It's convenient for upmarket bits of London like Hampstead; the Heath is very nice. Good locations: the Wells is a rather good pub, as is the Wheatsheaf.
I am around for any potential meetups any evening between the 7th and the 9th.
Oxford is pretty, and has some nice museums, but it depends whether your kids are likely to enjoy that.
I am totally up to meet but totally NOT to pick pub because
a: Swiss Cottage is as mysterious to me as actual real Swiss Switzerland
b: I picked last time and it was -- admittedly uncharacteristically -- crowded and noisy and someone spilled beer all over Alex. (ps Not me.)
Here you go: Ye Olde Swiss Cottage pub. It clearly has good tube access, what could possibly go wrong?
re: 4
Everyone totally blamed, you, too.
The area is named after the pub, I believe.
This is where the lack of emoticons does sometimes hinder ...
4 et. seq: London shame-up and meatless basting.
and am likely to do something really stupid and hurt myself showing off how strong I am in the near future.
Protip: Couches can be quite heavy.
I would strongly advise against going to the Ye Olde Swiss Cottage pub.
We got our couch from Ikea and it is very light. It's an Ectomorph or something.
and am likely to do something really stupid and hurt myself showing off how strong I am in the near future
Challenge ttaM to a bar fight? Your big chance to show him that women can fight better than men! Also to stand up for our country!
13.---This is the sort of thinking that got me a separated rib. Protip: very painful.
This is the sort of thinking that got me a separated rib.
But could you do a chin-up at the time?
Never in my life. I am in awe at LB's two.
I recommend and endorse the Sir Richard Steele, which is on the C11 bus route from where you're staying (or just toddle down Adelaide Road).
I also recommend the Android TransportMaps app, which just permitted me to fake having the native Londoner's knowledge of the buses.
After a lot of practice, I can now reliably do five unassisted pull-ups, sometimes six. This is so many more pull-ups than I've ever been able to do in my life before now.
I haven't tried to do pull-ups since I realized that the 1/2" copper water lines couldn't hold a grown man.
In my non-native experience, native Londoners only ever know the buses they themselves use.
I have come to the self-serving conclusion that I am the wrong shape for pull-ups: burly, burly legs and scrawny arms.
I haven't tried to do pull-ups since I realized that the 1/2" copper water lines my arms couldn't hold a grown man.
Or at least the grown man they're attached to.
Have you tried finding a better surgeon?
||
Elsewhere in London: Sadly but unsurprisingly, John Isner went down in straight sets today.
|>
23:Oh, I bet you'd be there in a couple of months if you worked at it. Burly your legs may be, but you weigh a whole lot less than I do, and your arms aren't that scrawny. It's a weird feeling doing something that was impossible the last time you tried it -- if you can't do it at all, it's hard to gauge how close you are to being able.
And on pub locations, I don't mind leaving the neighborhood -- I like strange public transportation. I'm just hoping for a location that's a reasonable trek, rather than a huge distance.
||
Arg, the Univision live feed keeps pooping out. How am I going to perv on Christiano Ronaldo at this rate?!
|>
26: I like my surgeons like my military: Large and armed.
Just a bit further down from Swiss Cottage, in St. John's Wood, there's a fantastic OTT late Victorian pub called Crocker's Folly which is pretty good.
BTW, can anyone explain to me how a neighborhood gets to be called "Swiss Cottage"? Is there a famous one in the neighborhood, or was there? Or is it one of those things where neither of the words actually means what they appear to mean (like, "Swiss" refers to a type of cotton fabric, rather than the country, and "Cottage" is an industrial process. Or something.)?
34: My guess is that it was a marketing scheme -- like how Greenland got its name. Completely uninformed speculation!
34: Read 5 then 7 ... or Wikipedia on Swiss Cottage.
Swiss Cottage is named after the pub!
||
My favorite Portuguese player, Deco, is out on injuries. Portugal is having a hard time without him, IMO.
|>
36, 37: Knowledge! Ack! Cramping my uninformed speculation!
Ah, I missed 7. Actually, from the picture, I wonder if it's pub->tube station->neighborhood rather than just pub to neighborhood. Somehow calling a neighborhood after a pub seems less likely than after a subway stop.
Yay for pullups. As I recall there was a Swiss Cottage. I think it was a pub or a coach house. Till relatively recently that part of London wasn't (a part of London that is). It is amazing to read Dickens (writing ~150 years ago) talking about walking through fields to get from Westminster to Hammersmith and realise just how much the city has grown. St Johns Wood, which is South of Swiss Cottage, and where I used to live, was turned into a suburb in the 1920s IIRC. Before that it was just fields or parkland.
