Much appreciated, Ben. If anybody wants to respond privately, feel free to email me at the address below.
I should also add that asilon and Ttam have previously expressed interest and (probable) availability, so it will likely not just be some occasional, half-assed commenter from West Texas up with whom you'll have the opportunity to meet.
Maddeningly I have something vaguely pencilled in for that very eve but cannot currently reach any of the other participants to confirm or postpone. I suspect it will be postponed but may not know for sure till the week in question.
I think I'm free then, so count me in. Meanwhile, since this is presumably the thread for Brits and anglophiles to congregate in, you may be amused by the front page on today's Express, which is a classic of the genre
4.2 is superb. When the Express finally goes bust, I think it should be given to the National Trust to maintain for future generations, because otherwise they won't believe it.
I looked it up in wikipedia. Napoleon and Charlemagne really did try to take over Europe. The article must be true.
Agreed. Who can fail to be terrified by the prospect of Europe bestrode by some horrific chimaera that possesses both the dark unspeakable powers of Herman Van Rompuy and the inhuman abilities of Jose Manuel Barroso? My God, even Batman would take a step back.
Napoleon thought that all the world would fall beneath his sway.
He failed in his ambition, and where is he today?
Neither the nations of the East nor the nations of the West
Had thought the thing Napoleon thought was in their interest.
Gosh, I love "The Stuffed Owl".
I should also be free. Although I'm getting sent away for work a bit at the moment, so there's a slim chance I'll have to bail. But 99% to be there.
You should be free of European overlords.
Oh bloody hell...
The leader of Tory controlled Tun Wells Council has been beaten by 48 votes. By UKIP.
Ah, Tunbridge Wells, don't ever go changing now.
And the BNP candidate for London mayor was one Carlos Cortiglia. I don't see why they picked him when there are good English-born bigots needing work. Disgraceful.
One of the UKIP candidates round here was de-endorsed when it came out that he'd beem saying nice things about Anders Breivik. But he's still a member of the party.
"In one Edinburgh ward a Lib Dem candidate has failed to pick up more first preference votes than Professor Pongoo, an independent candidate who dresses in a six-foot penguin costume."
- BBC live feed.
Well at least Tunbridge Wells won't be scrapped by the EU.
And a Tory was beaten into 7th place by a polar bear somewhere else. D^2 likes to be snarky about weirdos voting in local elections, but that's as nothing to the fuckers who stand in them. (I did so, twice.)
4: I see there's a special blurb from the appropriately surnamed UKIP Euro-MP named "Paul Nuttall".
If we had a guy who wore a penguin costume, I'd vote for him in a local race. Couldn't hurt.
I remember the Monster Raving Loony guy in Stirling having some sort of elaborate costume. Also, a girl from my school standing beside him in a very very small dress as some sort of glamorous assistant (Brucie style), so, guessing from that the bloke inside the elaborate costume must have been posh and 21-ish.
19. Weirdos do vote in locals; and in nationals. It's just that ordinary people don't vote so much in locals, so the weirdo vote is amplified, e.g. the Kippers beat the Tories in most of Sheffield, but in most wards it was a couple of hundred votes each.
In our local elections, it's mostly union-connected people, the chronically bored, and the elderly. The local intra-party primary decides important things.
The former mascot for Hartlepool ran for mayor in character, the character of the monkey the mascot represents -- whose name is Hangus (from this story). He has been re-elected twice.
The polar bear was in Liverpool.
Sheherazade gathering stories to tell
from primal gold fantasy petals that fall
But where is the child
who played with the sun chimes
and chased the cloud sheep
to the regions of rhyme?
Stranded
cries the south wind
Lost in the regions of lead
Shackled by chains of illusion
Delusions of living and dead
And... Sheffield rejects being run by a single overpaid bureaucrat elected every 4 years! Yay!
Hooray! I'm very pleased to wake up to comments other than my own. So, since it sounds like at least a couple folks are in, maybe we could pick a place and time on the 17th. Perhaps a pub where there's also food, so the dinnerless can grab a bite but others will feel comfortable just ordering drinks? Any suggestions? (Unfortunately, tierce, the 17th appears to be our only free night in London, assuming people don't want to join us for a play or something.)
there is some one coming at me all the time
babe I think I'll lose my mind
'cause I'm stranded on my own
stranded far from home
I'm stranded between the devil and the deep blue sea
There ain't no where else to be
'Cept right here and I'm stranded
Not The Saints, not even Jackie Wilson Said, still... Van the Man
A mate of mine runs a gastropub in Pimlico (The Queen's Arms on Warwick Way). Seems like a sensible option.
