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lupestripeThis week was my birthday so on Wednesday, a few of us headed out to celebrate. The initial plan had been to see Electric Six in Manchester, but the tickets had sold out before we had gotten chance to book them. This left us somewhat in limbo, with us biding some time on a waiting list before completely giving up on Monday. We had discussed alternate arrangements at the Leeds Meet the previous Saturday, devising a plan to meet in Huddersfield for a few drinks on the day itself. This plan was enacted but due to the short notice, not very many people could come, meaning that it was just Stray and Patter who joined us.
I had met up with Taneli earlier in the day - he couldn't come to Huddersfield for financial reasons but was happy to meet for a drink in Brewdog. This was a nice catch-up as I hadn't seen him since September, so it was good having a one-to-one chat over a free birthday beer. Wolfie popped down a little later as he was travelling to Huddersfield from New Pudsey via Leeds, and he too had a brief catch-up before we headed back to the railway station to board our train. Taneli left us at this point and we had the unenviable delight of a crammed TransPennine Express service where we had to stand for much of the way.
We met Stray and Patter in the Head of Steam pub at the railway station in Huddersfield, with the duo arriving about fifteen minutes later than we did. Shunted to the cask tap room as the keg one was closed for a jazz night, Wolfie took the opportunity to do his annual appraisal for work while we waited. Once arrived, our friends grabbed a half and we plotted food options, deciding to go to TriBeCa which was quite near. This was worryingly quiet but the food was what I fancied, with me grabbing a fish sandwich and fries. It wasn't sophisticated but it was tasty, with a two for one meal deal meaning it was also cheap. The beer was good and the atmosphere fine, even if there was a little too much early 2000s dance music for my tastes, but the evening was all about the beer so we wanted something swift. It was here where I got my presents - a cheeseboard from Patter, a unicorn headband from Stray and a wonderfully girly princess card with a dog on it - for which I was very greatful.
The train times meant that we had time for two bars - Arcade and The Grove. The former was just around the corner from TriBeCa and was run by one of the guys who used to serve at Brewdog North Street. I didn't know this so it was a nice surprise walking in, plus he gave us a birthday discount too (plus replaced Stray's beer free of charge when the silly twat spilled it all over his trousers). Arcade was very much like The Sparrow in Bradford, all wood with beer mats on the wall and an impressive selection of craft beer. It was certainly a great place to chill for a while and more comfortable than The Grove with its stuffed taxidermy heads and scary Victorian puppets hanging on the wall. The beer choice here though was sublime and it's a place we had been meaning to go for a long time, so it was fantastic to finally get the opportunity to enjoy a beer here. Still, paying nearly £10 for a pint of admittedly 10% beer was pretty eyewatering. Despite this, it was a nice way to end my birthday with my closest friends and with the train dropping us right back to New Pudsey, it's definitely a viable place for a weeknight out.
Stray had wanted us to go do the Eccles Hill Working Men's Club quiz on Thursday but he had become progressively more ill as the day progressed and he canned this mid-afternoon. This was probably for the best for me as we had been invited to go out drinking with Skavi on Friday as he was in Leeds with work. The last time he had invited us, we had been in Barcelona and so couldn't make it, while I didn't fancy having three heavy drinking sessions in three successive days. As it was, Wednesday and Friday were the only two drinky days we were to have and I met Skavi at my offices at around 5:30pm. He used to work for me, and indeed still does on one of our translation projects, so he was excited to be shown around our new working environment, which is a vast improvement from our old offices where we had been for nine years up until the Summer. I also think he enjoyed meeting some of the staff with whom he used to work and others who he only knew through a name on an email.