I could look up at lot of the above, but that's kinda boring, so I'm pretending Google doesn't exist.
As for pubs, there are some cracking pubs in St Johns Wood, Primrose Hill, and Chalk Farm. These are all fairly close to both central London and Swiss Cottage, and have nice outside seating. They are a bit pricey, but that comes with the territory. I won't suggest any particular one 'cause I probably won't be able to make the meetup. I fact I'm going to go cry about living in the provinces right now.
Sorry, that should be: Huzzah for Pullups!
Somebody named a coffee shop in my neighborhood after the bus line that runs by it, but so far nobody has tried to rename the neighborhood, probably because '61c' sounds a bit less homey than the present name.
Somehow calling a neighborhood after a pub seems less likely than after a subway stop.
Cf. "The Angel, Islington".
I can see the weird bulbous brick tower that tops the building which once housed the Angel, Islington, from where I am now sat.
I've always had J-mo's problem doing pull-ups. I'm built like a kangaroo.
Can do evenings of the 7th, 8th or 9th. Both the 7th and the 9th will require me to do some excusing myself, but both are perfectly doable. Someone else needs to pick the venue!
My kids like it in Oxford - just asked the 7 year old whether she would like to go there again and if so, what would she like to do? "Go inside that place with the high walls and the square of grass inside and the path round the grass and all the doors." (My college.) The kids and I are free (or can be free) any of those days and would love to do something touristy with you in London or Oxford.
Does this mean LB is stronger than Megan, and will take over the role of Unfogged's bruiser-in-chief?
@41: from Blake's Jerusalem:
"The fields from Islington to Marybone
To Primrose Hill and Saint Johns Wood:
Were builded over with pillars of gold,
And there Jerusalem's pillars stood."
LB, that is purely awesome, you and your pull-ups. There should be t-shirts that announce that. I would get you one.
51 to 48.
I'm off away now until Sunday afternoon, so don't take my silence for indifference. I'll be at the LB-in-London meet-up!
Pullups are hard. You should be very pleased with yourself.
Some very nice pubs in Kentish Town too, which is close by.
As for dates, I can't do the 8th, and I won't be able to stay long if it's the 7th. The 9th is great.
Sounds like the 9th it is, unless that's unworkable for other people.
Speaking of pullups, does anybody else watch enough kiddie TV to be aware that you can now buy pullups (of the feces/urine holding type) that are painted to look like jeans. Because life isn't stupid enough yet.
I did indeed see these denim diapers, in the grocery store.
pub->tube station->neighborhood
In Boston/Cambridge, you've got electronics store->T stop. (Lechmere. Store long since gone.) I wouldn't quite call it the neighborhood name, but it is used to identify the area.
Why are palms-out pullups so much harder than palms-in ones?
I'd imagine that puts more muscles out of play.
Biceps. Palms in, you can use your biceps to help your lats out. Palms out is just lats.
Oh, wait. I just looked up Lechmere on wikipedia, and apparently that story is apocryphal.
They aren't for everyone; a couple folks at my gym find palms-out easier. They should both be pulling from your lats, but I'd guess that palms-in gets more of an assist from your biceps than palms-out does.
And grip does make a huge difference. I was really surprised this worked, because the assisted chinups are hard with sixty pounds help -- I can do four and usually fail on the fifth. But the assisted chinup machine has a grip I find uncomfortably wide. Being able to get my hands shoulder width apart, or a little closer, on the bar I was using this morning made a huge difference.
I'm more successful (read: ten years ago) at palms-out chin ups. Mostly because I didn't like looking at the tendons in my wrists bulge. Because it's gross and freaky looking.
That's what a comfortable coating of subcutaneous fat is for -- to hide all the disturbing working bits.
Actually, I haven't even tried palms out lately. I am certain they'd be much more difficult (like, if I think about how it would feel, I can feel my arms rebelling against having to pull in that position), but I could be wrong. I should try.
You could train for palms-out on the lat-pulldown machine, if you wanted to work up to it.
In California there's a city named after a school which was then named after the city.
There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance.
71: "Westward the course of empire takes its way".
There's a place in this country which was named (probably) after a poem which was named after another place which was named after a generic name for places in the language of tribe for whom a number of places are named.
Somehow calling a neighborhood after a pub seems less likely than after a subway stop.
