All Hail The Chap!
Mar. 23rd, 2015 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeFriday evening saw a group of us go to The Wet Spot for Arcais Panda's birthday. It is a burlesque show that we had been meaning to visit for a while and her birthday was a good opportunity to do it. It turned out to be a very memorable evening indeed
We congregated at Arc's work, where we all got ready, with the panda herself squeezing into a right corset. The receptionist there quite enjoyed the results of our dressing up, with Taneli in full waistcoat mode too. Sadly the only suitable clothing I had is female and we weren't sure whether transvestism would fall foul of the no fancy dress policy (in the end it didn't as we saw a bloke in an elegant red gown but wearing a dress at the meal before the event may have been awkward). Still, Wolfie brought me a shirt and Arc did my make-up so I looked suitably sultry, a look which I can unsurprisingly perhaps pull off quite well. Wolfie liked it anyway, even though my shirts are all a little shall for me these days. On one of the group photos I had inadvertently undone my bottom button so you could see my hideous belly poking out like a humungous fatty. This made me quite self-conscious for the rest of the evening, along with my tight shirt, but alas I was going for a look and this is something with which you have to suffer on occasion.
It didn't help that I had had a huge burger in The Pit beforehand, along with three beers as we were waiting for an incredibly late Wolfie, who had been screwed over by the erratic post-rush hour buses. This meant I was essentially shirtless for over an hour, with my T-shirt remaining in my bag which I had left at Arc's work (I had walked from Arc's work to The Pit shirtless, with erect nipples as it was quite cold). Beforehand, when we first met up with everyone, I did the Justin Hawkins look with an open shirt displaying my belly, much to the combined shock and mirth of everyone. The atmosphere in The Pit was lively - with them taking ages to serve beer as the bar doubled up as a cocktail place too - but the food was as delicious as it usually is, with me opting for a simple bacon cheeseburger and Mac 'n' cheese side.
The Wet Spot is above Belgrave music hall and I was glad to see I had to be IDed at the ripe old age of 32. Inside, there was a cake stand that Wally must have visited on at leas three occasions and a little bar selling a range of beer from three of my favourite breweries - BrewDog, Sierra Nevada and Beavertown. With the show being divided into three acts - very Shakespearean - there was ample time in each interval to get a drink while a hairy mountain man and his glamorous assistant went around selling raffle tickets and lucky dip bags. I got some chewing gum and a fizzy necklace in mine, which Arc promptly put around her thigh and made us all eat from. It was most titilating, particularly when we convinced a rather shy Adia to give it a go - so sweet. Taneli also won some nail varnish in the colour of Tippex with a few dark splotches in it, which he refused to wear. It ended up on my nails, which were all sparkly for the rest of the weekend, although the poor quality varnish was chipping off quite badly by Sunday.
You would have thought the semi-naked girls would be the highlight of the show and yet it wasn't, the compare stole it. I had heard of Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer before, perhaps on YouTube as many of his videos are there, but a posh bloke with a Victorian mustache rapping early 90s techno with the aid of a ukulele was so fantastic I am struggling to describe it. His opening number, All Hail The Chap!, which required audience participation to sing this refrain got everyone in the mood and the atmosphere was buzzing from here on in. We had reserved a table towards the back, raised slightly so you could get a good view, and this was an excellent place to watch the proceedings. The atmosphere was such that it was hard not to join in, with me heckling Mr B to get his banjo out towards the end, before which I realised he was actually playing a ukelele. Still, stringed instruments have never been my forte. There were a range of good acts - Daisy Cutter with her impressive wobbly catoosh being possibly the highlight - although the Russian lady who invited a member of the audience to dance Swan Lake with her while she was wearing traffic cones on her feet was another hit as was the lady wearing glittery diamonds over her lady garden.
