It was Friday 1st May and I had
taken a day's holiday.Why on earth then was I up earlier than if I was
going to work? Well, it just so happens I had to catch the 8.35 from Euston
to sunny Penrith for the Cumbria Shades Meet.
For once, I was early and met up
with Elusive and Login Prompt Matt (from here known as Matt) about 15 minutes
before the train departed.
It was a fairly un-eventful 3 hours
39 minutes, so I won't bore you with what we talked about, who we took
the pi$$ out of and what mayhem and bedlam we planned to bring to Penrith.
The train arrived a minute early,
and with their being a strike on by signal engineers at the time, my congrats
go to Virgin trains.
Savannah as promised was on the
platform to meet us. I did consider doing a runner with her, as Elusive
and Matt didn't know what she looked like.
On the way to the B&B we were
shown the sights of Penrith:- The main Pub the Shades meet was to be held
at and some local eateries. McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut and KFC were
nowhere to be seen, I was advised that the nearest establishment of that
nature was 16 miles away.
When I came round, we carried on
our way to the B&B.On arrival at the BB
we discovered that there was nobody there.Just as it looked as if we were
to sleep on the step a young woman arrived looking sheepish.
As she hadn't known our arrival
time she had nipped out for some shopping.She was looking oddly at our
group and enquired as to why there were 4 of us.
Savannah quickly explained she
was a bona fida Penrithian resident and she breathed a sigh of relief!
Even if I do say so myself, I had
booked a bloody excellent B&B, and for once the rest of my little group
agreed. We unpacked our bits and pieces and then out came the technology.
Matt brought out his Velo PDA, Elusive started entering things into his
Psion 5 and I got to work with linking my Sony Playstation to the TV in
the room.
After having lunch at the same
Pub that the meet would be held at, we took in more sights of Penrith,
4 minutes later, we decided to have a rest until it was time to go back
down to the pub for Friday nights festivities.
Elusive, Matt and myself picked
a meet sized table, and got some drinks in. Shortly Zeon, followed by Thor
walked through the door, then a couple of lads who seemed to look out of
place strolled in. I correctly identified these two as being Vlad (Azmodan)
and Bizkit.
Introductions were performed and
a new locale inside the pub was obtained next to the pool table. I am not
sure why, as we didn't play pool, but still, we could have if we wanted
to I suppose! After a couple of drinks and checking out of the blonde barmaid,
following advice from Zeon we moved pubs. This new pub went up in my ratings
of pubs in Penrith, OK, so it was only the second one we had been to, but
this one had Tomb Raider II beermats.
This was rather impressive, since
earlier in WH Smiths the staff had a blank look on their faces when I had
asked if they sold games for the Playstation {Should have gone to Blockbuster
Video - Zeon!}.
After a few more rounds and a bit
more of a dent was made in the whip, it was time to move onto another pub,
this one had a dance floor and a clientele with an average age of 14. We
all stood in a corner of the dance floor observing the occasional dancer.
It was strange, it was Friday night, and this place was half empty, where
does everybody go? We made our way back to Zeon & Savannah's place
for a coffee and chat before departing back to our B&B.
Saturday.
As expected, Matt was up first and
had gone down to breakfast a little after 8am. Elusive was still asleep,
and I just managed to get down to breakfast just before 9am. Luckily I
was quite hungry, - (actually writing this now is making me hungry) Orange
juice, followed by cereal followed by a full fry up, along with toast and
coffee. Elusive woke a little later, well we nearly had to pour coffee
down a funnel into his mouth! The plan for the day was to go to the lakes.
We met up with Savannah, Zeon,
the kids, Thor, Bizkit and Vlad at Savannah's
house. Things were moving a little slowly there, it seemed Zeon was hung-over
{LIES!! - Zeon}and having problems with the idea of getting up. Eventually
he did as soon we set off for the lakes.
Thor was driving in one car, with
Zeon, Savannah and the kids in it. Bizkit was driving the other err.. car
with Vlad, Matt, Elusive and myself.
Basically, Bizkit's car didn't
appear to be in, well, tip-top shape. This was proven by Matt's efforts
to get into the other car. He is pretty good with cars, so obviously spotted
a knackered one here. Anyway after about 5 minutes of curious noises and
5 minutes of worrying noises, smoke emerged from the engine and we had
to pull over, while Thor and co drove off into the distance.
We coasted into a siding and got
out. Matt opened the bonnet and was engulfed, he emerged a moment later
looking like he had been up a Chimney. A short while later, Zeon &
Co arrived after wondering where we had got to! Thor was the only person
to have AA membership, however only the H&CA was available here.
Savannah went off to get some food
and stuff, about a two and a half mile walk
away and the rest of the milled around aimlessly.
It was about an hour before the Horse & Cart Association turned up
to tow us back at the same time that Savannah was dropped off next to us
in a strangers car! {It was her Betterware Rep - Zeon}
Of course, Thor had to claim that
he was the passenger in Bizkit's car
in order that it could be looked at and either fixed or towed away.
This meant that Matt had to drive
Thor's car a few yards to allow room for the pick up truck to get in front
of Bizkit's! Myself, Vlad, Bizkit and Elusive got into the truck and had
Bizkit's car towed behind us. Thor drove his car via a different route
and hid until Bizkit's car had been dropped off the truck had gone.
After all these events, I was feeling
hungry, luckily so was Matt and Elusive, so off we went in search of food.