Really? There are quite a few towns in this country named after taverns, some of which are pretty well-known.
And grip does make a huge difference.
I remember during pull up contests while I was in the Marines the winners would change grips once they had exhausted the muscles one way. It was usually good for five or six more. Of course these guys were doing @ 100 pull ups, so YMMV. PS the winners were never the large upper body guys, always the wiry types.
76 -- Paradise Montana is said to be named after the Pair O'Dice Saloon.
I would like to meet up while I'm in London, July 27-29! Save the date?
Speaking of neighborhood name stories, my neighborhood is named Belmont. I try to convince people that's because they used to run the horse race here, but no one buys it. The real reason, apparently, is all this land used to be a plantation named Belmont, which is sort of odd that you've got all these adorable bungalows lining the land formerly toiled on by slaves. Also, the story goes, our yard was part of an orchard, which is why we have pear trees (that offer really crappy, small pears).
The real reason, apparently, is all this land used to be a plantation named Belmont, which is sort of odd that you've got all these adorable bungalows lining the land formerly toiled on by slaves.
Not an unusual situation in the South, I would think.
our yard was part of an orchard, which is why we have pear trees (that offer really crappy, small pears).
If the orchard goes back to the plantation, the trees are past their prime bearing years. You're not going to get top quality from old trees without a lot of input. Which I'm sure you'll have your slaves do, Simon Legree.
81: Yeah, I realized that "odd" wasn't exactly the right word. "Odd to think about the juxtaposition" or something, is what I was after.
82: These pear trees are in bad, bad shape. They keep getting hit by some fungus, which Southern States has told us we can stop from spreading by nipping off the affected branch below the bad part, but it keeps coming back. Eh, good thing I'm not dying for free pears.
Also, TLL, wasn't it you who recently mentioned having been in the orange business? And now we've moved on to pears. Is this your tryout to be the Unfogged Resident Fruit Expert? Because I think the job is yours for the taking.
Well this is great news. It looks as though Chalk Farm is getting some votes. It's pretty close to Swiss Cottage by tube. I can sort of remember a few pubs in that general area. Monkey Chews? I don't know if I've been to the Sir Richard Steele or not.
Have just spent an afternoon / evening at Glyndebourne, which has a posh reputation but is really mostly just quite senior, and I now have that odd and not altogether good sunburned-having-consumed-too-much-food-and-drink feeling.
Unfogged Resident Fruit Expert
No thanks, I'm straight. Thanks for the offer, though
Actually, scratch that. I think Hampstead is the better choice here, as per Ajay's #1.
86: Your loss. It's not everyday I go around handing out a produce-based sinecure.
We had orange trees growing up. They're still there, seeing as my parents still live there. So maybe I'M the big fruit expert. Oranges aren't that big, though.
Looks like it might have closed, though.
The Londoners seemed to have overlooked comment 79, which demands their attention. AWB: a fantastic meeter-upper; don't miss the opportunity!
If only there were someone here who could make a front-page post highlighting the AWB London meetup.
94: Exactly. But I'll happily post something closer to the date and once the honeymoon with LB has worn off. AWB will have to remind me though.
You should all go to Cambridge for a day. The older one.
re: 79
I'll be around for meetups.
My favorite Portuguese player, Deco
Wait, what?
re: 98
What, what? He plays for Portugal. Yeah, yeah, he's Brazilian, but most European teams have players born outside the country and he never played for Brazil.
99: It's more that I have a hard time picturing Deco as anyone's favorite player. Maybe when he was still playing for Barça, but now?
She didn't mention that you used to have more hair, too?
Maybe when he was still playing for Barça, but now?
I watch soccer every four years.
I will be in London on all lb's days, so 9th is fine. I have no strong, or at least well-informed pub views, though there are some marvellous gin palaces available. will the salamanders be present?
Also, many people think Cambridge more attractive than Oxford, but the Ashmolean, now redone, is fun.
awb is in the diary.
reverse my dot name at the newspaper that's a funny size dot co dot uk for contact
I will try to keep my spectacles on this time.
Hey UK-ers, since you're up, what in the name of heaven is going on here?
For John Catt, protest has never been about chaining himself to a railing or blocking a road in an act of civil disobedience. The 85-year-old peace campaigner's far milder form of dissent typically involves turning up at a demonstration with his daughter, Linda, taking out his sketch pad and drawing the scene.
However this, it seems, has been enough for police to classify Catt and his 50-year-old daughter "domestic extremists", put their personal information on a clandestine national database and record their political activities in minute detail. [...]
