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Give Me, Give Me, Puppy Shower
Jun. 18th, 2017 11:16 pmIt's been a busy weekend, conducted in scorching temperatures which were reminiscent of those we enjoyed during our recent trip to the United States. Saturday saw us host our usual Leeds Meet, which once again took place in the Atlas Bar. Wolfie's foot, which caused him significant pain in the US, is still screwed after someone on the flight home tripped over it, damaging it again. This meant that I had to do an awful lot of running around at the meet, not aided by the fact that we had forgotten our bed sheet for the screen, meaning I had to go and get another one from Wilko. The Meet went very well, although my plan for a shorter fursuit walk due to the intense heat somewhat fell through when we discovered a pro-Corbyn demonstration taking place outside the library, assumedly in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. This meant we had to skirt around it and up towards Millennium Square on police advice. This saw a far more lengthy walk, which culminated on the newly pedestrianised Greek Street, where we entertained the throngs of people enjoying the sun eating and drinking outside. We also met Del the Puppy, who was too busy eating his meat initially to come and say hello. After that, he did say hi though and we spoke to his owner about furry and what it's all about.
Saturday was the first meet run by our new committee, a necessity due to how big they now are. With Wolfie's foot buggered and Cosmo, Oracle and Raven fursuiting, organizers for the walk were few and far between but we did get it sorted. We are also hoping to launch our new Leeds furs website in the coming days, while Atlas welcomed us again with a special shot mix they had made for us called 'Phoenix Feathers', a cherry/vanilla liqeur which had sparkly pink bits in it. It was very much appreciated and I am delighted the venue enjoyed having us. After this, a handful of us headed up to Merrion Street and Bar Soba to check this place out as a possible venue too, as well as enjoy the beautiful Asian fusion cuisine which they serve there. We headed back home at around 10pm to discover that there had been a street party on our street in our absence. We hadn't been invited to it, which was a little upsetting, although we hadn't been to the first two and this may explain it. However, this wasn't through a lack of desire, merely because we were busy, with the Meet often clashing when these events are on. It may have been part of the Great Get Together in memory of Jo Cox - and we were thinking of doing something for the furmeet in aid of this - but there was little information online for Leeds and work last week was such a stress that I didn't really have time to give it much thought.
The weather on Sunday was even more beautiful than it had been on Saturday, so we ventured to get up reasonably early and go and do something. This we did, walking down to New Pudsey train station early afternoon to go visit Todmorden and Sowerby Bridge in the hills. To be honest, there is little at either of them - they're largely market towns beside the Rochdale Canal - but it was interesting looking at the mill architecture, along with the town hall in Tordmorden which highlighted in a Greek frieze that the town is on the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire. There is a wraught iron lock here, painted green, while we had a walk by the canalside where we saw a high brick wall separating the canal from the high embankment along which the railway line runs. It was quite a feat of engineering. The market in Todmorden was particularly pathetic, selling an odd miscellany of tat while about two thirds of the stalls were somewhat empty, while the town itself seemed to have a plethora of old antique shops. There was a small microbar but after an hour here we decided to go to Sowerby Bridge on the way back to Pudsey, to see if there was anything else there.
The answer was not really, although we did get to see the River Calder. There seemed to be more pub options here and indeed we went to one by the river as we headed back to the station, but in the end it was just a pleasant high street with little on it. Granted we didn't realise the canal was further up and that there could have been more up there, but by this time we were back at the station and waiting for our train. At the station, we called in at the small bar/cafeteria which we were surprised to see stayed open until 9pm. Here we were served some wonderous pork pies with delicious jelly which left us sated. In the distance, we saw the folly that is Wainhouse Tower but couldn't get to it, which was a shame as it did seem interesting.
We had to head back though as we were due to meet Wolfie's friend Adam, along with his wife and young girl, who had invited themselves around for a barbeque on the proviso that they brought all the food, which was fair enough. As we walked back from New Pudsey railway station, I craved a Coke and with the supermarket shut due to Sunday trading, the only place open was the Subway in the petrol station. Here at least we got a refreshing big gulp while we also got some free meatballs too as they were closing up. Tasty. This meant that we were slightly late getting back to our house, and saw Adam waiting in our front garden for us. Still, at least it wasn't raining. Soon we had the BBQ in full swing and we got chatting. I had never met Adam's family before and it was a delight. His wife is Polish and I may have offered her a job as she's looking for work and I have a need for a Polish editor, which was a nice turn of events. Meanwhile, the little girl was very busy just exploring the garden and playing with her toys, pushing her Octonaughts ones down the steps. The food was great, even though there was a paucity of options due to everyone else having the same idea as us and cleaning out the supermarkets by the time we had arrived. We also had some dodgy Indian Paneer which we thought would be likely halloumi but in the end was rubbery and tasteless. Not good. The garden is somewhat wild right now and the number of ants is far higher than I would like, but aside from that it was a good few hours in the sun and a nice way to round off the weekend.