A short while later, and feeling full of fish we nipped into a nearby pub
for some bevvies! It was then time to head back to the B&B for some
R&R! While playing Resident Evil 2 on the playstation, I heard that
Slime, his wife Pema and little Sammy had arrived. This was confirmed when
Slime walked into our room with little Sammy who was introduced to Matt
and Elusive.
A short while later Mindy and Beermat
arrived carrying more technology, consiting of a Psion 3a, and a 3Com Palm
Professional and a Video Genie. Feeling left out, Slime got out his Psion
5. Needless to say we all had our mobiles phones, which of course we had
to keep hidden as they were the Devils work in this part of the world.
Now there was more technology in this B&B than in all of Cumbria!
Slime, Pema, little Sammy and myself
drove to Savannah & Zeon's to drop little Sammy off with the other
kids, who were looked after by two Babysitters. A while later we all met
up in the pub, shortly followed by Phaid!! {Whom neither I nor Thor recognised
when he walked into the pub and sat on the opposite side, half of lager
in hand...sorry Phaid, been a long time since I'd seen you! - Zeon}.
Slime and Pema went off to find
food and din't return for some time. On their return Pema shortly disappeared
again in order to play pool across the road.
I tucked into my usual tipple of
WKD (Alcoholic Iron-Bru!), which was so delicious, even Slime who only
ever does Coke had a bottle too!
Phaid had to leave at this point
and head off home to rest his elbows.{Editorial
note: Do they have curfews in old peoples homes these days?}
Much merryment was had, along with
joke cracking and generally taking the pi$$ out of each other. I did however
make the mistake of putting some money in the jukebox only to find when
I had returned my drink had been spiked with some Spam. (I had bought some
tins earlier for some reason - Hi Mindy) Unfortunately I only discovered
the extra contents after I had put the bottle to my lips yuk!!
It was about this time that Savannah
also disappeared to find Pema.
Sunday:-
After yesterdays abandoned trip
to the Lakes, it was decided we would do that today! A convoy of 3 cars
left Penrith, with Thor, Slime and Mindy taking the helm of each vehicle.
We drove to Pooley Bridge, a town with a one-way bridge, this was not the
only obstacle, because the town seemed to be twinned with Lakeside Car
Park and was full of cars!
We managed to find a space or two
and chose a nice pub by a stream to have lunch.
The place was packed and lunch
was a long time coming so Thor, Savannah, zeon and the kids, having already
finished decided to set off in order to take the journey to the next location..slowly.After
eating the convoy moved off for a pub where oxygen masks are issued as
well as pints! This was mainly due to it being rather high up! {Editorial
note: The highest pub in England, The Kirkstone Pass Inn}
Myself, not content with being
at this height, decided to go higher. Therefore Matt, Elusive, Vlad, Bizkit
and myself decided to mount the nearest mountain {Hill! - Zeon}. We gingerly
passed a few sheep, luckily they seemed to be eyeing up Matt. About half
way up, Elusive was worried about his shoes, as they had flat soles and
Matt seemed to need a rest. Vlad, Bizkit and myself continued our journey
onwards and upwards! Eventually we arrived at the summit, my first summit
I might add, where there was a sign which told us about other peaks nearby
and other useless information.Whilst here
we received a call on our mobiles from those below!.
We slowly made our way down, which
I might add was way more dodgy than going up, I of course was not wearing
hiking boots and was rather concerned for the safety of my ankles! The
convoy moved off once again, a short while later Thor's car vanished! Uh-oh
a repeat of yesterday maybe? We arrived at Lake Windemere with still no
sign of Thor.
Suddenly people were everywhere,
this seemed like a rather popular tourist attraction! Luckily it was not
long before I sighted Zeon, Savannah, Thor & Co. Luckily it was not
engine trouble after all, just a slight problem with the stomach contents
of one of the passengers! (and the retention thereof - {NOT MINE I HASTEN
ADD!! - Zeon}). Savannah, Zeon, the kids, Thor, Slime, Pema & little
Sammy went off on a boat ride, while Beermat, Mindy, Elusive, Matt, Bizkit,
Vlad and myself had some more food in a nearby pub.
Later I bought a souvenir, some
Kendal Mint Cake, which I promptly ate. It was time to make our departure
and once again the convoy moved off in the direction of Penrith. We went
back to our B&B for a rest, some exchanging of data between Psion's
and some gaming on the Playstation. A rest hmm that was an understatement!
We were all knackered, Matt dozed off and started to snore and Elusive
read some Pratchett.
I decided to go visit Savannah
as I wasn't feeling tired yet. We talk about this, that and the other and
not necessarily in that order oh and Zeon
had to go to work..chuckle.
Monday:-
It was Mayday bank holiday! This
of course was the highlight of the year in Penrith, where the whole town
comes out with stalls, a little fair and suchlike.
Savannah came over to see all of
us off, and Matt, Elusive and I said our farewells to Slime, Pema and little
Sammy plus Mindy and Beermat. Matt, Elusive and myself decided to check
out the fete as our train wasn't due to leave for another hour or so.
Stalls were being setup in the
high street and a fair was in the process of being built. From what we
could tell, this fete was going to be a fate worse than death and thought
it best we avoid it and sit in the station and wait for the train.
We arrived back in London, safe
and sound after having a most splendid adventure in the north of England!
Those present at the meet in no particular order were:- Zero, Slime, Pema, Little Sammy, Elusive, Matt, Mindy, Beermat, Zeon, Savannah, Thor, Phaid, Vlad and Bizkit.
Plus my thanks go to Savannah and Zeon for organising the event, which we all agreed was thoroughly good fun!