The National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) recorded their presence at more than 80 lawful demonstrations over four years, logging details such as their appearance, and slogans on their T-shirts. [...]
When the Guardian first revealed details about a police monitoring system that keeps tabs on political activists last year, police gave assurances they were not interested in everyday campaigners. They said surveillance was needed to monitor "domestic extremists" - a term that has no legal basis but is defined by police as activists who are determined to break the law to further their political aims.
However, information about the Catts has been transferred to the Police National Computer in Hendon and in July 2005, they were stopped by police under the Terrorism Act after driving into the east London to help a family member move house. They later discovered police had placed a marker against their car registration on the database, triggering an alert - "of interest to public order unit, Sussex police" - each time they drove beneath an automatic number plate reading camera.
Elderly artists aside, it's nice to know that the definition of an "extremist" is someone who is willing to break a law. That's not worrisome or extreme at all.
106: I wouldn't be surprised if it was the sketch pad that triggered it all. British police do not take kindly to having their activities recorded by the public, especially at demos or football matches. They're always confiscating cameras and tape recorders. Cynics might say this is to prevent evidence evidence like this from contradicting the police's story when they kill innocent people. Not me, of course.
When I was a teenager and had a more favorable strength-to-weight ratio, I used to do pullups at home by holding on with the tips of my fingers to the top of a door frame.
My dad still does this from time to time, to show off. Then he complains about his shoulder.
British police do not take kindly to having their activities recorded by the public, especially at demos or football matches. They're always confiscating cameras and tape recorders
That's gotta be like the ne plus ultra of hypocrisy, right? My working stereotype of London is CAMERAS! EVERYWHERE! I'm not entirely sure where that stereotype came from, but is it more or less accurate?
I should add that the various terrorism laws are favourite tools of the police for harrassing people taking photos, despite guidance to the contrary.
Stanley: It's not just London. Most of urban Britain is covered in CCTV cameras. Parts of London are particularly intense, however, because of the IRA bombing campaign, which led to the Ring of Steel.
Explicit guidance on the misuse of terrorism laws against photographers has been issues several times, and yet it still happens. I can only conclude that it's probably semi-official, but officially disavowed, policy. There's probably a chapter in ACPO's plan to take over the country 'V for Vendetta'-stylee that explicitly outlines it.*
* kidding, but really not by much.
... that should be 'issued' several times.
Of course, as well as CCTV there are also ANPR cameras.
I had to google ANPR as I couldn't figure out why you'd need a camera for an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
My working stereotype of London is CAMERAS! EVERYWHERE!
I noticed them everywhere when I was there, although I wonder if partly it was because I was primed to notice them by the stereotype.
I think the stereotype is why I notice bad teeth in London.
There's probably a chapter in ACPO's plan to take over the country 'V for Vendetta'-stylee that explicitly outlines it.
Weren't there a couple of scandals in the '80s following leaks of extremely Orwellian, frankly racist civil unrest plans out of Whitehall?
re: 119
Probably. I don't remember them, but it wouldn't exactly be out of character for the police in the '80s. There were several major riots, and very much an us-and-them situation when it came to racial minorities and the working classes.
I used to do pullups at home by holding on with the tips of my fingers to the top of a door frame
Everybody I know who did that was a climber. One family friend would show off by doing it with just two fingers. Very tall, very thin, very strong guy. He also once carried me up the final part of this mountain with its ladders and chains. But I was a very thin eight year old.
I will almost certainly be around for the AWB meet-up also.
121: I may have mentioned that my college roommate, a rock climber who bore an uncanny resemblance to Bernini's David, did this routine with his climber friends: everyone did one fingertip doorframe pull-up, then two, then three and so on until they maxed out, and then they had to go back down to one again. They used to get up to 14 or so.
There's a wall fancied by climbers at my former university residence, which wall is roughtly ten feet high by around 150 feet wide, such that climbers move across its width to hone their skills. I know at least one too-clever-for-his-own good undergrad who was fond of advising climbers that there were in fact stairs that could be ascended more easily than climbing the thing. Climbers don't seem to have very good senses of humor.
We used to do that at my school, which had lots of flint walls. Sadly my pull-up skills have deteriorated since I stopped climbing.
I bet you could still muster the strength to get through a Push Up, GY. I have faith in you.
Climbers don't seem to have very good senses of humor.
They don't like to be asked why they carry powdered sugar either.