Saturday was the first meet run by our new committee, a necessity due to how big they now are. With Wolfie's foot buggered and Cosmo, Oracle and Raven fursuiting, organizers for the walk were few and far between but we did get it sorted. We are also hoping to launch our new Leeds furs website in the coming days, while Atlas welcomed us again with a special shot mix they had made for us called 'Phoenix Feathers', a cherry/vanilla liqeur which had sparkly pink bits in it. It was very much appreciated and I am delighted the venue enjoyed having us. After this, a handful of us headed up to Merrion Street and Bar Soba to check this place out as a possible venue too, as well as enjoy the beautiful Asian fusion cuisine which they serve there. We headed back home at around 10pm to discover that there had been a street party on our street in our absence. We hadn't been invited to it, which was a little upsetting, although we hadn't been to the first two and this may explain it. However, this wasn't through a lack of desire, merely because we were busy, with the Meet often clashing when these events are on. It may have been part of the Great Get Together in memory of Jo Cox - and we were thinking of doing something for the furmeet in aid of this - but there was little information online for Leeds and work last week was such a stress that I didn't really have time to give it much thought.
The weather on Sunday was even more beautiful than it had been on Saturday, so we ventured to get up reasonably early and go and do something. This we did, walking down to New Pudsey train station early afternoon to go visit Todmorden and Sowerby Bridge in the hills. To be honest, there is little at either of them - they're largely market towns beside the Rochdale Canal - but it was interesting looking at the mill architecture, along with the town hall in Tordmorden which highlighted in a Greek frieze that the town is on the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire. There is a wraught iron lock here, painted green, while we had a walk by the canalside where we saw a high brick wall separating the canal from the high embankment along which the railway line runs. It was quite a feat of engineering. The market in Todmorden was particularly pathetic, selling an odd miscellany of tat while about two thirds of the stalls were somewhat empty, while the town itself seemed to have a plethora of old antique shops. There was a small microbar but after an hour here we decided to go to Sowerby Bridge on the way back to Pudsey, to see if there was anything else there.
The answer was not really, although we did get to see the River Calder. There seemed to be more pub options here and indeed we went to one by the river as we headed back to the station, but in the end it was just a pleasant high street with little on it. Granted we didn't realise the canal was further up and that there could have been more up there, but by this time we were back at the station and waiting for our train. At the station, we called in at the small bar/cafeteria which we were surprised to see stayed open until 9pm. Here we were served some wonderous pork pies with delicious jelly which left us sated. In the distance, we saw the folly that is Wainhouse Tower but couldn't get to it, which was a shame as it did seem interesting.
We had to head back though as we were due to meet Wolfie's friend Adam, along with his wife and young girl, who had invited themselves around for a barbeque on the proviso that they brought all the food, which was fair enough. As we walked back from New Pudsey railway station, I craved a Coke and with the supermarket shut due to Sunday trading, the only place open was the Subway in the petrol station. Here at least we got a refreshing big gulp while we also got some free meatballs too as they were closing up. Tasty. This meant that we were slightly late getting back to our house, and saw Adam waiting in our front garden for us. Still, at least it wasn't raining. Soon we had the BBQ in full swing and we got chatting. I had never met Adam's family before and it was a delight. His wife is Polish and I may have offered her a job as she's looking for work and I have a need for a Polish editor, which was a nice turn of events. Meanwhile, the little girl was very busy just exploring the garden and playing with her toys, pushing her Octonaughts ones down the steps. The food was great, even though there was a paucity of options due to everyone else having the same idea as us and cleaning out the supermarkets by the time we had arrived. We also had some dodgy Indian Paneer which we thought would be likely halloumi but in the end was rubbery and tasteless. Not good. The garden is somewhat wild right now and the number of ants is far higher than I would like, but aside from that it was a good few hours in the sun and a nice way to round off the weekend.
