I'm in the UK till the 1st of March and I'd quite like to go for a beer with some bakers.
Anyone? anywhere?-- marklar, Feb 18 2008 If in Leicester, go here after the pub http://www.original....co.uk/nights.html# [theleopard, Feb 20 2008] HalfConBot HalfConBotYou folks need this! [csea, Feb 21 2008] Minor quake in UK http://earthquake.u...akes/us2008nyae.phpEvent 2008nyae [Klaatu, Mar 02 2008] Skeptics in the Pub http://leicester.skepticsinthepub.org/For what it´s worth [nineteenthly, Jan 11 2009] Quick, everyone - hide! [Pushes Birmingham behind a cardboard tree.]-- DrCurry, Feb 19 2008 [marklar] is Eric Olthwaite! Tell 'em about your new shovel Eric!-- ConsulFlaminicus, Feb 19 2008 I am aware of 3 areas that seem to exhibit a greater density of bakers than the mean; Bristol, Glasburg* and London. There should be a point equidistant between all of these, and a rough calculation would place this somewhere near Bradford, West Yorkshire.-- zen_tom, Feb 19 2008 A bit far for me, with my lumbago 'n' all.-- skinflaps, Feb 19 2008 [zen] Does your calculation include a weighting for the relative numbers of people in each location? - and the reluctance of us soft Londoners to travel outside Zone 2?-- hippo, Feb 19 2008 No, it involved looking at a map of Britain and using the science of pens to sort of find a bit in the middle.
And lumbago sufferers relax, Bradford is a purely academic calculation based on the mean distribution of British bakers - not an actual suggestion.
A median calculation (based, and scientifically weighted upon, among other things, proper boozers, shinyness, a sense of British history, and the Number 8 bus route) would place a British Halfcon somewhere close to Liverpool Street station, or within one of the EC postcodes. Or Glasgow.-- zen_tom, Feb 19 2008 Out of interest, where are the lowlands? apart from being a Dutch music festival. I know where the highlands are.-- skinflaps, Feb 19 2008 Essex-- po, Feb 19 2008 //somewhere close to Liverpool Street station, or within one of the EC postcodes/What about us South of the River?-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Feb 19 2008 I'll be in Cardiff for some time, and in Surrey, so Bristol and London are within reach.
I'm not going any further north, it's just too cold.-- marklar, Feb 19 2008 //What about us South of the River?// So that's one of the EC postcodes, Glasgow, Essex, Bristol, or Clapham. ;)
// Out of interest, where are the lowlands?// I think it's where you end up if ye tek the low road, somewhere near Loch Lomond apparently.-- zen_tom, Feb 19 2008 I like the way that this thread is slowly moving towards London, well, not the thread itself, but you know what I mean, I meant to mean..Never mind..-- skinflaps, Feb 19 2008 //What about us South of the River?//
Saaf of the river? <spits at the ground>
//No, it involved looking at a map of Britain and using the science of pens to sort of find a bit in the middle.//
That's how I chose which University to go to. A bit like pin the tail on the donkey.-- theleopard, Feb 19 2008 //where are the lowlands?//
The "Lowlands" are basically Auchentoshan, Glenkinchie, and Bladnoch. Glengoyne, although just outside of Glasgow is technically a Highland malt...
Is that what you meant, [skinflaps]?-- Jinbish, Feb 19 2008 Yep and nay, now all I need to do is learn as to how you pronounce those alcopops.-- skinflaps, Feb 19 2008 //a rough calculation would place this somewhere near Bradford, West Yorkshire.// heh! Bizarrely enough, I was in Bradford only a couple of weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised by the place. Apart from the howling gale that is, which wasn't pleasant at all.-- DrBob, Feb 19 2008 //howling gale// indeed! (Something about that made me laugh.)-- blissmiss, Feb 19 2008 I'm in Leicester.-- nineteenthly, Feb 19 2008 [nineteenthly], still?!-- theleopard, Feb 20 2008 //I was later amazed that Gary Lineker managed to break through the invisible curtain and present MOTD.//
sp: appalled-- Jinbish, Feb 20 2008 Does Gary Linekar's Dad still have that stall in the corn exchange? Bless 'im.
Just had a look on t'internet to see if my favourite night whilst at Uni is still on, and it is! King Street Funk at Original 4 on Thursday nights: Live Jazz Funk from the Freestyle Collective. The music never failed to impress and was different every week due to the Rafa style rotation of musicians, and the subs from the always extremely talented audience going on stage to sing with the band. Awesome, friendly atmosphere too. I highly recommend it to anyone who has forgotten to leave Leicester.-- theleopard, Feb 20 2008 Yes. I came here to uni to escape my parents, which worked, though they now live in Loughborough. After graduation, i stayed here because my girlfriend was still at the uni (and in fact it took her ten years to finish her degree). I then did postgrad at Warwick but commuted there because of her. After that, being a Philosophy postgraduate degree holder, i was extremely poor and couldn't move. I then got married, making it even harder to move, and my whole family and my wife's ended up moving up here. Hence i am still here.
