A Butterfly Next To Your Flame

SHEFFIELD FURMEET - 29th AND 30th JUNE
Friday

My fourth main northukfur meet saw me disembark at a disappointingly dry Sheffield post-work on Friday to see an amazing steel ediface and fountain structure directly outside the station. This wasn't there the last time I called in at the steel city (last September) and I couldn't help thinking that after all of the freak weather of late Sheffield City Council are doing themselves no favours by effectively flooding the concourse to their railway station.

I had a couple of hours to kill before Wolfie arrived so I took it on myself to go exploring. Noseying around back streets is one of my favourite past-times so I was in puppy heaven foraging around the centre of Sheffield. Went up to the uni - a building that was familiar to me after going there for an interview six years ago - and just followed the crowd asniffing and asearching, looking for things of interest.

My conclusions?
1) Sheffield does like its trendy pubs - Glossop Street is just one long line of them
2) There's a lot of really rundown cheap booze shops where the clientelle seems to be exclusively 50 year old drunks with haggard skin or students. That is also the clientelle of the workers in these shops.
3) The curry house that had allegedly won loads of awards was one of the worst (and most expensive) I have ever been in (we even ended up eating someone else's dips that had just been deposited on the table and left there). However the lady who owned it was very courteous and even advised us on some vegetarian starters too - her knowledge was exemplorary - but that was about all that was any good.
4) The cathedral is tremendously small but a really good place to do some sacriligous snogging
5) The Roxy Disco was instantly recognisable due to its picture being in the linar notes of Muse's "Origin of Symmetry"
6) It's the only place in the country with a Russian Tea House - whatever that is (I wonder if they serve Molotov Cocktails)
7) Like York it has too many Fish and Chip shops that close at 4pm. I mean why - what happens when you want some mushy peas at eleven in the evening?
8) There's lots of very gaunt looking tramps wandering around in random directions talking to themselves. They should be approached with care.
9) The colour of Sheffield vomit is a really lurid yellow colour for some reason - unlike any other colour I have ever seen. It's also more liquid than solid - perhaps there was a special offer on J2O's or something. There was an awful lot of it - it was like some Japanese bukkake gameshow.

After meeting up with Wolfie we checked in to the hotel and went out for said disappointing curry. We thought about going to some bars too but they were all full of drunk people and I was so tired from work I really couldn't be bothered. So we went back to the hotel via the cathedral to refresh ourselves for the next day.

Saturday

As usual we were fashionably late to the furmeet - arriving a full 40 minutes behind schedule. Sorry guys I was naked - and seeing me in that state is a fate worse than a fate worse than death ;-) Still the phone calls I got were nice - and yes I was naked when you were speaking to me so :-P

Eventually met up with everyfur and headed over to The Devonshire Cat at which point I almost had an orgasm over their range of continental lagers. I vowed not to set paw out of that place until every single one had been sampled. Did I get through them all? Of course not - that 14% Belgian one was more potent than Peter Stringfellow in heat (and not the magazine) - but a fair few were tasted and it's definitely a pub for the future.

In other news I stole Funky's cookie and snarfled it - much to the fox's annoyance and Goten was pointing Mikepaws' (balto_mike) video camera everywhere, catching me off my guard on at least one occasion. Grrr and I would've gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddlin' furs...

The Meet itself was a major uplift. Manchester in May was difficult for me as I ranged between the hyper and the depressed. Yesterday I was just bouncy all the way through - a testament to the depression I have just come out of and how I am on the road to recovery. I also didn't quite realise how popular I was and how much I love so many furs - it was a real pleasure catching up with friends and making new ones too.

Special mentions go out to rainbow_lioness, badgerguy and crosseyed, all of whom I felt I really connected with yesterday and also to Stray (electricdog) who it was an immense pleasure to meet after all this time - plus I need to know where you get your hairdye from - it's so mrrr ;-)

A couple of fursuiters later (which gave me many ideas for my own - thanks guys I owe you one) I ended up talking to a lady called Rona who I thought was a fur. It turned out she wasn't - she just had a passing interest - but she was courageous enough to join the mayhem. Upon seeing my collar, her opening gambit was "all that's missing is the lead" so I got out a lead and clipped it on for her (hey I'm just the wuff who's always giving). That seemed to break the ice and Patter (who was great to see once again after his accident) and myself proceeded to tell her all about furry - to her increasing look of amused bemusement.

We left the pub at this point and headed to the Lion's Lair, with a now giggling Rona in tow. I grabbed some garishly coloured synthetic sugar in a thin man's condom and proceeded to be unable to suck any out. I even tried snorting it but to no avail - although that was an experience I don't really want to ever experience again.

We sat outside at the Lair for some reason despite our arses getting increasingly soaked due to the saturated seating. Cocktail after cocktail was purchased - it was like synthetic fruit heaven with added vitamin C and no added sugars. Like Ribena on acid.