I had feared I would feel somewhat uncomfortable at the event but these fears quickly dissipated, with time passing so quickly that it was 12:30am and over before I had even realised it. My back was behaving due to the vast amount of co-codemol I had been popping and aside from a leaky pipe above us that occasionally dropped cold water onto my shoulder, it was a massive success. I didn't find it particularly erotic, more fun, which may have contributed to my overall comfort. I would have liked to have stayed out later but the meet was the next day so we opted to get a taxi home with Adia and Soma. Sensible and we weren't too drunk either, despite a rather long night on the town, another positive.
Getting up for the meet the next day was surprisingly easy, and I even had time to write a puppy patented story in Arc's birthday card. We wrapped up her present - Lis avec Violette, the French version of the Violet toy we had bought for her last year - and bounded our way to the meet, or at least crawled as we had the joy of the slowest bus driver ever. We arrived just after midday to see the fuzzies already making their way to the venue, so we tagged along and were soon inside.
The day was very much about Arc in our friendship group. She opened her presents and was particularly delighted with the panties from Adia as well as our French Violette, with Raddy buying her an impressive print of her panda Fursuit character. Draken also bought her a cake which we were allowed to light in the bar (light the candles at least) but weren't allowed to cut due to health and safety reasons and fears about nut allergies. Not sure what had specifically changed since October and the last time we did this, but thems is the rules. It was also the Leeds debut of her remarkable Melon the Goat character, hence the increased amount of food being devoured at the meet. We got another large attendance at the meet and it's good to see them taking off, although I do have concerns that we need to freshen them up a bit as they are all getting a bit samey. I'm sure I'll think of something. Meanwhile we were left with a rather fetching knitted coat, which I hope is one of ours as we carried it around with us for the rest of the evening, thinking it belonged to a fur. It was certainly in amongst our furry mess (eiw) but as no one has claimed it yet I fear we may have taken some random person's coat. Hopefully we can return it to its rightful owner.
The atmosphere at the meet was a little strange for some reason although that could have just been my own perception. I decided against suiting in order to protect my back, so it was a day of being in a bar and trying to be sensible with alcohol. To be fair I achieved this, with my one alcoholic drink to one diet coke policy meaning that I was still quite sober by the end of the day. I find this for health reasons and because I had already tried the vast majority of drinks in the bar, knowing that I could try more at other venues later in the day. I was also running the Fursuit walk, which meant I needed my wits about me, particularly when Draken darted across the road with Melon to meet some rugby fans. The walk itself was quite good although nothing being on Millennium Square meant it was perhaps a little subdued, although we did manage to gate crash another wedding at the Town Hall, with the official photographer urging us to get in some of the pictures. The photography exhibit outside the Library and particularly the giant map that went along with it, provided some amusement and we got a group shot outside the Guildhall before heading back to the venue.
After the meet, a group of 11 of us headed to Little Tokyo, where surprisingly we got in. In a way it was a shame we went here - we always seem to go to the same restaurants over and over when there are so many more to try (including two Japanese restaurants, Sushi Waka and Fuji Hiro) - but at least it wasn't the over-visited Trinity Kitchen. The food was excellent but the range is never particularly good, while a fire alarm interrupted our meal not once but twice. It was interesting to note that no one was bothered by the fire alarm and didn't even try to evacuate when it was going off. I had delicious avocado tempura and a chicken Katsu bento box while I was sat opposite Stray, whose ginger based conversation I always enjoy. It was a very pleasant meal - aided by my sobriety - and afterwards we went to Bird and Beats, down the road and one of Arc's favourite bars ever since we visited it on my birthday late last year. It was surprisingly dead, indeed we were the only people in the venue, with the baristas admitting we had saved them from boredom. As a consequence, they were happy to show us their full repertoire of drinks, with Draken in particular talking to them and getting quite a few free cocktails and made to order cocktails from them. I had a Life On Mars, a bright baby pink colour cocktail which tasted like the Strawberries and Cream that BaaBar used to do but aside from that I stuck with beer, finding cocktails quite overpriced for a drink that rarely takes me more than ten minutes to finish.