"Excuse me, kind sir. Might I roll this donut hole in your sugar sack?" was probably the wrong thing to say, Mobers.
Especially right after saying, "Somebody left a perfectly good rope at the top of the cliff. Don't worry. I untied it."
There is a largish indoor climbing wall fairly close to my house. The same building as a food co-op, a fencing school, and kiddie gymnastics classes. Right now, we use the kiddie gymastics, but I'm thinking of taking fencing.
One of my recent students lived in a fabulous penthouse duplex in Tribeca that had a two-storey climbing wall built into the front entranceway. The whole place looked like one of those photoshoots inDwell. Unreal.
Excuse me, kind sir. Might I roll this donut hole in your sugar sack?" was probably the wrong thing to say
You mean they said yes?
Londoners: It looks like I may be in your area a bit longer than previously predicted, and possibly looking for suggestions of cheap places to stay. I had planned on going to Dublin for a week to visit a friend after being in London, but then it turns out he's getting deported.
Sorry to hear about your friend, AWB.
If you want cheap accomodation, a youth hostel's probably your best bet. The one near my work is about £22 a night for shared accommodation, although their availability seems limited. There's several others dotted around London, though.
Thanks, Ginger! I'll look into it. As it is, I've got a place to crash in London with a friend who is subletting from a woman who, in turn, needs to come back home and crash every so often, so it might be too crowded for a week and a half. Maybe I'll take the opportunity to go up to Scotland or something. Always wanted to see Edinburgh.
133: Boo, Department of Justice. Sadly our immigration laws produce the same (or indeed worse) horrible stories of byzantine unfairness as other countries.
And to think we could have had a Dublin meetup.
re: 135
Early August is the Edinburgh festival time. On the plus side, there's lots to see and do, on the downside it'll be harder to find cheap places to stay, and cheap flights or trains might be harder to get.
I've not been in London long so can't really offer any tips on cheap places to stay other than to second Ginger Y's youth hostel recommendation.
I stayed in London a couple years ago in a tiny room near Marble Arch. It was 44 pounds a night. I think it was Marble Arch Inn.
It was 44 pounds a night.
Did you pay in cat?
Have plans been made yet for LB's impending visit?
Emir -- It turns out my friend is not getting deported; his job decided he was worth getting a green card for, so I'll be in Dublin 7/30-8/4.
Yes, but has the place/date been decided for LB?
It doesn't seem to have been posted. I recommend the Princess of Wales in Chalcot St Primrose Hill. Thursday night fairly good jazz. Free. The Richard Steele has a heterogenous clientele. i.e. intermittenltly violent.
oh and > Most of urban Britain is covered in CCTV cameras. Parts of London are particularly intense, however, because of the IRA bombing campaign, which led to the Ring of Steel.
The only person I saw actually stopped and searched (for hours) at Canary Wharf when the high security was up was black. Not Black Irish either.
The only person I saw actually stopped and searched (for hours) at Canary Wharf when the high security was up was black. Not Black Irish either.
Yeah, well, there's no IRA bombing campaign any more, but there is a Ring of Steel. AAnd what's the use of an extremely intrusive security set-up if you can't use it to harrass minorities?
Does a day trip to Oxford with the kids make any touristic sense at all?
Perfect sense, but it's too late to start today. Your train will be going against the main rush in both directions, so you might even sit down, and if you leave London around 9:00 you'll have time to wander round a couple of colleges, poke your heads into the Pitt Rivers and have your picture taken with the Radcliffe Camera without breaking sweat.
nattarGcM will tell you where to have lunch.
re: 145
With sufficient notice I could even have gained entrance to the sekrit tunnels under Oxford. Too late now, though.
Will see people in the Sir Richard Steele later. I'll be, erm, wearing clothes and be a medium height brown haired bloke, so you can't miss me.
As discussed last time, I'm ginger. Today, I am mostly wearing a black t-shirt with an Inigo Montoya nametag.
I won't be there, but I used to be ginger, then it mostly went away. I still have freckles, but my hair went brown.
I'm having a sudden blank on people's real names, argh.
147: Role-mixing, but I'm smiling because I'm not left-handed.
OK, there's no bugger left in here, I'm going home. Have a good drinkie, those in the wen. I'll be with you in spirit.
151. Home again!
Google translate gives: Very well, there is no person remaining in this place (my office), I shall go to my place of domicile. Have a pleasant session of alcoholic refreshment, those who are in London.
