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Noot Noot!
May. 3rd, 2016 06:21 pmSaturday was Leeds 'main' meet day, an anachronism from the olden days when we used to do the Northern meets in a six-month rotation dotting from city to city. With the advent of regular monthly meets, these are largely unnecessary now but back in March I conducted a Twitter poll which suggested significant demand for the meet to run, so we decided we would do it. In the end, judging by the fact that the majority of people at the meet I did not know, I suspect that a lot of people who answered my poll in the affirmative didn't turn up in the end but the meet itself was still quite successful although not a patch on the regular monthly one a fortnight earlier. Many of the local furs didn't go but we got a good number from further afield including Manchester and Newcastle which is unlike our regular affairs. I do think, however, that this is likely to be our last main meet as the hassle of running these on top of the regular ones isn't really worth it. We had hoped to have an extravaganza in a different venue but judging by the attendance, it was positive that our plans fell through as there probably wasn't enough to make it viable. We had hoped to book out a club and have a DJ set but they turned us down last minute, meaning White Rabbit kindly obliged with hosting us again. They were once again excellent, giving us free chips on all the tables to start the day, while I was delighted to see that trade was brisk throughout the day. We had nine fursuiters on the Fursuit walk, which took in the Library, Mandela Gardens and Millennium Square, giving us good photo opportunities and meetings with the public. It was a slightly longer walk than usual but I think we are now getting a good route sorted, which we are hoping to utilise for future meets. We were also lucky with the weather, with it being rather erratic until mid-afternoon but then bright sunshine developing later in the day.
After the walk, Stray, Taneli, Wolfie and I left Aremay in charge as we headed down to the local fancy dress shop to pick up some items for shenanigans at WUFF, the Ukrainian furry con we will be attending this week. We were invited to the event on the back of a room party at EF where we dressed as police officers and said 'hut' a lot, and so I think the locals are expecting some fun. We picked up a range of suppliers before going to grab some local food for the International Snack Exchange. I had already nabbed some items on Friday evening, including liquorice, Pontefract cakes and Jaffa Cakes but we thought we might as well add to the haul with things like Marmite, Coleman's English Mustard and Worcestershire sauce. After our little shopping trip, we went back to the bar where we ended up speaking to some Manchester furs who enjoyed a whole bottle of Polish honey vodka before we ordered another one of their delicious pizzas, being thankful that we no longer have to do our traditional post-meet traipse around Leeds only to end up in Trinity Kitchen as there is nowhere else which can accommodate such a large number of (fussy) people.
We headed home at about 9pm with Enteirah staying over, partly due to the fact that I had had two nights of poor sleep in a sleeping bag on the sofa (thanks to a cold making Wolfie's snoring cataclysmic) and partly because we had to be up reasonably early on the Sunday for part two of the meet, bowling at Roxy Lanes. This was another new centre and made a change to going to Xscape, where we tend to traipse about and do nothing in particular. Again, I had put a poll up on Twitter about bowling around the beginning of April and we had a lot of interest, and this did manifest itself with around 25 people in attendance. We had run the fursuiting aspect past the bowling alley and they were supportive, so much so that they even let some of us change in the staff room. We had booked one lane as any more and you have to pay the full amount, but with it being Sunday, it was quite quiet and so there was another lane free. It took everyone a while to get ready but by 2:30pm we had two lanes occupied with suiters and non-suiters alike. The staff loved the suits and the suiters loved the bowling and so there is every chance we will make this a more regular event, either on a Sunday after the meet or a Monday evening after work. The staff were telling us about a hen party they had where the bride was dressed as Little Bo Peep and the bridesmaids her sheep, which ended in the bride stripping naked and running around the bar. No matter how embarrassing we can be, at least it's nowhere in that league. With two lanes completely full, Wolfie and I just mingled and drank, sampling a few beers we hadn't tried before.
