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Bread 'n' Ham Deltoids
Jan. 20th, 2019 07:00 pmDespite our abstinance from drinking, we have been out twice in the last three days. The first was Thursday, when we arranged to meet WiOrca in Leeds as it was the last night he was in the UK before his flight back to Ottawa. We had met up in Manchester, where he had just spent the last fortnight working, back on Hallowe'en so we thought we would do Leeds this time. Patter and Stray headed over from Lancashire with him while Taneli and Avon joined us in the Assembly Rooms, a new complex in the bar that used to be Carpe Diem. This had opened in November and I had been meaning to try it, but I am not a huge fan of Christmas crowds, making Orca's visit the perfect opportunity to pay the place a visit. It's a bit like an up-market Trinity Kitchen, while Vocation Brewery's Leeds Taproom with its fifty taps made for a great base in the heart of the place. There were a number of eateries, with Wolfie opting for an njuda pizza and me going for the burger with cheesy fries, which was amongst the most succulent burgers I had ever tasted. The fries were all curled in on themselves, making them somewhat crispier, while I did enjoy the old red ticket machine which brought memories back of the delicatessen counter at ASDA when I was growing up. We had perched on a large bench, just squeezing in, but the party of three next to us soon disappeared, allowing us to sprawl out some more. While here, Stray delighted us with the pub quiz he had written for the working men's club before going off there to perform it at around 8:30pm. With Taneli on Dry January and Avon tired, they both headed off soon afterwards, leaving just Wolfie, Patter and me along with Orca.
Wanting to try some more new bars, we swung around to North's new taproom on Sovereign Square. This is about the size of the flagship bar on North Street but is airier, with glass fronted windows. It's a card only bar, a worry when you have been drinking as I always judge how much I spend with how much physical cash I have left, but the beers were wonderous, with Orca in particular enjoying the peanut butter stout. We met two doggo friends in here, both cocker spaniels, with one wearing a cone of shame that kept falling off his head. They were both super friendly and it was great talking to their owner for a while. We actually met them as we were due to leave the bar, meaning we hung around a little longer before our last call of the night - Brewdog Leeds. This is one of our favourite spots and it was quite quiet, despite there being a Wild Beer tap takeover as part of their Sourfest. We nabbed two of these and chatted with our barmen friends for a while, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying our time with WiOrca before he and Patter had to yomp back to the station shortly before 11pm to get their train back home. Orca had a flight the next morning and had to get up at 5am, but fortunately we had calculated just the right amount to drink so we were generally fine the next day. I know we have broken our no drinking except on Saturdays rule but we thought Orca's visit was worth the breaking.
Saturday was Meet day and we headed in at the usual time, with the weather being dull but not rainy. There were a number of challenges during the day, not least a yellow shirt march which we fortunately managed to avoid, partly because they turned down Vicar Lane and partly because it started at noon and thus missed the fursuit walk time. The God botherers were out in full force though, both being intimidating on Briggate and then handing us a card on the way back to the bar which was one of the most inappropriate things you could have given to a bunch of primarily gay people as it stated: 'It's not what you put in your mouth, it's what comes out of it that's important'. We also met a racist old gentleman who somehow equated fursuits with black people, asking innocently what the parade was about before starting his ill-informed rant. I swiftly moved on.
I struggled to get into the meet in all honesty, with my vivacity from December long gone. I felt on edge, despite being around friends, and I can't quite place my finger on it. It was a hugely attended meet, with over 100 joining us and 32 fursuiters on the walk, and perhaps my sense of responsibility was too great. I don't know. Either way, I just wasn't as comfortable as I normally am for whatever reason. Perhaps it was the fact that all of the nice beers on draft had sold out so I was on Bus Station Brew, a generic fizzy lager that does little for me. I did move on to Tiny Rebel's Cali and Cwtch later in the day, but by then the tone of the day had been set.
