Smarty Paws!

A busy week started on Thursday with the regular Fureigners night out, this time in Brewdog Friedrichshain. This had been very well-received when we went after the Abgedreht meet in September and I suspected it wouldn't be too busy on a Thursday evening. I was wrong, with the whole downstairs completely full. Fortunately I had booked a table for 12 and hadn't underestimated this time, with about ten of us turning up. I was second after Fiasco, who met me in the queue to order a drink, seeing me as he turned away with his purchase. Being served took a while, but once I had been, we headed to our reserved table, when more people started to join us. We had three newbies, a guy called Nico who had just moved to Berlin from Ecuador and who was struggling with the cold weather, and a couple who had taken a hiatus from meets for around six years and were back in the scene. I spent a long time talking to them, while I was quite irreverent and bouncy, probably again due to my inherent shyness. I hadn't expected to drink as much as I did, but with Hoppy Xmas back on tap and them gifting me my birthday beer early, I had a little more than expected. A few people were hugging each other towards the end and I felt somewhat left out, but it was good catching up with the likes of Note and CoVahr, as well as Seabass and Nobody. We do have a solid small group going to the meets now, but I am struggling to connect still, hopefully this will change. I also seem to be running the meets these days, which is fine, but a bit of a challenge. Note has suggested a Christmas market for December though so hopefully he can take the lead here. Anyway, I had had enough to drink that a McDonald's at Hauptbahnhof made sense, largely because I had a half hour wait for my train. It was a tasty cheeseburger if nothing else.

One of the things that had cropped up during our conversation was the new BRLO bar in Charlottenburg, which Wolfie and I had visited on Monday 6 November after we had tested negative for COVID and the day before he was due to fly back to the UK to work. This was quite near where we used to live and dangerously only 20 minutes by public transport from our place. It's all white neon, but the staff were really friendly, with English seemingly the default language. They had a good range of BRLO beers and a solid selection of guest beers too, which is unlike any other BRLO bar I have been to. We'll have to go and try their food one day, as it does look good. Wolfie and I had a flight each followed by a 500ml of one of our favourites, with it being a pleasant couple of hours following being shut in the house all weekend due to being ill. It was a shame the Oomph! gig wasn't a day later as we could have made it, but alas it wasn't to be. The only other thing of interest that happened was a largish Polish guy falling on Wolfie as he tripped over a curtain as he made his way out of the bar. He clattered to the ground heavily, knocking his glasses off in the process. Wolfie's back was slightly bruised but he was largely fine, and he did help the portly gentleman up. He and his friend had been drinking quite a lot apparently and they spent the next 20 minutes nursing their buttocks and egos outside while waiting for a taxi. The staff were very apologetic. Anyway, Fiasco has expressed an interest in going, so I think we will end up there while there seems to be interest in a number of small local gatherings in December so let's see how that goes.

Waking up on Friday morning was a chore, partly because I agreed to get up an hour earlier to start work and partly due to the hangover. I also had to pack as I was catching a flight back to the UK mid-afternoon. Leaving the house was the same chore as it had been before I had gone to Wurzburg the weekend before, with my paranoia particularly focusing on the shower, fridge and downstairs bathroom sink. This meant I was very late leaving the house and I almost missed my train, but fortunately I rocked up to the RE8 on time. The journey to the airport was fine, but security was a hassle as I had to go through twice as the x-ray scanning machine was not showing any images, meaning all bags were being pushed for manual screening. Considering I had some kink items in there, this was the last thing I wanted. Once inside the airport, I grabbed a €7.50 extortionately priced hotdog as I had had no lunch, before going through immigration and sitting in the waiting area rather than opting for an extortionately priced drink at the Berlin Pub. I had Animal Crossing to play after all. The Ryanair boarding process was the usual chaos and after being kept in a holding pen for ten minutes, we were led to the plane, only to stand at the bottom of the stairs for the next 15 minutes in the bitterly cold wind while they sorted themselves out. All of this meant that we were around half an hour late departing Berlin, knocking the time frames back further. It was 9pm by the time I got back to Pudsey, about two hours later than expected, with me having an increasing determination not to fly through Manchester Airport or via cheapy jets if I can avoid them. Flying into Leeds will shave 2-3 hours off the travel time and that is starting to become worth the extra expense.