After an hour or so, the bowling was done and with no lanes spare, we packed everything away and started to split (pardon the pun). I noted that bowling expert Funky only beat a fursuiter by four while Angelo's score of four was the worst in the history of the alley. Once everyone had packed up, there was about twelve of us left so we headed out to find a bar, settling on Banyan just outside the railway station. We had had the York furmeet there back in February and the Leeds branch opened last week so we thought we might as well try it. Fortunately they did have space for our number and we were soon trying a few more new drinks while Frost was somewhat dehydrated and drunk due to drinking and bowling. The bar itself was quite nice but perhaps a little too high-brow plus I don't really see what the unique angle is here. Still the atmosphere was pleasant enough and the fabric of the building quite stunning, and we had an enjoyable hour here before others had to drift off back to their houses.
This left us with six and we needed some food, so I suggested to Wolfie that we go to Pieminister. Upon hearing this, Adam and Nachtkrallen became piqued and wanted to go, so we dropped their fursuits off at their car before making our way to Pieminister for some delicious pies. Fortunately that could fit six of us in - this place is usually rammed - and we were soon enjoying some excellent food which everyone agreed was rather fantastic. It was also very good value and I was more than delighted with my Moo Dog, sweet potato fries, minted mushy peas and halloumi sticks. I think everyone else felt the same about their food too. It was also great getting to know the guys over food more - due to the running of the meet we rarely get chance to speak to people so it was good to finally get the opportunity. This continued in Brewdog too, where Wolfie and I went to sample some new beers they had on as part of a Shindigger Tap Takeover. In the end there was only one from this brewery left but there were three others we hadn't tried so we grabbed a flight board while the others sat with us abs samples beer of their own. Wolfie played Street Fighter with Adam before the quartet had to leave, leaving Wolfie and I with our beers. In all honesty we were struggling to finish them and we really needed to head home to get ready for our Ukraine trip so we too headed off pretty quickly for an evening if drunken laundry and packing. Wolfie went to bed, leaving me to do it all, something with which I was not happy as I had work on the Monday too. Still, he did get up and help me put all the washing on the radiators, which was something and I did manage to get to sleep by 1am which is my usual time for a weeknight.
Due to getting back later than anticipated on the Sunday, we had a load of things we needed to do on the Monday before driving down to Gatwick in the evening in preparation for our Tuesday lunchtime flight. Coupled to the anxiety was the need to work. I had hoped that what with it being a Bank Holiday, Monday would be quite light but it did not really end up like this, although the fragmented nature of my tasks meant I could pack and prepare around it. Not aiding my levels of stress was last-minute Wolfie who had a load of things to do that afternoon including going around to this parents house to pick up a suitcase we were going to use for our trip. He also needed to reupholster the base of my Fursuit paws as the sole had become quite battered due to continual use. What with Taneli and Stray coming around for 3pm, we were tight for time bit fortunately things did go rather smoothly, even if we left the house an hour later than we wanted to. Aiding the delay was Taneli wanting to go back to his house to pick up some con badges and donuts so it was past 6pm before we hit the road, with us finally arriving at our hotel just before midnight (and fortunately just catching last orders at the bar). The journey down was straightforward enough and we even stopped at one of those OK Diners on the A1 we had been meaning to go to for years. The food here was pretty standard diner fayre but reasonably priced and the service was rather good. I had the Philly beef sandwich which had a few too many sweet peppers and would have benefitted from being steak rather than pulled beef. Wolfie had a burger of the same while his cheese and bacon fries were rather lacking in both. I had a great Black Forest milkshake though and as I say the meal itself was largely fine.