After the tour, we headed down to Veritas where Taneli and Avon were waiting. Grabbing some beers, that Skavi kindly bought for me, we soon found our friends and chatted our usual range of bullshit, waiting for both Wolfie and Skavi's now husband Xolani (who has now become a stegosaurus and changed his name to something I can't remember). Wolfie was en route but Xolani had stopped over in Manchester for something, ending up being somewhat delayed. This basically saw us meet at Pieminster at 8:15pm, where we had booked a table for food, meaning we stayed in Veritas for about two hours beforehand and kept getting the beers in. I had first met Xolani in Veritas and we had used to go out as a group far more regularly, so it was great to rekindle this, particularly as I am feeling most of my friends in Leeds are dropping away. It was certainly nice catching up with everyone again over some drinks and food, making for a pleasant evening overall. It was a shame that Taneli couldn't join us for food, but it was grand meeting him both on my birthday and Friday, and indeed he may be coming around tomorrow for pizza and a Bluey marathon.
Once we had eaten our pies, incredibly tasty as usual, we ended up in Brewdog for one final beer. We had hoped to pick up the new bar t-shirts they have based on the visa stamps you can get, but there had been a rush on for the Leeds ones and they had run out of both L and XL sizes. This didn't cause too many issues though and I soon bought a round in, rounding off the evening talking to Xolani about politics and working for the civil service, which was incredibly enlightening. Sadly, they needed to head back to Wakefield, leaving Wolfie and I alone. I had started to develop a really painful stomach ache, most likely caused by the acidic sour beers, but Wolfie fancied another drink and I wanted to go to the North Street bar to see if they had their own bar shirts in stock. Indeed they did, so we ended up picking up an XL one and having a few more thirds, avoiding the sours and focusing on the 'Made For Us' range which was also pouring. It was a very pleasant way to end the evening, although Wolfie and I ended up having an argument about sincerity, tone of voice and general supportiveness which did tarnish things. We managed to patch things up this morning, but it was one of those arguments I didn't particularly want to have.
We had intended to be abroad this weekend, but canned it on account of financial issues not to mention lack of time to plan anything. Furthermore, I felt it would be something of a piss take to leave work early, particularly as I need to be out of the office for a lengthy period on Wednesday lunchtime and again on the subsequent Friday for a charity fundraising gig. That, and then receiving Skavi's invitation, has meant we are staying in Leeds this weekend. The initial plan was then to go to one of the two beer festivals in the city - Dark City or Festival of Brewers - but two drinking sessions in three nights and the desire to shift some of this weight for a number of psychological reasons means we are likely just to stay in. Still, it has been a busy week and one of the better ones, so that's something.
I had met up with Taneli earlier in the day - he couldn't come to Huddersfield for financial reasons but was happy to meet for a drink in Brewdog. This was a nice catch-up as I hadn't seen him since September, so it was good having a one-to-one chat over a free birthday beer. Wolfie popped down a little later as he was travelling to Huddersfield from New Pudsey via Leeds, and he too had a brief catch-up before we headed back to the railway station to board our train. Taneli left us at this point and we had the unenviable delight of a crammed TransPennine Express service where we had to stand for much of the way.
We met Stray and Patter in the Head of Steam pub at the railway station in Huddersfield, with the duo arriving about fifteen minutes later than we did. Shunted to the cask tap room as the keg one was closed for a jazz night, Wolfie took the opportunity to do his annual appraisal for work while we waited. Once arrived, our friends grabbed a half and we plotted food options, deciding to go to TriBeCa which was quite near. This was worryingly quiet but the food was what I fancied, with me grabbing a fish sandwich and fries. It wasn't sophisticated but it was tasty, with a two for one meal deal meaning it was also cheap. The beer was good and the atmosphere fine, even if there was a little too much early 2000s dance music for my tastes, but the evening was all about the beer so we wanted something swift. It was here where I got my presents - a cheeseboard from Patter, a unicorn headband from Stray and a wonderfully girly princess card with a dog on it - for which I was very greatful.