Rona stayed two or three hours and was particularly taken by a progressively drunken Ruffles spouting on about nothing in particular. It was a tremendously relaxed atmosphere and one of the best ones I have been in for a long time. Crosseyed got Goten with a jug of ice to much amusement before we all then went inside for more drinkage.

After this the meet started to fragment but Wolfie, Funky and myself stayed in the Lair for a few more. The guy behind the bar kept commneting on all of the cocktails I was buying (I practically worked my way through all fifteen) before talking to me about what it was like to be gay in Sheffield. We really connected - at least in a way that a barman and a customer ever could - I wanted alcohol, he was the provider of it, I was provider of money, everybody wins! Especially the fruit juice companies. And the Smirnoff Vodka firm.

I put £2 in the jukebox but I had to leave after an hour to catch my train home so only Funky (actively_lazy) got to hear my selections. Grrrr (still, he liked them so it wasn't all bad). At the station RichieLion popped up from nowhere for a bite of cholesterol from Burger King and then I headed back to the den, drunk and sleepy.

Except I didn't. Because I misjudged the train times and ended up being stranded in the pouring rain at midnight in a city where all the hotels had been booked - curse the British Summer in so many ways. I was willing to sleep on the streets but my mother and step-dad, who I had awoken by this point, agreed to drive down and pick me up, which was extremely kind of them.

So I eventually got in at 2.30am. This was after buying a rancid drink of Kronenburg 1664 in a Wetherspoons and a trip to a fish and chip shop that was open but DIDN'T SERVE ANY MUSHY PIGGING PEAS!!! Still, I may have been sodden, drunk and mushy pea-less but I had had an amazing day :-)

Roll on Chester!

A Butterfly Next To Your Flame

SHEFFIELD FURMEET - 29th AND 30th JUNE
Friday

My fourth main northukfur meet saw me disembark at a disappointingly dry Sheffield post-work on Friday to see an amazing steel ediface and fountain structure directly outside the station. This wasn't there the last time I called in at the steel city (last September) and I couldn't help thinking that after all of the freak weather of late Sheffield City Council are doing themselves no favours by effectively flooding the concourse to their railway station.

I had a couple of hours to kill before Wolfie arrived so I took it on myself to go exploring. Noseying around back streets is one of my favourite past-times so I was in puppy heaven foraging around the centre of Sheffield. Went up to the uni - a building that was familiar to me after going there for an interview six years ago - and just followed the crowd asniffing and asearching, looking for things of interest.

My conclusions?
1) Sheffield does like its trendy pubs - Glossop Street is just one long line of them
2) There's a lot of really rundown cheap booze shops where the clientelle seems to be exclusively 50 year old drunks with haggard skin or students. That is also the clientelle of the workers in these shops.
3) The curry house that had allegedly won loads of awards was one of the worst (and most expensive) I have ever been in (we even ended up eating someone else's dips that had just been deposited on the table and left there). However the lady who owned it was very courteous and even advised us on some vegetarian starters too - her knowledge was exemplorary - but that was about all that was any good.
4) The cathedral is tremendously small but a really good place to do some sacriligous snogging
5) The Roxy Disco was instantly recognisable due to its picture being in the linar notes of Muse's "Origin of Symmetry"
6) It's the only place in the country with a Russian Tea House - whatever that is (I wonder if they serve Molotov Cocktails)
7) Like York it has too many Fish and Chip shops that close at 4pm. I mean why - what happens when you want some mushy peas at eleven in the evening?
8) There's lots of very gaunt looking tramps wandering around in random directions talking to themselves. They should be approached with care.
9) The colour of Sheffield vomit is a really lurid yellow colour for some reason - unlike any other colour I have ever seen. It's also more liquid than solid - perhaps there was a special offer on J2O's or something. There was an awful lot of it - it was like some Japanese bukkake gameshow.

After meeting up with Wolfie we checked in to the hotel and went out for said disappointing curry. We thought about going to some bars too but they were all full of drunk people and I was so tired from work I really couldn't be bothered. So we went back to the hotel via the cathedral to refresh ourselves for the next day.

Saturday

As usual we were fashionably late to the furmeet - arriving a full 40 minutes behind schedule. Sorry guys I was naked - and seeing me in that state is a fate worse than a fate worse than death ;-) Still the phone calls I got were nice - and yes I was naked when you were speaking to me so :-P

Eventually met up with everyfur and headed over to The Devonshire Cat at which point I almost had an orgasm over their range of continental lagers. I vowed not to set paw out of that place until every single one had been sampled. Did I get through them all? Of course not - that 14% Belgian one was more potent than Peter Stringfellow in heat (and not the magazine) - but a fair few were tasted and it's definitely a pub for the future.

In other news I stole Funky's cookie and snarfled it - much to the fox's annoyance and Goten was pointing Mikepaws' (balto_mike) video camera everywhere, catching me off my guard on at least one occasion. Grrr and I would've gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddlin' furs...