Just about to leave. I'll be wearing (or carrying) a short-sleeved blue checked shirt, and have a leather satchel/man-bag thing.
It's a purse. Don't be hiding behind sexist language.
154/155: Satchel is good. Also good: 'bag.' I just can't parse 'man-bag' as anything other than 'scrotum.' Perhaps that is a good way to recognize Ttam, though. I bet scrota are as unique as fingerprints.
It's too bad that fanny packs are deprecated these days. They are mighty practical things.
156.2: Yes. They let you tell, at a glance, who has no self-respect.
It's too bad that fanny packs are deprecated these days.
You don't call them that in Britain, anyway, for very good reason. Bum bags.
It's too bad that fanny packs are deprecated these days.
I would think a fanny pack would be particularly deprecated in England.
fanny packs are deprecated these days.
Calling them that in a UK-context is significantly worse than man-bag.
While stateside, a bum bag is more like this.
159 et seq. - I grew up with that meaning for the word 'fanny' so I've always enjoyed hearing USAmericans use it. I'm not sure how crude it is in current UK usage, though. It's always seemed to me like a rather mild euphemism, on the scale of 'dick' or 'tush.'
Re: 164
It's quite popular as an insult where I'm from, or at least it was when I was at school.
"shut it, ya fanny"
It's not a word I'd ever use, in any context.
In other news, I may melt or die of heatstroke before even reaching the pub. The Tube is hottttt.
164. I think it's pretty much obsolete in fact. I can't remember hearing it in twenty years.
Our heat wave is supposed to end today and the weekend is supposed to be below 85 with lower humidity. I'm still going to go to REI or somewhere and buy a stupid hat to keep the sun from my face and neck.
165 is very surprising. It's such a soft sounding word I have a hard time seeing it as a good insult (in the sense of conveying contempt). Not that that's an obstacle for some people, but still...
LB can now do two more chin-ups than Val Kilmer.
I am now in the Richard Steele, sitting immediately to the left of the front door, across from a moose, with tierce. Anyone else in the pub should pipe up or find us.
171: You need to do a chin-up on the moose to prove that it's really you.
171: across from a moose
Are you sure it's not the Berkowitzes?
Is it sleekit?
If my stereotypes regarding brown-haired women are correct, it's LB who's sleekit, cow'rin', and tim'rous.
Ok, since all the Bay Area people are here - a meet up has been proposed for July in the sandwich thread. I suggest the weekend of 17-18 (as it is the only one I would be able to attend). Thoughts?
For part of the 18th privately, but for the rest publicly.
They call moose "elk" in Britain. Hopefully your inaccuracy has not led to a calamity of some sort.
The public part, not the private part.
Unlike Florida, the private-part of Idaho is pointing straight-up.
First Pocatello, then the Sawtooth Wilderness.
I bottled out, I'm afraid. It had been a very long day and towards the end of it I was reminded by my daughter that it was also my wedding anniversary. erm.
186. That's not bottling out - that's getting a serious break from your daughter. Can I recommend Canard Duchesne champagne from Majestic. Happy Anniv!
Heh. Canard Duchesne is managed by Jean-Louis Malard. Do they make Cold Duck, too?
Seems I'm the first back? I should make up shit, but I'm too tired, and hungry, and likely to waffle ....
I feel obliged to share that I purchased something from this Scottish brewery based solely on the fact that there was a UK meet-up today. I have no idea if anyone in the UK actually drinks their beers.
The last time I drank anything in the U.K., we drank Newcastle Brown Ale, which we referred to as "the dog." I have no idea why, but everybody seemed to understand it.
Somewhat hungover this morning, hope I wasn't talking too much rubbish last night. Very nice to meet everyone (again).
I always forget my wedding anniversary. That's how we celebrate it
Not only was the elk not sleekit, it was very lousily stuffed in my opinion. Yesterday was the hottest day in human history. No one talked rubbish. It was awesome pleasant.
I think you mean wizard cocksucker, tierce. (cross-posted to standpipe's other blog.)
That was very pleasant, although I did drink more than I should have; thanks to Charlie and Megan for walking me home. I blame the oversized pints you people drink.
Yorkshire Ranter Alex is oddly like Scott Lemeiux of LGM, which made it very much like an NY meetup.
I seem to remember badgering Charlie in a Paris v. Rome conversation. So apologies if I was a bit too dogmatic.
I got back to Reading in time to meet my parents in town after their meal out, but which time I was perfectly sober (having not been very unsober) and they were quite drunk. Wizard cocksucker indeed.
