LF meetup, Leeds, Sat 5 August

[Proxima]

Back home now. Had a great time. A couple of group pictures were taken and should be posted soon.

The meet started a little awkwardly as ∫tan x and I arrived and stood outside WHSmith for a while, both unsure of whether the other was one of the LF crowd but then we both noticed a nearby group of four with a Lemming plushie (although I recognised Flopsy's face before noticing the lemming). WillLem and kingshadow arrived within another five minutes and we decided, as I had scouted the Wetherspoons and it was packed, to head to the Trinity Centre. Flopsy was interested in the Lego store so we called there first, then lunch at a place called the Giraffe that I've been past many times but never tried out. It was a good choice -- I had their all-day breakfast and the sausages were especially good. We got to know each other over lunch and talked about maths, programming, Lemmings, and our various projects (I explained a bit about a DROD project I am currently involved with).

Then we wandered around the town centre, found a couple of interesting places I didn't know about at all (including a board game retreat and a geek store with an even bigger manga selection than Forbidden Planet). The weather had, surprisingly, held out all this time, but it started to rain and we decided to head to Waterstone's bookstore ("backrouting Leeds", as someone described the route we took). We stayed in the cafe there for the rest of the meetup, and pored over the Lemmings: The Ports book and Lemmings adventure gamebooks.

I'm safely home now (thanks to WillLem giving me a lift), and we're just waiting to hear whether everyone else got home safely

[Flopsy]

I'm home too and it was a great day in Leeds overall, very happy with the fact that 8 of us met up today which is at least double any other meet up we've accomplished in the forum's history.

I got to the train station rather early and thought it was a good idea to hold my Lemmings plush to help everyone find me but Pooty and Crane were already there and didn't make themselves known to me for a while, Stewozere turned up a short while after that. We noticed Proxima and tanxdx over by the WHSmiths entrance and they eventually came over. WillLem and Kingshadow showed up not too long after that so it wasn't too bad getting everyone together

We went to the Lego store almost immediately which I didn't expect, WillLem bought me a Sonic Lego minifigure keyring which I'm very thankful for, he's awesome. I also bought a new Sonic Lego set which released this month, the only one I wanted in the recent releases.
We then went for lunch at a place I've never tried and tried the Chicken Katsu curry which I had with chopsticks, didn't expect the chopsticks, nice touch! We split the bill evenly 8 ways.

We also went to 2 very niche stores which had a great board game community and manga collection. One of the stores had an art fair in the basement where we had the group pics taken.

Eventually we ended up in a cafe in the Waterstone's book shop, where I showed everyone my Lemmings Ports Book. A PDF of this book has been available for free online for a period of time but there was a special charm to holding the real deal book and looking at it around the table with the group. I also showed my 2 Lemmings adventure books.
We spent several hours in this cafe, which Stewozere had to leave about halfway through to get his train. Eventually after hours of programming talk, maths talk and puzzles, we all walked back to the train station.

Proxima, tanxdx, Crane and WillLem said their goodbyes and myself, Kingshadow and Pooty remained at the train station. I waited with Kingshadow and Pooty until they got their trains then went home myself. Great day overall, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed my first time in Leeds City Centre, everyone was very nice to me and I feel we have become closer as a community

[Simon]

Thanks for the elaborate reports! Happy to hear you've enjoyed yourselves. Looking forward to WillLem's group picture.

Maybe one day, I'll fly from Germany to England for one of these meetings.

-- Simon

[Ste Woz Ere]

Thanks for the elaborate reports! Happy to hear you've enjoyed yourselves. Looking forward to WillLem's group picture.

Maybe one day, I'll fly from Germany to England for one of these meetings.

-- Simon

That'd be cool, I wouldn't be the only one who speaks Lemmings 2 then :p

[WillLem]

Looking forward to WillLem's group picture.

Here it is!



Left to Right: Pooty, Kingshadow, Proxima, Flopsy (below holding Lemming plush), tanxdx, Stewozere, Crane, WillLem

A great time was had by all, I think. The meetup was a great success for the Forums, it was wonderful to meet people in person and share a rainy day in Leeds

I definitely think we should have another before the Summer's out