It was good seeing Wolfie again, even if I did spoil things late on after bringing up something that's nagging about our relationship. It will be resolved I feel, but it did dampen things after I was pleased to see him for the first time in ten days. We shared a Domino's pizza, as usual ordering far too much, meaning there was enough left for breakfast. We also decided to grab a quick drink in Hideout, the Yorkshire-themed craft beer bar around the corner, where we got chatting to the pleasant barkeep about living in Germany. By the time we had finished our drink, we were the last people in there, and so we decided to leave to let them lock up early.

A slight lie-in was afforded us on Saturday, but we had to be up by 11am for the Leeds Meet. As it was Furcation weekend, we had been asked to attend back in April as some of our key staff were down in Somerset. The ask was more a demand if I were being honest and handled cack-handedly, but with enough notice, it was at least doable. As it is my birthday tomorrow, we also combined it with some celebrations, with Arcais suggesting in the summer that we should go to the rock and metal club in the heart of the city. This I was happy to do as it would partially rekindle the time between 2010-16, when I felt I had a really strong group of friends with whom we could do things spontaneously. That started to drift apart before the pandemic and of course moving to Germany has created quite the barrier between us. Arcais suggested we stay in a local hotel for ease, and while the Travelodge was phenomenally expensive at £140 a night, I do ultimately think it was worth it, despite its general faded nature, hard beds and pumping music coming through the walls despite it being 4:30am when we got to bed.

We hit the meet shortly after noon, needing a taxi to get us from Pudsey as we were a little late out of bed. A few people were already there and people drifted in as the afternoon progressed. The weather was typical for November, with all seasons experienced in one day, but we did get to go on the fursuit walk and take some good pictures. Alas, as has been noted previously, the general Leeds populace have become more spiky of late with a greater number of potential threats to suiters. We managed to keep an eye on these threats and thankfully nothing happened, but I can easily see how things have happened in the past. We also avoided the myriad protests going on in the city, sticking to a planned route that did involve a lot of road crossings. Here, it was highlighted why these new red/green man indicators are useless - being on the side of the traffic light rather than above them facing the direction you'll be walking meaning they are easily obscured by anyone standing in front of them. I get it's so you're looking in the direction the traffic will be coming from, but by not being able to see them, surely they are more dangerous. I hope they get replaced. It certainly made navigating the roads far harder anyway. While crossing one road, we saw two women carrying a 3 and 9 balloon, so I wished them a happy 93rd birthday.

The bar itself was good, although they did have a few evening functions so we had to be out quickly. Leeds Postal Service had also been booked for a private event, so we had to use the upstairs area for the changing. We were worried it may have been booked by some anti-trans lot, but it turned out the people there were steampunkers so very close to our own vibe. As we were going out late, we had to be quite paced when it came to the alcohol, although this was made slightly more difficult as people kept buying me drinks for my birthday. Still, four pints of 4.1% Atlantis was acceptable and I even managed to spend some of the £10 Greggs gift card that Procyon kindly bought me. When I asked him how much was on there, he said 'the minimum', while I was delighted to see that despite being the most highly educated person I know, he mis-spelt the word privilege in my card. I got four cards in the end and I was highly grateful for all of them, with Procyon getting me a unicorn one with the word 'granddaughter' crossed out, replaced by 'pink husky/wolf' in the phrase 'To a magical granddaughter'. It was great catching up with people again, although I admit I was on edge for most of the day. I am not really sure why, but I am starting to fret about my weight again and really want to lose it. I guess I just wanted to feel beautiful for a day and struggled.