The train times meant that we had time for two bars - Arcade and The Grove. The former was just around the corner from TriBeCa and was run by one of the guys who used to serve at Brewdog North Street. I didn't know this so it was a nice surprise walking in, plus he gave us a birthday discount too (plus replaced Stray's beer free of charge when the silly twat spilled it all over his trousers). Arcade was very much like The Sparrow in Bradford, all wood with beer mats on the wall and an impressive selection of craft beer. It was certainly a great place to chill for a while and more comfortable than The Grove with its stuffed taxidermy heads and scary Victorian puppets hanging on the wall. The beer choice here though was sublime and it's a place we had been meaning to go for a long time, so it was fantastic to finally get the opportunity to enjoy a beer here. Still, paying nearly £10 for a pint of admittedly 10% beer was pretty eyewatering. Despite this, it was a nice way to end my birthday with my closest friends and with the train dropping us right back to New Pudsey, it's definitely a viable place for a weeknight out.
Stray had wanted us to go do the Eccles Hill Working Men's Club quiz on Thursday but he had become progressively more ill as the day progressed and he canned this mid-afternoon. This was probably for the best for me as we had been invited to go out drinking with Skavi on Friday as he was in Leeds with work. The last time he had invited us, we had been in Barcelona and so couldn't make it, while I didn't fancy having three heavy drinking sessions in three successive days. As it was, Wednesday and Friday were the only two drinky days we were to have and I met Skavi at my offices at around 5:30pm. He used to work for me, and indeed still does on one of our translation projects, so he was excited to be shown around our new working environment, which is a vast improvement from our old offices where we had been for nine years up until the Summer. I also think he enjoyed meeting some of the staff with whom he used to work and others who he only knew through a name on an email.
After the tour, we headed down to Veritas where Taneli and Avon were waiting. Grabbing some beers, that Skavi kindly bought for me, we soon found our friends and chatted our usual range of bullshit, waiting for both Wolfie and Skavi's now husband Xolani (who has now become a stegosaurus and changed his name to something I can't remember). Wolfie was en route but Xolani had stopped over in Manchester for something, ending up being somewhat delayed. This basically saw us meet at Pieminster at 8:15pm, where we had booked a table for food, meaning we stayed in Veritas for about two hours beforehand and kept getting the beers in. I had first met Xolani in Veritas and we had used to go out as a group far more regularly, so it was great to rekindle this, particularly as I am feeling most of my friends in Leeds are dropping away. It was certainly nice catching up with everyone again over some drinks and food, making for a pleasant evening overall. It was a shame that Taneli couldn't join us for food, but it was grand meeting him both on my birthday and Friday, and indeed he may be coming around tomorrow for pizza and a Bluey marathon.
Once we had eaten our pies, incredibly tasty as usual, we ended up in Brewdog for one final beer. We had hoped to pick up the new bar t-shirts they have based on the visa stamps you can get, but there had been a rush on for the Leeds ones and they had run out of both L and XL sizes. This didn't cause too many issues though and I soon bought a round in, rounding off the evening talking to Xolani about politics and working for the civil service, which was incredibly enlightening. Sadly, they needed to head back to Wakefield, leaving Wolfie and I alone. I had started to develop a really painful stomach ache, most likely caused by the acidic sour beers, but Wolfie fancied another drink and I wanted to go to the North Street bar to see if they had their own bar shirts in stock. Indeed they did, so we ended up picking up an XL one and having a few more thirds, avoiding the sours and focusing on the 'Made For Us' range which was also pouring. It was a very pleasant way to end the evening, although Wolfie and I ended up having an argument about sincerity, tone of voice and general supportiveness which did tarnish things. We managed to patch things up this morning, but it was one of those arguments I didn't particularly want to have.
We had intended to be abroad this weekend, but canned it on account of financial issues not to mention lack of time to plan anything. Furthermore, I felt it would be something of a piss take to leave work early, particularly as I need to be out of the office for a lengthy period on Wednesday lunchtime and again on the subsequent Friday for a charity fundraising gig. That, and then receiving Skavi's invitation, has meant we are staying in Leeds this weekend. The initial plan was then to go to one of the two beer festivals in the city - Dark City or Festival of Brewers - but two drinking sessions in three nights and the desire to shift some of this weight for a number of psychological reasons means we are likely just to stay in. Still, it has been a busy week and one of the better ones, so that's something.
