Beareoke

Leaving the UK is becoming increasingly difficult with every trip I make and this time is no exception. It is clear thar the vast majority of our close friends are here and I really miss them. Yesterday’s Leeds Meet highlighted that.

 

In many ways it was like a meet of old. Adia, Entei-rah and Avon were all there, the latter turning up to his first meet post-pandemic. Touchingly, he said he was largely there because I had announced I would be, and I think it was probably the same for Entei-rah too. Furthermore, both he and Adia fursuited too, with Adia even suiting on the walk. I got some good pictures of her in Pebbles sniffing flowers and being silly, as well as a Marilyn Monroe-style sexy pose. I ended up helping to run the walk as the numbers were low, at one point even leading it. We started at Wellington Place, where the security guards were very twitchy as we had heard rumours of Just Stop Oil protests in Leeds. We overheard the control room on their radios imploring them to find out who we were. Anyway, we got the photographs we needed before heading to Park Place, where we chilled for a bit before taking more photographs in front of some flowers.

 

The rest of the day was largely spent in the new bar - a good venue which will be made better when the modest outdoor area will be clear of scaffolding brought about due to ongoing construction work on the block of flats about it. Lazy Lounge is more a gin bar so the range of beer is modest - although North’s Atlantis is nice enough. I also spent a while helping Baz run the meet and dealing with a few ridiculous complaints which were somewhat outside our remit. Aside from this, it was great catching up with so many furs including but not limited to Char (who commended me on my pronoun changes), Fioxy, Hell Badger, Lulu, Shinaku and Gamepopper. Arcais even braided my gait and clipped it with shiny purple hair clips, which I wore with my collar throughout the day.

 

Procyon was staying over Friday and Saturday to dodge the rail strikes, while he kindly helped me lock up the house before I left for Germany earlier today. He arrived about 9:30pm on Friday, his train being slightly delayed. We decided to pick up a pizza from ASDA and cook at home, before I went out and showed him the modest delights of Pudsey. We ended up in the Yorkshire-themed bar Hideout, where we had a pleasant half over a chat in the upstairs area. We also shared some oyster, chili and lime crisps which were surprisingly better than expected, with only the aroma being particularly oystery. The drinking continued after the meet on Saturday as Procyon, Patter and Whiskian ended up in Jolibee for average Filipino food. En route, we noticed they have torn down a huge building on Briggate to make a Gateway of some sort. My chicken was dry and I ordered the full meal, which was too much ultimately and I felt rather bloated for the rest of the evening. I also managed to dribble mango pie all down my front. Patter had to get his bus back at 7:30pm but with Whiskian staying at the Novotel, we had a few drinks at Brew York (where he got a half of 12.3% salted caramel tonkoko which he thought was too much) before ending at The Devonshire Cat. It was all rather chill and we caught our penultimate bus home at 23:13, with the Saturday buses at least running later than before (the last one is 23:43 but that doesn’t make up for the last bus on a weekday now being 22:48).

 

This morning was largely packing and locking the house up before heading back to Germany. Procyon headed to York and we split at New Pudsey Station. Now I’m pondering the future. Wolfie will know by Thursday whether he has passed his probation, which will hopefully guide us, while I may (or may not) have a new job sorted soon too. Either way, from Friday I’ll be unemployed and although this gives possibilities, I’m also a little envious of all the travelling my friends are doing in September. The thing is, as Procyon pointed out, when you live abroad, most of your travelling is back to your homeland to see friends and family, and I certainly see this. The other thing is nearly all of my best experiences this year have been in the UK - Scotiacon, ConFuzzled, Leeds Pride, Puppy Paws Camping - I do question the value of being in Germany, not least because it costs us so much. Wolfie is basically online virtually and does little else these days while I know he misses his car and garage. I guess we’ll see what happens but whether Wolfie passes or doesn’t pass his probation, I think we have a plan. It’s just weird everything is so uncertain yet within a week could be set. In the meantime, I’ll try and sort a job out as soon as I can but that could take five days or five months. I’m really hoping it’s the former.

Update, Monday, 2:30pm - just as I was about to publish this, it was announced my flight had been cancelled because Easyjet couldn’t guarantee getting to Berlin in time before the airport closes due to the noise curfew. This meant there were 113 passengers of various shades of anger, including one German guy who was apoplectic and demanding the impossible (even though the fault lay with his own country’s regulations). I got on the app quickly and rearranged my flights to today, albeit with an annoying change in Amsterdam that will see me have to get my bags and then check back in again. Many people struggled. I was also offered a hotel by Easyjet but confusion about how to get there meant I just had to find my own way there. After twenty minutes of hanging about at the airport’s information desk, we were let back into passport control and proceeded out, picking up our luggage from Carousel 2 on the way. People were confused and I tried to help all I could, with Easyjet essentially leaving us high and dry. I messed up and bought a train ticket to the city centre that was only valid on TPE services and as I didn’t want to wait an hour, I decided to just bite the bullet and get another ticket. I also helped an elderly couple secure their tickets to Preston from the soulless ticket machine, and they were unhappy with the costs (one example of why ticket offices should be kept open - they intend to close the one at New Pudsey AND reduce staff presence by a half).

