Why Frick Frack When You Can Snick Snack?

Tonight was our monthly coffee meet and it proved to be another relaxing affair, even with a record fifteen furs in attendance. It is definitely a more chilled vibe than the monthly furmeets and I think I may enjoy these more as there is less pressure from an organisational point of view. It's also a good way to catch up with friends after work, away from the ephemera of tails and fursuits. Indeed, it's a rather sedate and sophisticated affair, with friends chatting around a table over coffee and cake. I went for my usual - a Yunnan Gold and a cake of some description - while I also turned up fashionably late, again due to work. A number of regulars were there along with Entei-rah, who had turned up from Manchester for the first time. It's also great that we have become known in Laynes now and they are looking forward to seeing us again next month, which will be the first anniversary of the coffee meets.

Afterwards, we finally followed through with the Come Dine With Chee idea as I had booked a table for ten at Cosy Club last night. In the end, we had nine people, so everything worked out pretty well. When we had tried this back in June, the restauarant wasn't willing to take on our numbers, so it was good we were able to get organised this time around. It was also great to be able to try a different restaurant, with the possibilities far better on a Tuesday night than a busy Saturday evening post main meet. I am thinking of being a little dictatorial when it comes to restaurant choice going forward as it's just easier and less divisive than doing a poll. This time it was catalysed by the fact Leeds Pride took advertising bandwidth from tonight's gathering. Still, the meal was very good, and I particularly enjoyed the Country Life magazine covers in the gents' bathroom, with various pretty posh girls with wonderful back stories representing a very different world to my own. The female toilets seemed to have odd fantasy images, Adia was telling me, so that was quite odd. In the end, we spent about an hour and a half in Cosy Club, with my chicken and maccaroni cheese burger being particularly nice, if somewhat heavy. After the meet, satiated, we all went our separate ways although chilling outside the restaurant made me notice the range of architectural styles in this part of the city, not to mention some of the friezes above some of the older buildings. Where the main Starbucks is now has a carving of the Leeds city crest as this was once a building society, providing a fascinating slice of urban history.

Tuesday nights are definitely a better time to try new places than Saturdays, as my trip out last Saturday highlighted. I was out as a work colleague is moving to Norway later in the week to be with his Norwegian wife, who wants to return to her homeland to be closer to her family. I can't say I don't envy him considering the upcoming Brexit nonsense, but before they left, they held a leaving party in the Alchemist on Greek Street. This is a trendy bar on Greek Street, one of the main nightlife areas of the city, highlighted by the plethora of peroxide, tans and short dresses in ambundance. The evening didn't start out too well as it took me twenty minutes to get a beer at the bar, as despite the waiting staff's undoubted mixology skills, the combining of creating cocktails alongside general serving of drinks resulted in exceptionally long waits. To be fair to them, the queues for the subsequent beers were far shorter although I did choose my spot at the bar more strategically. The ambience in the place wasn't too bad, with the resident DJ playing reasonable enough music. He was parked in the corner where our special cordoned off area was, and it was quite a pleasant evening in the end as I got to speak to a number of colleagues, some of whom rarely make it to Leeds these days. I ended up having four pints of fizzy, opting for pints as they were a) more cost effective and b) had greater capacity so reduced bar queuing time, which was perhaps one more than I had planned based on the fact I was fursuiting at Leeds Pride the day after. Still, it didn't affect me too much in the end and it was sad to see two of my closest colleague friends leave. I do hope to visit them in Oslo though and I'm sure we'll stay in touch. It does seem like many people are leaving right now and I'm frustratingly stuck here, but I know I must bide my time, at least for a short while. I know I'll miss Leeds, particularly after both Pride and the Coffee Meet tonight, but if I plan this correctly, I may get the best of both worlds. All that is to come though.