![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Table Of Mild Discontent
Dec. 22nd, 2014 10:50 amSaturday was our final Leeds meet of the year. Being so close to Christmas, I feared that the attendence would be quite low but the numbers swelled nicely as the day progressed. As Wolfie was a little tired after his office Christmas party the previous night, it was down to me to do the organizing in full for the first time. I hasn't realised just how much work it is, as you need to flit from group to group to check everyone is okay, not to mention introducing new furs to the more established ones. It was hard work but it was also very rewarding seeing people enjoying themselves from your efforts.
I had hoped to have a more Christmas themed meet but last week was manic at work and socializing so I didn't get chance to get something together. Fortunately FenRa was willing to go to Wilkinson's and pick up a few bits and pieces, coming back with some foam buckets, some Santa hats and gold garland made out of balls. I had hoped to run a dress someone as a Christmas tree game but unfortunately they did not have the supplies, but the hats and buckets were great for the fursuiters to carry around on the walk, dispensing candy canes and other confectionary to the kids passing by.
On the walk, I had initially intended to avoid the German market but it was quite quiet and one of the security guards, who monitors many events on Millennium Square and vouched for us personally, so we got to take the suiters around. It was the last day of the market so there was a more relaxed air, with the stall holders delighted to see the furs. I spoke to many of them in German for a reason that can only be I was slightly tipsy (as I was trying all of BaaBar's beer to get them into my Untappd app) while we weren't allowed to use SLR cameras due to council rules, causing a bit of umbridge. Still we were allowed in the market and that was far more than last year. I grabbed a cheeky snausage and some Knobibrot on the way.
Outside the library, the fursuiters got to go on a carousel train ride for kids while I managed to get four fursuiters into the giant Frozen snow globe outside the Museum. All of this personally cost me £26 but it was worth it to see the enjoyment of the suiters and indeed the children watching. In the snow globe, there was quite a crowd observing, and I think Arc in particular enjoyed the Frozen theme, singing along to all of the songs. We even got a complimentary photograph for each suiter after the globe experience.
After the meet, a group of us headed over to Byron Burger as TLO had kindly arranged a meal which I felt it would be good to support. Normally we just end up in Trinity Kitchen so it was good to see someone making the effort to do something different and arrange a Christmas meal. He booked for ten but in the end we got fourteen there, delighting TLO in the process, who had done a wonderful job of organizing things. I got there a little later as I had to ensure baabar was largely clear of furs but I had forewarned him about this so they all got drinks while we were waiting. We were soon tucking in to a Merry Cheesemas burger which was perhaps a little too medium rare in hindsight. The range of craft beer at Byron is always good and whether it was this or the burger I don't know, but I spent sll of Saturday night darting to the toilet with the shits. The other possibility was all the recent rich food had finally overreacted in my belly but either way, it wasn't a pleasant way to spend the night, being paranoid you are going to shit the bed.
I had a 7am start next morning for work which didn't help either, but I was surprisingly awake on Sunday and got through the shift with little hassle (apart from one annoying technical problem that I couldn't have possibly foreseen). We were then headed out to Arcadia in Headingley to meet up with Aremay, who had confessed at the meet that he wanted to do something to avoid having to have an evening with his neighbours. With a free evening beckoning and us being equidistant from this Leeds suburb, we thought a meet-up would be fun and indeed it was, with a range of exotic craft beers to try and some excellent doggage, with the largest mutt I have seen and a teeny tiny small dog too. There was also a barky British bulldog type whose owner thought shouting at it would make it stop barking. To be fair it did. We largely talked about politics, something I always enjoy with the bunny, and Wolfie contributed a fair bit too.
Aremay only had two halfs due to his reduced alcohol tolerance and we headed off at 9.30pm thinking we could get the 91 back to Pudsey. You definitely could before and Aremay's First app confirmed, but this proved to be erroneous so we had to go into Leeds city centre and back out again. As we had to do this and there was still an hour before the last bus, we felt it would be remiss not to drink some more so we went to Tapped Brew Co, which was quite dead, where we sampled another five beers from their extensive range of taps. We also discovered that they do a rather hot but very fruity chili sauce, which Wolfie fell in love with, buying one of the 250 limited edition bottles for £4.50. Apparently they serve it with pizza in Tapped Brew Co and they have one which is so hot you need to sign a waiver before being allowed to eat it. Wolfie's interested was piqued by this point.
After this, we caught the last bus home, more drunk than we had intended to be but having had a great evening. We have now tried 64 unique beers since last Friday week so we probably should slow down, although this is largely due to pre-arranged events for Christmas. And it is Christmas after all. Once we got back to the bus station in Pudsey, there was one final surprise as one of Wolfie's former work colleagues was sat there waiting for a taxi back to Bradford which suspiciously never came. He went out with Wolfie for his Christmas party on Friday night so there was a lot of reminiscing, while I got increasingly desperate for the toilet. He seemed like a nice chappie though and we spoke together for around fifteen minutes before we headed off home and we left him waiting for his taxi. A good end to a busy weekend.