 

I got to the Yotel at Deansgate around 8:30pm and they were expecting me, saying “Easyjet cancellation” as I walked through the door. There was a creepy Jamaican man coddling a glass of rum in the foyer and he followed me up to the seventh floor before stalking me to my room. I genuinely feared he would rape me but I got inside my room swiftly. Then I checked into my new flights, finding they were going to charge me again for my hold luggage, which I’m going to have to claim back. I also had to cram my duty free into the hold luggage as of course I can’t bring it in the cabin due to liquid restrictions. I bought some whisky for Wolfie for his birthday.

 

I dropped a message to the Cat’s Home and found that Procyon was heading through Manchester on his way back from York. Doveux was also coming back from his week-long stint at the Edinburgh Fringe and we all met at the new North Bar that is in a residential complex just off Princess Street. As I got further away from the city centre, I started to doubt whether I was going to the right place so seeing Procyon sitting there on his lonesome was a relief. The dragon came about twenty minutes later, just in time for late orders. We discussed a lot about the Fringe, which was fascinating as I’ve always wanted to go albeit as a punter rather than a performer. He certainly has far more courage and confidence than I could ever have. After our drink, we headed to The Salisbury, a rock and metal bar near Oxford Road station. This enabled Procyon to get his last train back to Liverpool swiftly while Doveux and I stayed out for an additional pint if only to hear his selections played on the jukebox. There was a mental Asian granny in this bar who kept chatting to us on occasion, saying how she much preferred old school metal, while it was great to catch up with Doveux again. Sadly no one else from the Cat’s Home could make it, assumedly because Manchester Pride was on. I walked past this en route to the first bar and it was exactly the type of loud dance music that I dislike. It’s certainly not for me.

 

I got back to the hotel around 1:30am and watched Dave Gorman’s Modern Life Is Goodish on Dave for longer than I perhaps should have done. I hadn’t seen it for so long though, probably pre-pandemic. My sleep was fine and I checked out without incident at 11am, realising I hadn’t any toothpaste or deodorant with me. Fortunately Doveux was kind enough to lend me some and we called around at his flat after we had grabbed breakfast at a nearby cafe called The Federal. Here I opted for the Turkish eggs which came with garlic moose, chili flakes, seeds and za’atar. It was served with sourdough toast (which there wasn’t enough of, my only complaint) but I had never had this combination before. I really enjoyed it, with the creaminess of the moose complimenting the spice really well. I also got a pot of local tea with bits in, which was a great way to start the day.

 

After calling in at Doveux’s, he walked me to Oxford Road station, where I caught the train to turn airport. En route, I was informed of an air traffic control problem in the UK and upon check in, I was handed a form talking about what to do if my flight gets cancelled. It doesn’t bode well…

Update 2, Monday, 11:30pm - The failure of the air traffic control system was fixed by 3:30pm but that did not save any of today’s flights. Consequently, after another three-hour trip to Terminal 1, I was again evacuated from the airport and back into the city. EasyJet were next to useless, with only a handful of staff dealing with things, while the departure board was stuck saying my flight to Amsterdam was going ahead but it didn’t change beyond ‘Gate information at 14:55’ even way past that time. Picking up luggage was a free-for-all but eventually I found my case, before I opted to go to the Cafe Nero at the train station to work out my plan. This was largely because the Greggs inside the terminal was rammed with so many people. With EasyJet not offering alternate arrangements until past 7:30pm and fearing demand would be high, I booked an exorbitant Lufthansa flight on Wednesday morning with the hope of getting compensation from EasyJet. I’ve filled all the forms in, including some for expenses, but my hopes are low. Of course being unemployed, these additional costs are the last thing I need right now - I came back to the UK to SAVE money. I also had to decide whether to go back to Pudsey or stay in Manchester. I opted for the latter in the end, just needing to stay in a hotel tonight as Doveux has kindly offered me a place tomorrow. This means I’m only out of pocket by £32 which is price enough not to lug my 22.5kg suitcase about - my shoulder blades are hurting. However, I do need to kick the drink so tonight I’ve just stayed in, having a sorry ham and cheese toastie. I just feel terrible, as down as I’ve ever felt, with little going my way right now. I will use the additional day in Manchester to scout out a potential job so it could turn good but I still just want to be back with Wolfie. My luck has been rotten and it’s gotten worse since I started wearing my new shoes. I wonder if they’re cursed or something…