While everyone was at the bar, I nipped out to Sainsbury's to get some supplies before they closed at 11pm. Being sober in a major city at this hour is quite enlightening, particularly as I noticed two reprobates urinating on the side of a church in open view of the main road. This was in addition to the pissed pisser on Friday night who was urinating against a curry house and letting it dribble down the path. The whole thing was most unedifying, not to mention wholly disrespectful, and I was consoled that no matter how pissed I have been I have never (or would I ever) do anything as heinous as that. Shocked, I picked up my supplies and headed back to the bar to finish my drinks and catch one of the last buses home.
On the bus, there was a man stuffing his face with a McDonald's, who then proceeded to wipe his greasy fingers all over the seat and his trousers. I didn't think you were allowed to eat on the bus but it would appear the rules didn't apply to him, much to my annoyance. I don't know why I get so angry about these trivial things - perhaps it's conditioning after five years of bus travel - but it really annoyed me, with the smell being somewhat invasive not to mention his mastic sounds. It also made us hungry too so Wolfie stopped off at a local pizza place to grab a pizza the size of a paracetamol, forgetting that a 7" pizza is really the square root of bugger all when it comes to area. Still the garlic sauce was nice and as I was already full of bento box - Wolfie had opted for the smaller nigiri set hence his newfound hunger - I let Wolfie have the whole thing (the fact that it was a doner meat pizza which came with jalapeños was somewhat offputting too) before he headed to bed before I did the same after watching some crap TV.
We congregated at Arc's work, where we all got ready, with the panda herself squeezing into a right corset. The receptionist there quite enjoyed the results of our dressing up, with Taneli in full waistcoat mode too. Sadly the only suitable clothing I had is female and we weren't sure whether transvestism would fall foul of the no fancy dress policy (in the end it didn't as we saw a bloke in an elegant red gown but wearing a dress at the meal before the event may have been awkward). Still, Wolfie brought me a shirt and Arc did my make-up so I looked suitably sultry, a look which I can unsurprisingly perhaps pull off quite well. Wolfie liked it anyway, even though my shirts are all a little shall for me these days. On one of the group photos I had inadvertently undone my bottom button so you could see my hideous belly poking out like a humungous fatty. This made me quite self-conscious for the rest of the evening, along with my tight shirt, but alas I was going for a look and this is something with which you have to suffer on occasion.
It didn't help that I had had a huge burger in The Pit beforehand, along with three beers as we were waiting for an incredibly late Wolfie, who had been screwed over by the erratic post-rush hour buses. This meant I was essentially shirtless for over an hour, with my T-shirt remaining in my bag which I had left at Arc's work (I had walked from Arc's work to The Pit shirtless, with erect nipples as it was quite cold). Beforehand, when we first met up with everyone, I did the Justin Hawkins look with an open shirt displaying my belly, much to the combined shock and mirth of everyone. The atmosphere in The Pit was lively - with them taking ages to serve beer as the bar doubled up as a cocktail place too - but the food was as delicious as it usually is, with me opting for a simple bacon cheeseburger and Mac 'n' cheese side.
The Wet Spot is above Belgrave music hall and I was glad to see I had to be IDed at the ripe old age of 32. Inside, there was a cake stand that Wally must have visited on at leas three occasions and a little bar selling a range of beer from three of my favourite breweries - BrewDog, Sierra Nevada and Beavertown. With the show being divided into three acts - very Shakespearean - there was ample time in each interval to get a drink while a hairy mountain man and his glamorous assistant went around selling raffle tickets and lucky dip bags. I got some chewing gum and a fizzy necklace in mine, which Arc promptly put around her thigh and made us all eat from. It was most titilating, particularly when we convinced a rather shy Adia to give it a go - so sweet. Taneli also won some nail varnish in the colour of Tippex with a few dark splotches in it, which he refused to wear. It ended up on my nails, which were all sparkly for the rest of the weekend, although the poor quality varnish was chipping off quite badly by Sunday.