I had hoped to have a more Christmas themed meet but last week was manic at work and socializing so I didn't get chance to get something together. Fortunately FenRa was willing to go to Wilkinson's and pick up a few bits and pieces, coming back with some foam buckets, some Santa hats and gold garland made out of balls. I had hoped to run a dress someone as a Christmas tree game but unfortunately they did not have the supplies, but the hats and buckets were great for the fursuiters to carry around on the walk, dispensing candy canes and other confectionary to the kids passing by.
On the walk, I had initially intended to avoid the German market but it was quite quiet and one of the security guards, who monitors many events on Millennium Square and vouched for us personally, so we got to take the suiters around. It was the last day of the market so there was a more relaxed air, with the stall holders delighted to see the furs. I spoke to many of them in German for a reason that can only be I was slightly tipsy (as I was trying all of BaaBar's beer to get them into my Untappd app) while we weren't allowed to use SLR cameras due to council rules, causing a bit of umbridge. Still we were allowed in the market and that was far more than last year. I grabbed a cheeky snausage and some Knobibrot on the way.
Outside the library, the fursuiters got to go on a carousel train ride for kids while I managed to get four fursuiters into the giant Frozen snow globe outside the Museum. All of this personally cost me £26 but it was worth it to see the enjoyment of the suiters and indeed the children watching. In the snow globe, there was quite a crowd observing, and I think Arc in particular enjoyed the Frozen theme, singing along to all of the songs. We even got a complimentary photograph for each suiter after the globe experience.
After the meet, a group of us headed over to Byron Burger as TLO had kindly arranged a meal which I felt it would be good to support. Normally we just end up in Trinity Kitchen so it was good to see someone making the effort to do something different and arrange a Christmas meal. He booked for ten but in the end we got fourteen there, delighting TLO in the process, who had done a wonderful job of organizing things. I got there a little later as I had to ensure baabar was largely clear of furs but I had forewarned him about this so they all got drinks while we were waiting. We were soon tucking in to a Merry Cheesemas burger which was perhaps a little too medium rare in hindsight. The range of craft beer at Byron is always good and whether it was this or the burger I don't know, but I spent sll of Saturday night darting to the toilet with the shits. The other possibility was all the recent rich food had finally overreacted in my belly but either way, it wasn't a pleasant way to spend the night, being paranoid you are going to shit the bed.
I had a 7am start next morning for work which didn't help either, but I was surprisingly awake on Sunday and got through the shift with little hassle (apart from one annoying technical problem that I couldn't have possibly foreseen). We were then headed out to Arcadia in Headingley to meet up with Aremay, who had confessed at the meet that he wanted to do something to avoid having to have an evening with his neighbours. With a free evening beckoning and us being equidistant from this Leeds suburb, we thought a meet-up would be fun and indeed it was, with a range of exotic craft beers to try and some excellent doggage, with the largest mutt I have seen and a teeny tiny small dog too. There was also a barky British bulldog type whose owner thought shouting at it would make it stop barking. To be fair it did. We largely talked about politics, something I always enjoy with the bunny, and Wolfie contributed a fair bit too.
Aremay only had two halfs due to his reduced alcohol tolerance and we headed off at 9.30pm thinking we could get the 91 back to Pudsey. You definitely could before and Aremay's First app confirmed, but this proved to be erroneous so we had to go into Leeds city centre and back out again. As we had to do this and there was still an hour before the last bus, we felt it would be remiss not to drink some more so we went to Tapped Brew Co, which was quite dead, where we sampled another five beers from their extensive range of taps. We also discovered that they do a rather hot but very fruity chili sauce, which Wolfie fell in love with, buying one of the 250 limited edition bottles for £4.50. Apparently they serve it with pizza in Tapped Brew Co and they have one which is so hot you need to sign a waiver before being allowed to eat it. Wolfie's interested was piqued by this point.
After this, we caught the last bus home, more drunk than we had intended to be but having had a great evening. We have now tried 64 unique beers since last Friday week so we probably should slow down, although this is largely due to pre-arranged events for Christmas. And it is Christmas after all. Once we got back to the bus station in Pudsey, there was one final surprise as one of Wolfie's former work colleagues was sat there waiting for a taxi back to Bradford which suspiciously never came. He went out with Wolfie for his Christmas party on Friday night so there was a lot of reminiscing, while I got increasingly desperate for the toilet. He seemed like a nice chappie though and we spoke together for around fifteen minutes before we headed off home and we left him waiting for his taxi. A good end to a busy weekend.
