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Doggy Weekend And Animalz
Nov. 7th, 2022 12:06 amTwenty-two years ago, nearly everyone at my school went to the Millennium nightclub at Teesside Park. I never went, partly because I was it was a distance away and partly because it wasn't really my scene. Despite this, I had a strong sense of FOMO and isolation, wishing I felt part of the general crowd. Last night, at Animalz, many of those feelings resurfaced.
I had always been reticient to try Animalz as I know it's not really my scene. Furries are very good at making their own versions of mainstream things. There's never really much diversity in LGBTQ+ events and this was certainly the case this weekend. Despite this, I did enter into Doggy Weekend with an open mind. However, I had to conclude it wasn't really for me.
There were some caveats though. Closing the dark room early, at 10:30pm, really changed the vibe. This was a little frustrating as I had planned to do a few things with people. This also meant the main dance area became very busy. We arrived at around 10:30pm and what I tend to find with these things is, if the first hour isn't good, then the rest of the evening isn't either. Wolfie was disappointed with how few people were dancing and, although I tried my best to dance with him, it really isn't my thing. I did have a good time dancing with Stonewolf though, with whom we had met up earlier in the day, but ultimately the music wasn't too my taste and it was too loud to have a conversation. Despite this, I did at least bump into a few people I hadn't seen for a while including Guystar, Tungro, Meesh and Bolly.
The scene had been set at Kennel Club After Dark the night before. We had arrived from Berlin and knew we had to be registered by 10:30pm to get into that event. Unfortunately, the registration line was in the nightclub, which had opened at 10pm for the event. This meant we had to either queue with all our bags, or drop them off at Stray's before heading back. After much indecision - and seeing a woman drunkening sing the lyrics to Rammstein's Amerika while being carried off by her boyfriend - we headed to Stray's, dropped the bags back and then joined the queue. Fortunately Fox B was on hand to let us queue jump to get registered, just in time, although it was noted that reg now closed at 11pm. Anyway, with packs in hand, we got back to Stray's to change. Once back at the club, we were told by the bouncer we needed ID, so this necessitated a trip back to Stray's once again. The fox was so angry that he had to take an angry shit.
The event itself wasn't great, with it being very busy and the music sounding like a barn being built. We were stood next to the dark room for a bit, which was good to watch, but I am so shy with these things that I didn't get chance to participate. On the Friday, I was wearing fem gear but on Saturday, I got to wear my full spandex Lupe suit, which was an incredible feeling. The only issues were the crotch zips, which were fiddly, and the fact it offered no insulation. Waiting in a kebab house at 3am was one of the coldest experiences of my life. Still, wandering around Manchester in full pup gear was liberating and confidence-boosting, even if the weather was shite and the pavements presented unique challenges (seriously, the state of British pavements is horrendous).
We did a few other Doggy Weekend things during the day on Saturday, including going to the market, where I picked up some Messy Pup gunge for the forthcoming week. We also hung around The Goose, a nice pub on Bloom Street, which served an incredible mango lager. We spent a lot of time on Bloom Street, it being far more civilised than Canal Street. It was here we met Stonewolf and Caleb, who could not get tickets to Animalz. He was pretty down about this, but we did accompany him to Collared before Animalz, which was fun. They have a range of new equipment there since the last time we visited in January 2020, but the suspension stuff did look like a health and safety hazard. It was listing to the right, with the construction being quite top heavy. We had to update our Collared memberships to get in here, as well as our Eagle ones too. The latter we did at 2am on Saturday morning, in the freezing cold. There's a picture of me not looking too happy, but I was much happier later on when we watched the same shit gay porn we had viewed on our visit back in May. We were with Minu quite a lot too, who had come over from Denmark, and he was far more engaging in real life than his online persona.
Ultimately, I probably won't do another Doggy Weekend, but I may try another Animalz, particularly the one in Berlin as it is just down the road. Last night, I was pretty adamant it wasn't for me, but on reflection I want to try one that's away from the more pup-focused Doggy Weekend and when the dark room is open. Stray admitted last night's wasn't the best, so I am willing to give it another chance.