You would have thought the semi-naked girls would be the highlight of the show and yet it wasn't, the compare stole it. I had heard of Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer before, perhaps on YouTube as many of his videos are there, but a posh bloke with a Victorian mustache rapping early 90s techno with the aid of a ukulele was so fantastic I am struggling to describe it. His opening number, All Hail The Chap!, which required audience participation to sing this refrain got everyone in the mood and the atmosphere was buzzing from here on in. We had reserved a table towards the back, raised slightly so you could get a good view, and this was an excellent place to watch the proceedings. The atmosphere was such that it was hard not to join in, with me heckling Mr B to get his banjo out towards the end, before which I realised he was actually playing a ukelele. Still, stringed instruments have never been my forte. There were a range of good acts - Daisy Cutter with her impressive wobbly catoosh being possibly the highlight - although the Russian lady who invited a member of the audience to dance Swan Lake with her while she was wearing traffic cones on her feet was another hit as was the lady wearing glittery diamonds over her lady garden.
I had feared I would feel somewhat uncomfortable at the event but these fears quickly dissipated, with time passing so quickly that it was 12:30am and over before I had even realised it. My back was behaving due to the vast amount of co-codemol I had been popping and aside from a leaky pipe above us that occasionally dropped cold water onto my shoulder, it was a massive success. I didn't find it particularly erotic, more fun, which may have contributed to my overall comfort. I would have liked to have stayed out later but the meet was the next day so we opted to get a taxi home with Adia and Soma. Sensible and we weren't too drunk either, despite a rather long night on the town, another positive.
Getting up for the meet the next day was surprisingly easy, and I even had time to write a puppy patented story in Arc's birthday card. We wrapped up her present - Lis avec Violette, the French version of the Violet toy we had bought for her last year - and bounded our way to the meet, or at least crawled as we had the joy of the slowest bus driver ever. We arrived just after midday to see the fuzzies already making their way to the venue, so we tagged along and were soon inside.
The day was very much about Arc in our friendship group. She opened her presents and was particularly delighted with the panties from Adia as well as our French Violette, with Raddy buying her an impressive print of her panda Fursuit character. Draken also bought her a cake which we were allowed to light in the bar (light the candles at least) but weren't allowed to cut due to health and safety reasons and fears about nut allergies. Not sure what had specifically changed since October and the last time we did this, but thems is the rules. It was also the Leeds debut of her remarkable Melon the Goat character, hence the increased amount of food being devoured at the meet. We got another large attendance at the meet and it's good to see them taking off, although I do have concerns that we need to freshen them up a bit as they are all getting a bit samey. I'm sure I'll think of something. Meanwhile we were left with a rather fetching knitted coat, which I hope is one of ours as we carried it around with us for the rest of the evening, thinking it belonged to a fur. It was certainly in amongst our furry mess (eiw) but as no one has claimed it yet I fear we may have taken some random person's coat. Hopefully we can return it to its rightful owner.
The atmosphere at the meet was a little strange for some reason although that could have just been my own perception. I decided against suiting in order to protect my back, so it was a day of being in a bar and trying to be sensible with alcohol. To be fair I achieved this, with my one alcoholic drink to one diet coke policy meaning that I was still quite sober by the end of the day. I find this for health reasons and because I had already tried the vast majority of drinks in the bar, knowing that I could try more at other venues later in the day. I was also running the Fursuit walk, which meant I needed my wits about me, particularly when Draken darted across the road with Melon to meet some rugby fans. The walk itself was quite good although nothing being on Millennium Square meant it was perhaps a little subdued, although we did manage to gate crash another wedding at the Town Hall, with the official photographer urging us to get in some of the pictures. The photography exhibit outside the Library and particularly the giant map that went along with it, provided some amusement and we got a group shot outside the Guildhall before heading back to the venue.
