoke does not arrive until 9pm. I'm sorry about this, their website misled me but it is my mistake.
On the plus side, the private booths are actually FIVE pounds per person per hour, not ten as I previously claimed - don't know where I got that number from. Worst comes to worst, if everyone still wants to go but doesn't have much spending money we can just book in for one hour. Does anyone still want to go, or should we skip it and find something else?
Cassie and I are vaguely planning a two-man Gathering in Preston sometime over Christmas. I say Gathering; the principal purpose of the day will be fangirling (on my part at least) over Torchwood's Gareth David-Lloyd in a pantomime. Would anyone else be up for that?
If those plans we were discussing go through, I will be dragged to this, won't I? Fangirling sounds like a good Christmas plan though.
You'd be dragged anyway, dear, I can't do Torchwood-related fangirling without an Anselaface. Still considering the Plans then?
shepherd two Torchwood maniacs around my home town for the day?
Ah, well, go on then. *sigh* What we endure in the name of Gatherings... :P
Would it help if I promise not to actually stalk and attempt to molest the man?
you never know, that could be an excellent photo opportunity... but probably best not.
Yes, please do promise.
*assumes best innocent face*
Scout's honour, no stalking.
An hour's barely any time at all, really. And we're none of us exactly flush at the moment. But if we're dead set on the singing, it's my duty as Resident Board Alcoholic to point out that we could always do the Armouries and then find a pub with one of those newfangled jukeboxes that have about a million songs in, and then we could sing to our hearts' content. There just wouldn't be any microphones involved.
Ansela just texted me to say her brother wants to come too because he's tempted by the Armouries; any objection?
Maybe. Trouble is A) I don't know Leeds very well, so I don't know where else we could go, and B) I don't drink, so a regular bar holds no appeal for me.
I really am very sorry about this. I didn't mean to spring this on you like that. I'd offer to pay to make up for it and justify it by thinking of it as an early birthday party (my birthday's mid-September), but I don't think I can pay for six or seven people.
A) I know a few people there (half of Hull seems to end up at uni in Leeds), so I can always make some enquiries. B) Fair point; Cassie and Ansela don't drink that much either (although I'm sure I've threatened to get at least one of them on Belgian fruit beers at some point). I was more thinking for the singing side of things. (Plus I like pubs, but that goes without saying.)
... and we're likely to be able to hear ourselves over the background noise, fine. I've never actually been in a bar for more than about five minutes at a time (I have no friends nearby who would go into one with me and being in a bar alone is about the most depressing thing ever, especially if you aren't drinking anything) so I'm not familiar with how they work.
They tend to be fairly quiet of an afternoon, at least during the week. Saturdays would be a bit busier but we'd be afternoon, so not too bad. We're best off seeing on the day, and if one place is too raucous we can meander to another.
If it comes to it, I'm more familiar with pubs than bars. Bars are all... modern and trendy. I like my old man pubs.
If you've never been in a bar for any length of time, and you're not into booze for reasons relating to taste rather than principle, I reckon trying that bar with the Belgian fruit beer is a very good idea, if you're willing.
I realise this is probably sacrilege in your eyes ;) but being in pubs and bars makes me uncomfortable in itself. I really don't like being in large noisy rooms full of total strangers, particularly potentially-intoxicated total strangers, without there being some purpose for me being there other than drinking stuff which I could just as easily drink at home. Then again, if there were people I *knew* there with me maybe it'd be okay. I'll try it out.
Not sacrilege; a fair point if you're not used to it. Afternoon pubs tend not to be full of strangers. They tend to be full of your drinking mates, and two old men and a dog. You're giving me massive urges to try all the drinking styles I know until we find one you can hack. So are you opposed to drinking on principle, then?
I drink some types of wine at holiday gatherings and such, but I don't like the taste of most types of alcoholic drink, and since I drink so rarely I have no head for it on the occasions I do drink. I went over my limit by about one glass once at a Boxing Day party and wound up lying on the bathroom floor waiting for the sick feeling to go away. I'm not opposed to drinking, but I don't like the idea of getting drunk, and I'm uncomfortable around people who are obviously intoxicated.
(Ironic since both my PPC agents started drinking like fish at the age of sixteen, but anyone would start drinking in their job.)
(You may have trouble if my mates come with and we have pubs then. Lord, there will be shitfaced.)
I forget whether it was Cassie or Ansela I spoke to ages back, but whoever it was said they didn't like the taste of beer. I responded by saying "you haven't tried the Belgians!" because, well, they don't taste like beer. I shall bear in mind you've no tolerance, but do at least try one half-pint, if we head to Ansela's bar? The stuff doesn't taste of booze, it tastes of strawberry juice. (It's also weirdly moreish.) It doesn't have that nastiness beer and other alcoholic drinks have about them. It just tastes like gorgeous strawberry juice.