Well, I'm stranded in the city that never sleeps
Some of these women they just give me the creeps
I'm avoidin' the Southside the best I can
These memories I got, they can strangle a man
Queen's Arms, perfect. I will almost certainly need to eat, and should be there by 7.30.
The Queen's Arms sounds great to us too, as long as we're not forcing others too far out of their way. Does 7:30 work for everyone? We're pretty flexible in terms of timing after, say, 6:00.
On the song tip, here's the canonical reference to someone un-stranding themselves from our current location. Someday...
Any time from 7 should work for me. Work's a handful of stops away from Victoria on the Circle.
I'll try to be there. Look for a bloke holding a book about polar exploration.
I believe 39 was Lawrence Oates's real last words.
"I am just going out for a pint and may be sexing Matumbo"
7:30 sounds OK. I might be nearer 8. Circle line from Paddington to Victoria, so not too bad for train back from work.
Great! Thursday the 17th at 7:30 at the Queen's Arms, it is.
Mrs. Stranded and I will plan on loitering in the pub downstairs starting just after 7:00, and we can migrate to the upstairs restaurant as a group, if desired, closer to 8:00. I'll be the tallish ginger ex-academic looking for the bloke reading about polar exploration.
Thanks for the interest, everyone. We're looking forward to it.
I'll be getting on a train about 6.30 I guess ttaM - text me if you think you're going past at the right time.
I'd expect so, yeah. I'd normally get the 6pm from Oxford.
re: 43
We'll have hopefully met already.
45: For sure. I'll be in email touch this weekend on that count.
Yeah, I haven't had a chance to make arrangements yet, will do that Tuesday.
Everyone else on this transport is looking at me oddly due to my chuckles at 40 and 41.
I like to imagine 48 as being written from the cab of a Tucker Sno-Cat.
Not having ever experienced a meet-up, this London edition seemed to, errr, come together very swiftly. And 49 made me laugh.
There's been some work done behind the scenes, bill. Are you going to join us?
Are you going to join us?
Alas, I'll be in the States. But the pleasure would be mine.
Ah, that's too bad. We'll tip one back on your behalf, I'm sure.
Count me in for this. Should be a lot of fun. And I will try to keep my glasses this time.
I will be there. When I met the Lubbock-strandees on Monday I wasn't 100% sure [work stuff] but that should all be resolved.
I had forgotten about this. The huskies and I will be there, though maybe a little late.("great god this is an awful pub, a difficult enough to have laboured to reach without the reward of priority.")
Thanks, Ben. We're feeling considerably less stranded, now that we've procured (occasional, unreliable) internet service and have had the chance to meet kind and generous ttaM. Looking forward to Thursday!
I can't make it, sadly: have a nice evening everyone!
Annoyed at having to bail at this late stage but I am feeling shit. Have had headache/sore throat/swollen glands getting worse and worse all day - dosed myself up and had a bath and I still feel crap, so am going to go to bed and sulk. If it were nearby I'd drag myself out, but can't face the journey home feeling ill. Hello everyone. Lubbock, I am coming to London tomorrow evening as well - another reason to put myself to bed and try to get better, am supposed to be standing in the bloody Globe for King Lear tomorrow night - so if there's any chance of a quick drink beforehand, let me know. Ttam has my mobile number.
I am just setting out from the grau/niad offices in kings place
well, once I have sorted the archbishop of york
I'll pass the number on. Hope you feel better.
I'm sitting on a train outside Reading. Should be there before 8.
I will be late, if there at all - sorry, need to talk to Americans (in America hence time difference)
Use small words and it will go faster.
That was a barrel of fun. Stranded and Mrs Stranded were both extremely nice. So were Ttam and Sirhc, but I knew that already. The pub was good, if noisy. I even made my train: fifteen minutes from Westminster to Liverpool Street.
Come back soon! London's more fun than Lubbock, honest!
Thanks, Werdna, we had a blast. And thanks to Ginger and Ttam, as well, for the hospitality. Asilon, ajay, and tierce, well, next time you're in Lubbock (or even Los Angeles)...
Yeah, I was sorry to miss that, but by the time I'd finished talking to the Americans it was late and I was an embittered, snarling tangle of caffeine-soaked neurosis. Next year in Venice Beach!