On the way down in the car, we heard of the explosions in Leeds which turned out to be sonic booms from a Typhoon jet although the fifteen minutes of Twitter uncertainty to ascertain this was quite nerve-wracking. At the same time, we discovered that Leicester City had remarkably won the Premier League following Tottenham's 2-2 draw at Chelsea with even furs commenting about this on my timeline. Even though the club is owned by a Thai billionaire, it's still a remarkable story and thoroughly deserved, with me casting my mind back to watching their thoroughly deserved win against Manchester City in a bar in London in February with a very good friend of mine. This was the first time I thought that they could genuinely win it and I'm delighted they have, if only to make the league more interesting and to prove that it can be done. All we need now is for Boro to be promoted on Saturday and it would be a perfect season. All we need to do is avoid defeat to third-placed Brighton at home and we are up, but should they win, they will be promoted instead. It's very much a winner takes all battle and after a long season, and last year's play-off heartache, I really hope we can do it. I'm in Ukraine on Saturday but I'll try and find a place to watch it but the drama is going to be intense. I'm just hoping it'll all be fine but a after three straight draws I'm not sure. We shall see.
After the walk, Stray, Taneli, Wolfie and I left Aremay in charge as we headed down to the local fancy dress shop to pick up some items for shenanigans at WUFF, the Ukrainian furry con we will be attending this week. We were invited to the event on the back of a room party at EF where we dressed as police officers and said 'hut' a lot, and so I think the locals are expecting some fun. We picked up a range of suppliers before going to grab some local food for the International Snack Exchange. I had already nabbed some items on Friday evening, including liquorice, Pontefract cakes and Jaffa Cakes but we thought we might as well add to the haul with things like Marmite, Coleman's English Mustard and Worcestershire sauce. After our little shopping trip, we went back to the bar where we ended up speaking to some Manchester furs who enjoyed a whole bottle of Polish honey vodka before we ordered another one of their delicious pizzas, being thankful that we no longer have to do our traditional post-meet traipse around Leeds only to end up in Trinity Kitchen as there is nowhere else which can accommodate such a large number of (fussy) people.
We headed home at about 9pm with Enteirah staying over, partly due to the fact that I had had two nights of poor sleep in a sleeping bag on the sofa (thanks to a cold making Wolfie's snoring cataclysmic) and partly because we had to be up reasonably early on the Sunday for part two of the meet, bowling at Roxy Lanes. This was another new centre and made a change to going to Xscape, where we tend to traipse about and do nothing in particular. Again, I had put a poll up on Twitter about bowling around the beginning of April and we had a lot of interest, and this did manifest itself with around 25 people in attendance. We had run the fursuiting aspect past the bowling alley and they were supportive, so much so that they even let some of us change in the staff room. We had booked one lane as any more and you have to pay the full amount, but with it being Sunday, it was quite quiet and so there was another lane free. It took everyone a while to get ready but by 2:30pm we had two lanes occupied with suiters and non-suiters alike. The staff loved the suits and the suiters loved the bowling and so there is every chance we will make this a more regular event, either on a Sunday after the meet or a Monday evening after work. The staff were telling us about a hen party they had where the bride was dressed as Little Bo Peep and the bridesmaids her sheep, which ended in the bride stripping naked and running around the bar. No matter how embarrassing we can be, at least it's nowhere in that league. With two lanes completely full, Wolfie and I just mingled and drank, sampling a few beers we hadn't tried before.
After an hour or so, the bowling was done and with no lanes spare, we packed everything away and started to split (pardon the pun). I noted that bowling expert Funky only beat a fursuiter by four while Angelo's score of four was the worst in the history of the alley. Once everyone had packed up, there was about twelve of us left so we headed out to find a bar, settling on Banyan just outside the railway station. We had had the York furmeet there back in February and the Leeds branch opened last week so we thought we might as well try it. Fortunately they did have space for our number and we were soon trying a few more new drinks while Frost was somewhat dehydrated and drunk due to drinking and bowling. The bar itself was quite nice but perhaps a little too high-brow plus I don't really see what the unique angle is here. Still the atmosphere was pleasant enough and the fabric of the building quite stunning, and we had an enjoyable hour here before others had to drift off back to their houses.