After the meet, a group of 11 of us headed to Little Tokyo, where surprisingly we got in. In a way it was a shame we went here - we always seem to go to the same restaurants over and over when there are so many more to try (including two Japanese restaurants, Sushi Waka and Fuji Hiro) - but at least it wasn't the over-visited Trinity Kitchen. The food was excellent but the range is never particularly good, while a fire alarm interrupted our meal not once but twice. It was interesting to note that no one was bothered by the fire alarm and didn't even try to evacuate when it was going off. I had delicious avocado tempura and a chicken Katsu bento box while I was sat opposite Stray, whose ginger based conversation I always enjoy. It was a very pleasant meal - aided by my sobriety - and afterwards we went to Bird and Beats, down the road and one of Arc's favourite bars ever since we visited it on my birthday late last year. It was surprisingly dead, indeed we were the only people in the venue, with the baristas admitting we had saved them from boredom. As a consequence, they were happy to show us their full repertoire of drinks, with Draken in particular talking to them and getting quite a few free cocktails and made to order cocktails from them. I had a Life On Mars, a bright baby pink colour cocktail which tasted like the Strawberries and Cream that BaaBar used to do but aside from that I stuck with beer, finding cocktails quite overpriced for a drink that rarely takes me more than ten minutes to finish.
While everyone was at the bar, I nipped out to Sainsbury's to get some supplies before they closed at 11pm. Being sober in a major city at this hour is quite enlightening, particularly as I noticed two reprobates urinating on the side of a church in open view of the main road. This was in addition to the pissed pisser on Friday night who was urinating against a curry house and letting it dribble down the path. The whole thing was most unedifying, not to mention wholly disrespectful, and I was consoled that no matter how pissed I have been I have never (or would I ever) do anything as heinous as that. Shocked, I picked up my supplies and headed back to the bar to finish my drinks and catch one of the last buses home.
On the bus, there was a man stuffing his face with a McDonald's, who then proceeded to wipe his greasy fingers all over the seat and his trousers. I didn't think you were allowed to eat on the bus but it would appear the rules didn't apply to him, much to my annoyance. I don't know why I get so angry about these trivial things - perhaps it's conditioning after five years of bus travel - but it really annoyed me, with the smell being somewhat invasive not to mention his mastic sounds. It also made us hungry too so Wolfie stopped off at a local pizza place to grab a pizza the size of a paracetamol, forgetting that a 7" pizza is really the square root of bugger all when it comes to area. Still the garlic sauce was nice and as I was already full of bento box - Wolfie had opted for the smaller nigiri set hence his newfound hunger - I let Wolfie have the whole thing (the fact that it was a doner meat pizza which came with jalapeños was somewhat offputting too) before he headed to bed before I did the same after watching some crap TV.
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Date: 2015-03-24 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-24 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-27 11:49 pm (UTC)I know I've said this before, but this really is a prime example of why you need to include photos with your postings! This sounds absolutely wonderful!
from three of my favourite breweries - BrewDog, Sierra Nevada and Beavertown
Ooh, did they have Torpedo? Or maybe even some of the Yule ale? =:9 (And if you ever see Lagunitas' Brown Shugga, leap at it! It's a barleywine, so not something to take lightly at 10%, but oh, so delicious! I don't know if it makes it over to the UK at all, though)
Yay nail polish! Such a cute accent to an outfit, whether something simple, or more.. loud. =:)
I'm loving the sound of all of this as a birthday celebration. Really fun. ^_^
although we did manage to gate crash another wedding at the Town Hall, with the official photographer urging us to get in some of the pictures
*giggle* Did you get the guy's card? Would be fun to check out the final results. ^_^
I do enjoy a good cocktail, and I'll happily go with the flow if that's what the place really specialises in, but if I'm thinking of somewhere to go out for some good food and drink, it'll be one of a couple places I've been many times, with beer galore. And hopefully cider. =:) That said, there've been some great cocktail times, such as one time I invited Mum into the city, and we went out near the hotel to find what was around, and stumbled upon a sort of Spanish/tapas joint. The food was good, though not memorable, but the guy absolutely indulged us silly with complex cocktails. We left rather poorer, and very merry. ^_^
Of course, I say that with my current drink being a simple gin and tonic. =:)