With so many people wanting to stay out, Trinity Kitchen was the only realistic place we could go for food. The Arcais/Taneli/Chargin crew had left first, but then Doveux bought a pint, tying us to the bar a little longer. We were about 45 minutes late but managed to find three spare tables, which became one as people left and we tactically commandeered a place where we could all sit. We ordered some delicious poutine from a poutine truck and a cheseburger from another place next door. I was expecting this to be chicken as they advertised themselves as a fried chicken shack, but it turned out to be beef. I only realised as I was halfway through it. Still, it was tasty enough and set us up perfectly for the rest of the evening's festivities. We did chill in Trinity Kitchen for over an hour as it was a good way to catch up, with Stray and Ottercon having to leave shortly afterwards due to the fox's tooth causing him jip. Krazoa left too, leaving about eight of us remaining. We wanted to check in, but there was no point dragging Doveux, Procyon and Skavi up there so they went to the Head of Steam while we sorted ourselves out. If I were being honest, I would have preferred to have checked in after drinking, as it put us on a schedule in the hotel, but I did manage to get a quick shower and have a nap before heading back out again.

The other problem with the Head of Steam was it was right back on the other side of town, but with the beer and food, more exercise made sense. Alas, there was a loud band playing in Head of Steam which, while musically good, meant conversation was difficult. Ultimately, it was too loud for most of us, but we enjoyed a casual half with the aforementioned trio before they all headed back to Lancashire on the same train. Skavi managed to "pull" some random woman he didn't know as we saw our three friends off. At this point, we all went back to the hotel, where I pilfered Urban's deodorant as we had foolishly forgotten to pack some. We also chilled a while and Arcais did my make-up, doing a great job turning me into a rock chick. Alas, I didn't pack any of my skirts but judging by the attire of many people in the club, I may do when we go again. Arcais was sad that she didn't bring her skirt, which would have complimented her mesh top wonderfully (although Arcais always looks good to be fair).

We left the hotel shortly after 11pm and as it was my birthday, I got to call proceedings. I decided to go to Brewdog for one, thinking the club had only just opened at that point and it warming up may be advantageous. I also had a birthday beer to collect, while I ordered Wolfie a 6.0% beer that was meant to come in two-thirds size but ended up being a pint. Oh dear. We chatted for an hour, it being a nice book-ending to the drinking, while we were glad to see there was no shit artwork on the wall. Arcais and Urban both got espresso martinis, which seem to be incredibly popular in Leeds right now, as many of the other tables had those too.

At midnight, we made our way up to the Merrion Centre and Key Club, disheartened by the length of the queue. I cursed myself for not going earlier but Arcais was optimistic and said we should wait for ten minutes and see what happened. Fortunately, the queue moved quite swiftly and while there was a little drizzle in the air, the rain fortunately held off. Speaking of rain, we did spot one poor guy leaning over the fence and vomiting into the road, with the liquid just coming and coming. It went on for about ten minutes and I started to feel really sorry for him. I don't know where he went, as I looked away for a while and he had gone, but I hope he got back okay.

We were a little apprehensive that the club would be playing songs we didn't recognise, so hearing 'Stacey's Mom' as we entered was a huge boost. Getting in was straightforward although it was a little sad that the bouncers didn't want to see our IDs, having checked those of most of the people in front of us. Do we look that old? Anyway, we got some drinks from the odd trance music Room 2 before going to Room 1, where the rock hits were being played. Suddenly, we were transported back to Gasworks days, although this club was marginally less scuzzy, and we spent three hours straight on the dance floor. It was just hit after hit, with most of the songs we knew, meaning we ended up just staying there. We each topped to the toilet or bar on occasion, but ultimately we camped ourselves along the far wall, getting closer and closer to the main stage. In the end we got there and stayed by the smoke machine, which kept asphyxiating us every five minutes or so. Still, we got some great dancing in, and I sang along to so many tunes that my throat went hoarse. It was also hot as fuck, with sweat dripping from the walls and ceiling as the evening progressed. It was exhilarating though, although I am concerned how I can remember all the lyrics to Limp Bizkit's 'Rollin' or Foo Fighters' 'Monkey Wrench' but am struggling to speak German. Things got a little more boisterous as the evening went on, with the mosh pit becoming more violent. It felt like people had gotten catnip and turned up to let of steam, as moshing to The Offspring's 'Pretty Fly for a White Guy' is quite an achievement. We got the impression that, as well as a number of metalheads, there were a few people not really into the scene and just wanted to be violent in the pit. There was one fella in a white t-shirt who was flailing his arms around like a windmill, then there was a beardy man in a mustard coloured hat (how he could wear it when it was so damn hot, I have no idea). I liked cowboy hat man the best. There was good pit etiquette though, with people being helped up if they fell over, but at one point some guy fell into Urban who clipped Arcais's nose with his shoulder and that was where we drew the line. She headed out for fresh air and we decided to follow. It was half an hour until closing, and we decided to leave and head back to the hotel. We had stayed in Room 1 as in Room 2, someone had vomited near the bar. This ended up with my favourite conversation of the night between Arcais and I. Me: Shall we go to Room 2, Arc: No, someone has vomited all over the floor. Me: Oh dear. I did see a few women in particular somewhat emotional about the pit, while I think the small narrow nature of the venue didn't help. I think next time we go, we'll likely arrive and leave earlier, as this seems to be a slightly better vibe. Still, throughout the night, I felt I was back within my tribe and was as comfortable as I had felt all day.