Yesterday's meet also coincided with Adia's birthday, and on my way into the city, I thought it would be a good idea to swing by the Kitty Cafe to look for a present. Upon arrival, I toyed with the idea of getting her a membership, as I know this is something she had mentioned before. I needed to check whether she had one though, which meant me phoning her and ruining the surprise, not that this would matter in the end as I had to ask her to fill in the membership form herself as I did not know her personal details. Still, she seemed overjoyed with the present and it was great that a number of our friendship group chipped in to give her a happy birthday. I believe she has already been down to the cat cafe today to take advantage of her membership, which I am very pleased about.
The meet went on for quite a while, with a good number of people staying on until around 6pm. At this time, there were only four of us remaining - me, Wolfie, Dexter and a London fur whose name I cannot remember - and so we headed down to Brewdog to take advantage of their 20% discount deal on all food throughout January. We also wanted to try some more sour beers from Sourfest, which we also got opportunity to do. After this, we headed by Dough, a new bar in a place that used to be a curry house, where we had some really fresh salsa with some tortilla chips, not to mention a tasty local beer and a friendly chat with one of the owners. Our Southern friend had departed by this point and Dexter was next to leave at around 8:30pm, leaving Wolfie and I to head back to the bus via Friends of Ham as we didn't fancy waiting twenty minutes in the cold. They have changed their menu now, making it more like a conventional bar rather than the staggered system they had where the next three beers on each tap would be stated then ticked off when they were sold out. This is something of a shame as I thought this was quite different, but the quality of the beer was still high and I suppose that's the main thing. In the bar, I overheard the staff saying the post-Christmas lull was already over and it's now back to business as usual, although it did seem slightly quieter than it would usually be.
Today has been a pretty quiet day. I woke up with huge self-loathing for reasons unknown before Wolfie and I registered for Confuzzled then went to the supermarket to get the week's food. He wanted to work on his car this afternoon, so I spent a few hours in Halifax geocaching before returning home just as it was getting dark, delighted that there was still some light in the sky at 5:15pm. It was bitterly cold, and we are still in the depths of winter, but it does feel that the corner is starting to be turned, if only slightly. Meanwhile, everything else just plods on. The uncertainty of Brexit is still influencing spending decisions, particularly after last week's emphatic rejection of May's terrible deal, but with both May and Corbyn defined by their stubbornness it's difficult to see where the breakthrough can come. Work has been frustrating due to my email being buggered for the tail end of last week while we were both glad that we decided to give EF a miss this year after another farcical hotel registration system which was deployed at 6am. As much as I love the con, I am seriously thinking of giving it a miss going forward as the trials of getting a room seem to outweigh the experience these days. Added to this is the gentleman's agreement they have with other cons, giving their staff priority too, and it doesn't seem overly fair, particularly when last year we ran a panel and that we have attended four years in a row and as sponsors too. I guess there has to be priority somewhere, but giving staff of other cons first dibs over people willing to run panels seems a bit skewed. Hopefully this changes in future as I will miss going this year, even if we do have Confuzzled to soften the blow.
Wanting to try some more new bars, we swung around to North's new taproom on Sovereign Square. This is about the size of the flagship bar on North Street but is airier, with glass fronted windows. It's a card only bar, a worry when you have been drinking as I always judge how much I spend with how much physical cash I have left, but the beers were wonderous, with Orca in particular enjoying the peanut butter stout. We met two doggo friends in here, both cocker spaniels, with one wearing a cone of shame that kept falling off his head. They were both super friendly and it was great talking to their owner for a while. We actually met them as we were due to leave the bar, meaning we hung around a little longer before our last call of the night - Brewdog Leeds. This is one of our favourite spots and it was quite quiet, despite there being a Wild Beer tap takeover as part of their Sourfest. We nabbed two of these and chatted with our barmen friends for a while, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying our time with WiOrca before he and Patter had to yomp back to the station shortly before 11pm to get their train back home. Orca had a flight the next morning and had to get up at 5am, but fortunately we had calculated just the right amount to drink so we were generally fine the next day. I know we have broken our no drinking except on Saturdays rule but we thought Orca's visit was worth the breaking.