The other main event we did was today, when we met up with Enteirah. This is the first time we had seen him since the pandemic, and it was fantastic meeting up again. We hung around Fierce bar, which was in the same unit as a really nice charcuterie place which obviously has sadly closed down. The beer was of good quality though, as was the DJing raccoon mural. We waited for Stray a while here, as he was struggling with a bad head and tummy after all the festivities of the previous two days, but in the end he didn't turn up until later. We had three half pints before heading to a coffee shop, not wanting any more alcohol. It was here where Stray met us before we ended up in Piccadilly Tap. Once Ent had left, we ended up having a vegan burger at Vburger, noting that many restaurants were closing really early for some reason. After this, we had explosive dihorrea due to the consumption of fizzy poor British mainstream beer and I haven't felt right since. The train back to Pudsey was thankfully uneventful. One interesting thing to point out was the price of beer was extortionate for the fizzy pish - £5.90 in places - with craft beer only being marginally dearer. I did make the point at those complaining about Brewdog charging over £7 a pint that this was reasonable from a quality perspective.
Manchester was romantically Satanic with the relentless November rain and the weather has started to turn in Berlin too. We were out on Wednesday, at the English language BDSM munch. This was in The Castle and wasn't signposted too clearly. The invite did say look out for the unicorns and there were a few people wearing unicorn headbands. Even then, we were a little unsure and drank our first beer away from them, to observe. This cost €12.50 for 500ml and it was just a standard Fierst Wiacek pale ale. Eventually, we plucked up the courage to speak to someone and she confirmed it was the BDSM people. We then sat with some cool people, most from the US, while other people came in throughout the evening. There was one loud guy who seemed to be annoying most people, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt as he may have been overcompensating due to shyness. The event was slated to run 6-8pm but it was still busy at 10pm, which was when we left. We had had four pints on little food and although we had ordered some pizza, it had done little for our sobriety. I noticed that we were starting to annoy one or two people and although that may have been their problem, I thought it was a good time to leave as we had made a few new friends and it was mission accomplished. We ended up in Brewdog for a final beer before heading home, pretty happy.
The only other thing that's happened was on Thursday when I pestered Wolfie about travel insurance for this UK trip. This triggered his foot, which we now know is stress-related, with a realisation that I am one of the causes for his injury. With my mind fragile enough right now, this sent me into a spiralling depression on Friday, when I couldn't stop crying. I don't like being worried or clingy, but these are my own demons, and it hurts that I am one of the causes of my partner's pain. It is happening much less these days as he is happier with his new job, but it's something I am going to have to work on, as I don't want to contribute to his dehabilitation.
I had always been reticient to try Animalz as I know it's not really my scene. Furries are very good at making their own versions of mainstream things. There's never really much diversity in LGBTQ+ events and this was certainly the case this weekend. Despite this, I did enter into Doggy Weekend with an open mind. However, I had to conclude it wasn't really for me.
There were some caveats though. Closing the dark room early, at 10:30pm, really changed the vibe. This was a little frustrating as I had planned to do a few things with people. This also meant the main dance area became very busy. We arrived at around 10:30pm and what I tend to find with these things is, if the first hour isn't good, then the rest of the evening isn't either. Wolfie was disappointed with how few people were dancing and, although I tried my best to dance with him, it really isn't my thing. I did have a good time dancing with Stonewolf though, with whom we had met up earlier in the day, but ultimately the music wasn't too my taste and it was too loud to have a conversation. Despite this, I did at least bump into a few people I hadn't seen for a while including Guystar, Tungro, Meesh and Bolly.
The scene had been set at Kennel Club After Dark the night before. We had arrived from Berlin and knew we had to be registered by 10:30pm to get into that event. Unfortunately, the registration line was in the nightclub, which had opened at 10pm for the event. This meant we had to either queue with all our bags, or drop them off at Stray's before heading back. After much indecision - and seeing a woman drunkening sing the lyrics to Rammstein's Amerika while being carried off by her boyfriend - we headed to Stray's, dropped the bags back and then joined the queue. Fortunately Fox B was on hand to let us queue jump to get registered, just in time, although it was noted that reg now closed at 11pm. Anyway, with packs in hand, we got back to Stray's to change. Once back at the club, we were told by the bouncer we needed ID, so this necessitated a trip back to Stray's once again. The fox was so angry that he had to take an angry shit.