Urban and Patter went to bed once we got back to the hotel but Arcais, Wolfie, and I navigated the confusing credit card only vending machine before sitting in the Bar/Cafe on the first floor to chat. It was a great way to wind down from the absolute high of the evening and we resolved to do this again. I think everyone enjoyed it, although it wasn't quite Patter's style of metal. Still, I am grateful to everyone who came out. More people would have come I think but Leeds hotels were prohibitively expensive. There was no way that Travelodge was worth £140 a night. Next time, we'll plan it more in advance, but there will definitely be a next time.

Waking up this morning was hard. We anticipated this by booking the late stay option to 2pm, but with the others leaving at noon, we didn't really utilise it. Patter had headed off early and Urban's bus was at 3:10pm, with he and Arcais having left the hotel before we did. We leisurely got ready before leaving around 12:30pm, discovering that they were having breakfast in Bill's. We went down there and fortunately they had what I was craving - eggs benedict. The original plan had been to go to the new Wendy's but I had just woken up and didn't feel like another burger. Bill's was very busy, but fortunately our table for two was actually for four, with Arcais and Urban sat at the table in front of us. They moved so we could all sit together and we had a pleasant breakfast of eggs benedict, fries (which were perfectly salted and crispy) and English Breakfast Tea. It was the perfect way to start the day, before we headed out into town to meet up with Chargin, Taneli, Tony and his partner. We then just wandered around the shops - discovering the excellent teas at Bird and Blend, along with the Furry Planet book at Forbidden Planet, which I bought after much wrangling with myself. I had never been downstairs in Forbidden Planet before so it was good to see all of the comic books, even if I am not really a fan. I am a fan of My Little Pony though and I was highly tempted to buy some of them. Still, I resisted, even though we spent a really long time in the shop and I was sorely tempted.

We ended the day in Wendy's, where a few of our group got food (those who weren't at Bill's basically). We decided to leave at this point as they were due to leave after eating and there wasn't really enough space at the table. We also needed to get a key cut for our house as Wolfie's parents are away for the next three months and we need to entrust someone else to look after it for us. We then just got the bus back, absolutely knackered, with our ears ringing, slight hangovers and an overwhelming fog of tiredness. I haven't done much with the rest of the day. I limped through Pony Chat, did Animal Crossing and had a snooze. We also ordered some great food from a place called The Funky Indian. They had something called the Wrap'Izza - chicken tikka, tomato sauce and masala onions wrapped in a garlic and coriander naan. This was an Indian take on a calzone and it was incredible. Their masala fries were also wondrous. We knew about this place as The Fat Man had visited last summer, with it being down in Farsley near Amity Brew Co. We were initially torn between going to fish and chips or here, and we definitely made the right choice. The food was cooked to perfection and it was an absolute taste sensation, so got a solid 10 from me.