And from there it's a small step to other, non-fruit Belgian beers. They're all well brewed and tasty.
Next thing you know, my position as resident Board alcoholic is being fought for. Hmm. Maybe we shouldn't push this one too far...
I may have to leave if everyone gets obviously drunk because I feel nervous around people who are obviously drunk, but I'll have to leave at some point anyway, we can't stay there all night :) and as long as at least some of us are reasonably coherent and predictable (insofar as the PPC are ever coherent and predictable) I'll be perfectly okay.
I smelled beer once and I thought it smelled horrible. Not the right brand for me, possibly. The strawberry beer sounds okay, though, so I'll test that out.
Drunkenness = hangovers, which I've heard are Bad.
Besides, if I get drunk bang goes my chance of catching the right train back home. I'll end up in Liverpool or something.
I've never been hungover, but I imagine it feels like the time I drank too much at a Boxing Day party. I had to go hide in the bathroom, because I did NOT feel well AT ALL. Felt fine after about ten minutes, but it wasn't fun while it was happening, and I was kinda dizzy all night. It might have been partly psychosomatic, but I drink maybe six times total in a year, so my tolerance would naturally be pretty low. I generally tell people I don't drink at all because it's easier than explaining. (Same way I explain my Aspergers'-related pickiness with food to waiters when my family take me out and I ask them to leave bits I don't like off what I'm ordering as me having allergies; it's easier than a long explanation and it makes me feel less like I'm being awkward.)
Strawberry beer sounds like a very Mossflower-y thing, now I think about it. Will have to include it in the OFUR. Perhaps the students can figure "strawberry cordial = good, October Ale = good, mix the two together = better", do so, and puke, because that's not how to make strawberry-flavoured beer. They're mostly teens and college-agers, experimenting unsuccessfully with alcohol is what they do.
A ten minute hangover? I should be so lucky. :P
I'm guessing this October Ale is, well, an ale, rather than a lager. Yeah, not sure how good that'd be mixed with fruit cordial. Lager with blackcurrant is fairly popular amongst certain types of people, though. It is not, however, terribly classy. Or terribly nice.
I did feel slightly weird for the rest of the evening, but since I don't drink much, I don't have anything to compare it to, so I don't know whether that would be normal for me if it happened more often or what.
As far as I know, it is. They actually have a little song about the recipe in one of the books, but I can't remember it off the top of my head.
In my experience, hangovers make one feel like a corpse. But that said, I remember my first hangover, and I vaguely remember the post-drinking feeling before hangovers started. And my best advice is: quit now, while the going's good, because by Christ they get worse.
(You get drunken fun, which makes it worthwhile, but still.)
It the October Ale a drink in a book, then?
There's also Kriek, which is well worth trying if you ever come across it; it's cherry beer.
I'm guessing you've smelled beer brewed in England, which tends to be a bit on the grim side. One's generally better with bottled stuff brewed on the continent, but if you haven't acquired the taste even that wouldn't be great. It's excellent stuff if you're planning to get involved in burping competitions though. My ability to burp, even without a drink, improved dramatically when I started getting through a lot of Grolsch.
I can't imagine there'll be obvious drunkenness going on. We're all skinted, if you recall, and the better the beer the more it tends to cost. And I'm all for not spending the night there - my housemate spent a drunken night in Leeds the other week, and it didn't sound a lot of fun. Although the losing his glasses and kipping in a graveyard might have something to do with that.
... at least until my bus or train or whatever I end up taking is due. *makes note to look up timetable well in advance*
It was me who said I didn't like the taste of beer. But Pads's idea sounds pretty good. Once I get a drink or two in me I'm likely to be one of those singing rather loudly, but what else can one expect from a tipsy Assassin? :D
It was? That's okay. We'll get you on the fruit beers, and I have other plans for Ansela.
I too will not sing sober. But after a drink or two? Did you guys notice I was kind of quiet at the York? Yeah, get a couple of pints down me, restore me to normal status, there'll be no shutting me up. And there will be singing.
Other plans? Why do I not like the sound of that?
If Tim does come, can we please limit him to one drink? He'll probably settle for a pint of foul muck Guinness, rather than the bottle of absinthe he asked me for.
Ansela, darling, if that muppet of yours comes, he's buying his own damned drinks. We may buy one for him, if he can't get served, since he's a birthday coming, but beyond that he's on his own, and if he had the lack of foresight to be born in a year when one can't get served at fourteen that's his look-out.
Do not ask about the plan, love. You shall See.
Assuming, of course, I can stop being so damned Yorkshire for long enough to implement plans.
PS on the Belgian fruit beer front, there's a bar not far from the train station selling Früli (a gorgeous strawberry beer). I mention this because the bar is called "Sela Bar". Looks like a sign to me, eh Ansela?