The event itself wasn't great, with it being very busy and the music sounding like a barn being built. We were stood next to the dark room for a bit, which was good to watch, but I am so shy with these things that I didn't get chance to participate. On the Friday, I was wearing fem gear but on Saturday, I got to wear my full spandex Lupe suit, which was an incredible feeling. The only issues were the crotch zips, which were fiddly, and the fact it offered no insulation. Waiting in a kebab house at 3am was one of the coldest experiences of my life. Still, wandering around Manchester in full pup gear was liberating and confidence-boosting, even if the weather was shite and the pavements presented unique challenges (seriously, the state of British pavements is horrendous).
We did a few other Doggy Weekend things during the day on Saturday, including going to the market, where I picked up some Messy Pup gunge for the forthcoming week. We also hung around The Goose, a nice pub on Bloom Street, which served an incredible mango lager. We spent a lot of time on Bloom Street, it being far more civilised than Canal Street. It was here we met Stonewolf and Caleb, who could not get tickets to Animalz. He was pretty down about this, but we did accompany him to Collared before Animalz, which was fun. They have a range of new equipment there since the last time we visited in January 2020, but the suspension stuff did look like a health and safety hazard. It was listing to the right, with the construction being quite top heavy. We had to update our Collared memberships to get in here, as well as our Eagle ones too. The latter we did at 2am on Saturday morning, in the freezing cold. There's a picture of me not looking too happy, but I was much happier later on when we watched the same shit gay porn we had viewed on our visit back in May. We were with Minu quite a lot too, who had come over from Denmark, and he was far more engaging in real life than his online persona.
Ultimately, I probably won't do another Doggy Weekend, but I may try another Animalz, particularly the one in Berlin as it is just down the road. Last night, I was pretty adamant it wasn't for me, but on reflection I want to try one that's away from the more pup-focused Doggy Weekend and when the dark room is open. Stray admitted last night's wasn't the best, so I am willing to give it another chance.
The other main event we did was today, when we met up with Enteirah. This is the first time we had seen him since the pandemic, and it was fantastic meeting up again. We hung around Fierce bar, which was in the same unit as a really nice charcuterie place which obviously has sadly closed down. The beer was of good quality though, as was the DJing raccoon mural. We waited for Stray a while here, as he was struggling with a bad head and tummy after all the festivities of the previous two days, but in the end he didn't turn up until later. We had three half pints before heading to a coffee shop, not wanting any more alcohol. It was here where Stray met us before we ended up in Piccadilly Tap. Once Ent had left, we ended up having a vegan burger at Vburger, noting that many restaurants were closing really early for some reason. After this, we had explosive dihorrea due to the consumption of fizzy poor British mainstream beer and I haven't felt right since. The train back to Pudsey was thankfully uneventful. One interesting thing to point out was the price of beer was extortionate for the fizzy pish - £5.90 in places - with craft beer only being marginally dearer. I did make the point at those complaining about Brewdog charging over £7 a pint that this was reasonable from a quality perspective.
Manchester was romantically Satanic with the relentless November rain and the weather has started to turn in Berlin too. We were out on Wednesday, at the English language BDSM munch. This was in The Castle and wasn't signposted too clearly. The invite did say look out for the unicorns and there were a few people wearing unicorn headbands. Even then, we were a little unsure and drank our first beer away from them, to observe. This cost €12.50 for 500ml and it was just a standard Fierst Wiacek pale ale. Eventually, we plucked up the courage to speak to someone and she confirmed it was the BDSM people. We then sat with some cool people, most from the US, while other people came in throughout the evening. There was one loud guy who seemed to be annoying most people, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt as he may have been overcompensating due to shyness. The event was slated to run 6-8pm but it was still busy at 10pm, which was when we left. We had had four pints on little food and although we had ordered some pizza, it had done little for our sobriety. I noticed that we were starting to annoy one or two people and although that may have been their problem, I thought it was a good time to leave as we had made a few new friends and it was mission accomplished. We ended up in Brewdog for a final beer before heading home, pretty happy.
The only other thing that's happened was on Thursday when I pestered Wolfie about travel insurance for this UK trip. This triggered his foot, which we now know is stress-related, with a realisation that I am one of the causes for his injury. With my mind fragile enough right now, this sent me into a spiralling depression on Friday, when I couldn't stop crying. I don't like being worried or clingy, but these are my own demons, and it hurts that I am one of the causes of my partner's pain. It is happening much less these days as he is happier with his new job, but it's something I am going to have to work on, as I don't want to contribute to his dehabilitation.