Saturday was Meet day and we headed in at the usual time, with the weather being dull but not rainy. There were a number of challenges during the day, not least a yellow shirt march which we fortunately managed to avoid, partly because they turned down Vicar Lane and partly because it started at noon and thus missed the fursuit walk time. The God botherers were out in full force though, both being intimidating on Briggate and then handing us a card on the way back to the bar which was one of the most inappropriate things you could have given to a bunch of primarily gay people as it stated: 'It's not what you put in your mouth, it's what comes out of it that's important'. We also met a racist old gentleman who somehow equated fursuits with black people, asking innocently what the parade was about before starting his ill-informed rant. I swiftly moved on.
I struggled to get into the meet in all honesty, with my vivacity from December long gone. I felt on edge, despite being around friends, and I can't quite place my finger on it. It was a hugely attended meet, with over 100 joining us and 32 fursuiters on the walk, and perhaps my sense of responsibility was too great. I don't know. Either way, I just wasn't as comfortable as I normally am for whatever reason. Perhaps it was the fact that all of the nice beers on draft had sold out so I was on Bus Station Brew, a generic fizzy lager that does little for me. I did move on to Tiny Rebel's Cali and Cwtch later in the day, but by then the tone of the day had been set.
Yesterday's meet also coincided with Adia's birthday, and on my way into the city, I thought it would be a good idea to swing by the Kitty Cafe to look for a present. Upon arrival, I toyed with the idea of getting her a membership, as I know this is something she had mentioned before. I needed to check whether she had one though, which meant me phoning her and ruining the surprise, not that this would matter in the end as I had to ask her to fill in the membership form herself as I did not know her personal details. Still, she seemed overjoyed with the present and it was great that a number of our friendship group chipped in to give her a happy birthday. I believe she has already been down to the cat cafe today to take advantage of her membership, which I am very pleased about.
The meet went on for quite a while, with a good number of people staying on until around 6pm. At this time, there were only four of us remaining - me, Wolfie, Dexter and a London fur whose name I cannot remember - and so we headed down to Brewdog to take advantage of their 20% discount deal on all food throughout January. We also wanted to try some more sour beers from Sourfest, which we also got opportunity to do. After this, we headed by Dough, a new bar in a place that used to be a curry house, where we had some really fresh salsa with some tortilla chips, not to mention a tasty local beer and a friendly chat with one of the owners. Our Southern friend had departed by this point and Dexter was next to leave at around 8:30pm, leaving Wolfie and I to head back to the bus via Friends of Ham as we didn't fancy waiting twenty minutes in the cold. They have changed their menu now, making it more like a conventional bar rather than the staggered system they had where the next three beers on each tap would be stated then ticked off when they were sold out. This is something of a shame as I thought this was quite different, but the quality of the beer was still high and I suppose that's the main thing. In the bar, I overheard the staff saying the post-Christmas lull was already over and it's now back to business as usual, although it did seem slightly quieter than it would usually be.
Today has been a pretty quiet day. I woke up with huge self-loathing for reasons unknown before Wolfie and I registered for Confuzzled then went to the supermarket to get the week's food. He wanted to work on his car this afternoon, so I spent a few hours in Halifax geocaching before returning home just as it was getting dark, delighted that there was still some light in the sky at 5:15pm. It was bitterly cold, and we are still in the depths of winter, but it does feel that the corner is starting to be turned, if only slightly. Meanwhile, everything else just plods on. The uncertainty of Brexit is still influencing spending decisions, particularly after last week's emphatic rejection of May's terrible deal, but with both May and Corbyn defined by their stubbornness it's difficult to see where the breakthrough can come. Work has been frustrating due to my email being buggered for the tail end of last week while we were both glad that we decided to give EF a miss this year after another farcical hotel registration system which was deployed at 6am. As much as I love the con, I am seriously thinking of giving it a miss going forward as the trials of getting a room seem to outweigh the experience these days. Added to this is the gentleman's agreement they have with other cons, giving their staff priority too, and it doesn't seem overly fair, particularly when last year we ran a panel and that we have attended four years in a row and as sponsors too. I guess there has to be priority somewhere, but giving staff of other cons first dibs over people willing to run panels seems a bit skewed. Hopefully this changes in future as I will miss going this year, even if we do have Confuzzled to soften the blow.