The Meet itself was a major uplift. Manchester in May was difficult for me as I ranged between the hyper and the depressed. Yesterday I was just bouncy all the way through - a testament to the depression I have just come out of and how I am on the road to recovery. I also didn't quite realise how popular I was and how much I love so many furs - it was a real pleasure catching up with friends and making new ones too.

Special mentions go out to rainbow_lioness, badgerguy and crosseyed, all of whom I felt I really connected with yesterday and also to Stray (electricdog) who it was an immense pleasure to meet after all this time - plus I need to know where you get your hairdye from - it's so mrrr ;-)

A couple of fursuiters later (which gave me many ideas for my own - thanks guys I owe you one) I ended up talking to a lady called Rona who I thought was a fur. It turned out she wasn't - she just had a passing interest - but she was courageous enough to join the mayhem. Upon seeing my collar, her opening gambit was "all that's missing is the lead" so I got out a lead and clipped it on for her (hey I'm just the wuff who's always giving). That seemed to break the ice and Patter (who was great to see once again after his accident) and myself proceeded to tell her all about furry - to her increasing look of amused bemusement.

We left the pub at this point and headed to the Lion's Lair, with a now giggling Rona in tow. I grabbed some garishly coloured synthetic sugar in a thin man's condom and proceeded to be unable to suck any out. I even tried snorting it but to no avail - although that was an experience I don't really want to ever experience again.

We sat outside at the Lair for some reason despite our arses getting increasingly soaked due to the saturated seating. Cocktail after cocktail was purchased - it was like synthetic fruit heaven with added vitamin C and no added sugars. Like Ribena on acid.

Rona stayed two or three hours and was particularly taken by a progressively drunken Ruffles spouting on about nothing in particular. It was a tremendously relaxed atmosphere and one of the best ones I have been in for a long time. Crosseyed got Goten with a jug of ice to much amusement before we all then went inside for more drinkage.

After this the meet started to fragment but Wolfie, Funky and myself stayed in the Lair for a few more. The guy behind the bar kept commneting on all of the cocktails I was buying (I practically worked my way through all fifteen) before talking to me about what it was like to be gay in Sheffield. We really connected - at least in a way that a barman and a customer ever could - I wanted alcohol, he was the provider of it, I was provider of money, everybody wins! Especially the fruit juice companies. And the Smirnoff Vodka firm.

I put £2 in the jukebox but I had to leave after an hour to catch my train home so only Funky (actively_lazy) got to hear my selections. Grrrr (still, he liked them so it wasn't all bad). At the station RichieLion popped up from nowhere for a bite of cholesterol from Burger King and then I headed back to the den, drunk and sleepy.

Except I didn't. Because I misjudged the train times and ended up being stranded in the pouring rain at midnight in a city where all the hotels had been booked - curse the British Summer in so many ways. I was willing to sleep on the streets but my mother and step-dad, who I had awoken by this point, agreed to drive down and pick me up, which was extremely kind of them.

So I eventually got in at 2.30am. This was after buying a rancid drink of Kronenburg 1664 in a Wetherspoons and a trip to a fish and chip shop that was open but DIDN'T SERVE ANY MUSHY PIGGING PEAS!!! Still, I may have been sodden, drunk and mushy pea-less but I had had an amazing day :-)

Roll on Chester!

With all this talk of carbon pawprints

Isn't it time they banned Formula One and other such motorsports?

I mean it wouldn't bother me half as much if it was a race to the local Tescos or if it was the most ingenious way to get around the Wandsworth one way system during rush hour but all they seem to do is go round and round in circles. A puppy chasing its tail can do that. And that's far more interesting to watch.

Or perhaps we shouldn't get rid of F1, just revamp it? Instead of pitstops, drivers would have to adjust the booster seat in the back of the car so it's in accordance with EU legislation or perhaps take the boot lid off so they can accommodate some flat-pack furniture they have just bought from IKEA.

Or forgo the car altogether and make the drivers ride around on pigs or something. Far more environmentally sound plus it would advertise British farming too (free range of course!). See - everybody wins! - I really should be running the country or something.

With all this talk of carbon pawprints

Isn't it time they banned Formula One and other such motorsports?

I mean it wouldn't bother me half as much if it was a race to the local Tescos or if it was the most ingenious way to get around the Wandsworth one way system during rush hour but all they seem to do is go round and round in circles. A puppy chasing its tail can do that. And that's far more interesting to watch.

Or perhaps we shouldn't get rid of F1, just revamp it? Instead of pitstops, drivers would have to adjust the booster seat in the back of the car so it's in accordance with EU legislation or perhaps take the boot lid off so they can accommodate some flat-pack furniture they have just bought from IKEA.

Or forgo the car altogether and make the drivers ride around on pigs or something. Far more environmentally sound plus it would advertise British farming too (free range of course!). See - everybody wins! - I really should be running the country or something.