This left us with six and we needed some food, so I suggested to Wolfie that we go to Pieminister. Upon hearing this, Adam and Nachtkrallen became piqued and wanted to go, so we dropped their fursuits off at their car before making our way to Pieminister for some delicious pies. Fortunately that could fit six of us in - this place is usually rammed - and we were soon enjoying some excellent food which everyone agreed was rather fantastic. It was also very good value and I was more than delighted with my Moo Dog, sweet potato fries, minted mushy peas and halloumi sticks. I think everyone else felt the same about their food too. It was also great getting to know the guys over food more - due to the running of the meet we rarely get chance to speak to people so it was good to finally get the opportunity. This continued in Brewdog too, where Wolfie and I went to sample some new beers they had on as part of a Shindigger Tap Takeover. In the end there was only one from this brewery left but there were three others we hadn't tried so we grabbed a flight board while the others sat with us abs samples beer of their own. Wolfie played Street Fighter with Adam before the quartet had to leave, leaving Wolfie and I with our beers. In all honesty we were struggling to finish them and we really needed to head home to get ready for our Ukraine trip so we too headed off pretty quickly for an evening if drunken laundry and packing. Wolfie went to bed, leaving me to do it all, something with which I was not happy as I had work on the Monday too. Still, he did get up and help me put all the washing on the radiators, which was something and I did manage to get to sleep by 1am which is my usual time for a weeknight.
Due to getting back later than anticipated on the Sunday, we had a load of things we needed to do on the Monday before driving down to Gatwick in the evening in preparation for our Tuesday lunchtime flight. Coupled to the anxiety was the need to work. I had hoped that what with it being a Bank Holiday, Monday would be quite light but it did not really end up like this, although the fragmented nature of my tasks meant I could pack and prepare around it. Not aiding my levels of stress was last-minute Wolfie who had a load of things to do that afternoon including going around to this parents house to pick up a suitcase we were going to use for our trip. He also needed to reupholster the base of my Fursuit paws as the sole had become quite battered due to continual use. What with Taneli and Stray coming around for 3pm, we were tight for time bit fortunately things did go rather smoothly, even if we left the house an hour later than we wanted to. Aiding the delay was Taneli wanting to go back to his house to pick up some con badges and donuts so it was past 6pm before we hit the road, with us finally arriving at our hotel just before midnight (and fortunately just catching last orders at the bar). The journey down was straightforward enough and we even stopped at one of those OK Diners on the A1 we had been meaning to go to for years. The food here was pretty standard diner fayre but reasonably priced and the service was rather good. I had the Philly beef sandwich which had a few too many sweet peppers and would have benefitted from being steak rather than pulled beef. Wolfie had a burger of the same while his cheese and bacon fries were rather lacking in both. I had a great Black Forest milkshake though and as I say the meal itself was largely fine.
On the way down in the car, we heard of the explosions in Leeds which turned out to be sonic booms from a Typhoon jet although the fifteen minutes of Twitter uncertainty to ascertain this was quite nerve-wracking. At the same time, we discovered that Leicester City had remarkably won the Premier League following Tottenham's 2-2 draw at Chelsea with even furs commenting about this on my timeline. Even though the club is owned by a Thai billionaire, it's still a remarkable story and thoroughly deserved, with me casting my mind back to watching their thoroughly deserved win against Manchester City in a bar in London in February with a very good friend of mine. This was the first time I thought that they could genuinely win it and I'm delighted they have, if only to make the league more interesting and to prove that it can be done. All we need now is for Boro to be promoted on Saturday and it would be a perfect season. All we need to do is avoid defeat to third-placed Brighton at home and we are up, but should they win, they will be promoted instead. It's very much a winner takes all battle and after a long season, and last year's play-off heartache, I really hope we can do it. I'm in Ukraine on Saturday but I'll try and find a place to watch it but the drama is going to be intense. I'm just hoping it'll all be fine but a after three straight draws I'm not sure. We shall see.