If anyone wants to join me, please send me an email. I'm going to Bambu next Tuesday evening.-- nineteenthly, Feb 20 2008 //being a Philosophy postgraduate degree holder, i was extremely poor and couldn't move.// Ah yes. That'll be "Zeno's Disease" - it's a terrible plague amongst philosophers.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 20 2008 UB - made me laugh out loud.-- po, Feb 20 2008 <elf-promotion> You folks need HalfConBot! [link] </e-p>-- csea, Feb 21 2008 I'll be in Surrey next Mon-Wed. Then Bournmouth on Thur/Fri.-- marklar, Feb 21 2008 When I briefly lived in the East Midlands the most disconcerting thing was other grown men calling me "me duck". Still I suppose it's probably better than Devon's "m' lover".-- Gordon Comstock, Feb 21 2008 What coincidences.
I'm in Surrey at the moment, soon to travel to Leicester this evening then on to Loughborough.-- DenholmRicshaw, Feb 21 2008 //grown men calling me "me duck"//
I called my flatmate "cock" the other day, I really couldn't work out why he was offended. My, how things 'av changed in the big smoke.-- skinflaps, Feb 21 2008 I went to a supermarket in Cornwall last year where I got something from the "deli" counter. As she handed me the salami or whatever it was, the woman serving said "There you go, my love" - I was shocked, you never get that in London supermarkets.-- hippo, Feb 21 2008 They do that here too, but it doesn't seem to make any difference how old you are.-- nineteenthly, Feb 21 2008 I got a "love" in London recently - it's always nice.-- wagster, Feb 21 2008 Me too, always brightens the day - I do tend to supply a love back - though for male-on-male action, I'm more likely revert to mate.-- zen_tom, Feb 22 2008 I've been enjoying "fella" recently.-- theleopard, Feb 22 2008 But just not as gruffly tribal as when a Glaswegian Bam says "o'ritepal".-- Jinbish, Feb 22 2008 "Pal" is a great word. Of all the various terms of affection, "pal" is the most disgenuine. It's actually quite hard to say it and acually mean "you are a friend of mine."
<Remembers Bruce Willis> Welcome to the party PAL! </RBW>-- theleopard, Feb 22 2008 Indeed, but nevertheless in this scenario the phraseology has a particular intonation, the essence of which is difficult to pinpoint, that just about conveys "I'm not going to stab you". That's as good as being soulmates!-- Jinbish, Feb 22 2008 In the American rurals you pretty much can expect to be called "hon". pronouned hun-- dentworth, Feb 22 2008 your hon?-- po, Feb 22 2008 [skinflaps] does that make you a northerner then? Ey up, cock!-- squeak, Feb 22 2008 Nah, Londonerish.-- skinflaps, Feb 22 2008 I think its "ee up, chuck!"-- po, Feb 22 2008 Bit late to the party, but regardless - I'm in the East Midlands. [Marklar], where are you? I'd be interested to meet any 'bakers within range.-- david_scothern, Feb 22 2008 I'm in Stourbridge, where you are likely to be called 'me mon' or 'me love'. I've even heard someone affectionately greeted with "ai'aight me wench".-- marklar, Feb 23 2008 I'm no longer in the UK and sadly failed to meet any bakers. Many of you I'm sure will have been fearing for my safety after hearing about the earthquake we had. I was in serious danger of spilling my tea and was distraught for several seconds.
[marked-for-expiry] Although it would be a shame to lose the invaluable information about Leicester.-- marklar, Mar 02 2008 I was awake at the time, but in bed. I thought it was a tornado, then a nuclear strike, then an asteroid.-- nineteenthly, Mar 02 2008 Just a wee tremblor (although, being from Calif makes me consider anything less than a 5.0 as insignificant) <link>-- Klaatu, Mar 02 2008 That's the thing about England (not the rest to the same extent). Everything about this country is moderate. No mountains, no deserts, hardly any natural disasters, few poisonous animals, no tropical diseases, no revolutions, no coups, nothing ever happens here at all, which is good in some ways, not in others.
Leicester is even more so, as its middle class, middle of the road, middle of the country.-- nineteenthly, Mar 02 2008 If it was middle of a bigger road I might have been more tempted to make the trip.-- marklar, Mar 03 2008 [marklar] In England the roads don't get much bigger than the M1 which connects Leicester to the rest of the world (ie London). But realistically I can't think of any reason for a visitor to the UK to go there, except for a decent curry (is Bobby's still on the Belgrave Road?). As [nineteenthly] points out, it is not particularly anything, although apart from Oadby, middle-class would not spring to mind.
Now Nottingham, a few miles further up the M1 is a different story.-- Gordon Comstock, Mar 03 2008 It is very multicultural and it has the only Jain temple in Europe. However, yes, and in fact i think people gravitate here to be near other places rather than actually to be here, meaning that a lot of logistics companies are supposedly based here.
It's a bit like a brochure for Birmingham i once saw, in which the first sentence read "Birmingham is a great place to get to other places from."-- nineteenthly, Mar 03 2008 OK, i have a plan, which will probably turn out to be impractical because of time but i´ll mention it anyway, just in case:I will be at "Skeptics in the Pub" at 7:30pm, 20th January 2009, in a pub called "The Park", 5-9 Hotel Street, Leicester. I just thought it was an event vaguely appropriate to the HB and i'll be there anyway with my unusually long hair and glasses.-- nineteenthly, Jan 11 2009 random, halfbakery