South West (U.K.) Pizza Night!

OK, they seem to do this on Indie Gamer at exotic sounding locations like San Francisco etc and I though why don't we try to have a Blitz Basic get together for people who live in the South West of U.K.

We could pick a central location, and all meet up for a pizza. It could be scarey but it could be fun! Who's up for it?

I live in Bridport Dorset (on the Coast). Once I get a list of potential people, I can try to pick a central town with a pizza place, or somewhere else e.g bowling alley etc if people prefer. Also we can decide a date/time.

State your location and distance prepared to travel and preffered date/time and we'll work it out. I would regard South West as Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset etc but anyone from further afield is most welcome of course!

Yay! :-)

I'd be up for that!

Don't really care where it is as I'd probably get a hotel and stay over, might even invite the missus (saves getting a pass). Heck I might even buy the first round of drinks.

Great! we have a taker. Actually the hotel/B&B is good idea so I can drunk and make (more of) a fool of myself, yay! Also I might hold you to that drinks thing :-D I got two kids so inviting the missus could be tricky, but I'll see if she's into hanging out with a bunch of drunk geeks lol (who's gonna say speak for yourself then ;-))

I'm no geek, I'm a beer monster!! and the missus is always up for a laugh!

Mmm - Me and "Shagwana" in Devon and "Rottbott" and someone else in Cornwall - they are the only ones I know of in the SW.

puki: is that a yes then? It'd fun to meet the King of mods, we could ban him from talking about politics!

I'm pretty sure Big10p and Avon are SW too, we'll see ...

wasn't there some sort of annual blitz convention in the past? sorry for the semi off topic reply, i know it has nothing to do with your proposed pizza party but it seems i remember seeing some pictures of them.

I'd certainly consider going - I'd rather it was more in the Spring-time, when it is a bit warmer.

markd: there are various conventions but they are normally in Doncaster or somewhere flippin' miles away. I'm trying to make this a local thing so people are more likely to come along. Also it's a social not really a convention. You're welcome to fly over!

puki: cool, well if it goes well I might do a few, no need for it to be an anual thing! "warmer"? Does this matter if we are inside?

I'm a little farther north in Birmingham. Would love to come but I dont get the time to do so... :/

Plymouth here, I do belive that scary fella puki is in the same city. Dont know if I will (/would want to) go yet tho, I need convincing!.

Somerset here but money is VERY tight at the moment. i.e. I don't have ANY! :/

Plus, I live in an Iron Lung. :P

Shagwana, well what sort of things convince you? We can work it out (was that the Beatles) Will you come if Puki doesn't? kidding ;-)

Big10p: Iron Lung? Is that for real? Do you have a car? No Money: Common, busk or something!

So who've we got:

me
Indiepath
Puki (if it's warm)

Who needs convincing:

Shagwana
Cygnus
Big10p! (maybe we should come round your house and buy you a pizza! ;-)

Right, all meet up at "big10p's" house.

Sorted.

Actually, there is some truth in that - some people did not go to 'Coders Workshop 1' because I was going.

no way, that's tight, unless they met you before!

I don't have a house. I live in my Iron Lung in the middle of a field.

wha? fair enough, a field could be too cold for Puki tho'

If you'd done this 5 years ago I was living in Bristol... I'm right over in Norwich now

time machine anyone? Hey you'd have been really impressed by my PC then.

OK then, not very many of us yet but we need a location.

Puki where do you live in Devon? I'll try to find a place that's central to us all.

As for date, do you guys prefer weekdays or weekends? I can do any day except for Mon and Wed when I teach Aikido. I thinking about doing this in early Feb sometime as Jan is nearly gone!

Me and "Shag" are in Plymouth - coz we are hard and belong to 'The Central Element'.

Yey the TCE! Reminds me of when I was at Uni down there. Out on the town trying not to pull some Janner down union street!

my friend went to that Uni so I know all about it an Union street. OK well that's about 1.5 hours drive from where I live and about 2.5 hours from Indiepath's so a central location may actual be in east Devon, somewhere like Lyme Regis (except it's a bitch to park there). I bet there's a good Pizza place in Dorchester but that may be too far for you puki as it'll take you just under 2 hours. Any other ideas? Also Shagwana has not commited, he needs convincing somehow. I wish Big10p could come.

Let's spell it out ... Pizza (or alternative meal) = yum, Beer (or alternative drink) = nice, night out = wooo, different company than usual = interesting, meeting people from the forum = interesting, possible crossover of ideas = promising, fun conversations with semi-like-minded people = fun. There that's the best I can do...

Like I said, I don't really mind where it is, I'll get a hotel or a B&B.

ok cool, I don't mind too much either as I'm in it for the social element.

When, That is the question? :)

Hello.

I'm up for a sojourn down South, I was up for a trip down (from distant Newport) anyhow. I lived in Plymouth for 12 years - if any of you studied there and spent any time in the Student's Union you might remember me, I was the Sad Old Goth behind the bar.

Count me in.

Goodbye.

Cool two more takers. What about Sat 11th Feb?

An amusing thought, when we meet, do we call each other by our real names or nicknames haha. e.g. "Nice Pizza SoggyP", "want another beer Puki", "Hey Grey Alien, look at that bird"...

Grey Aliens dont like brids, do they? They like Aliens, right? :P

Lol

I'd rather be called by my real name in real life :P

Me too, I was only kidding actually.

Yeah i know :P

I have a strange sense of humor, I say things I think are funny...
Everyone else wants to pound me :P


Feb 11th... hmmm. Thats not so far away! As long as you keep it ona saturday I shouldnt have a problem.

The date could change if enough people want it to, but that'll do as a focal point for now. Cyg: Birmingham to Bridport is ~3 hours via the M5 then backroads. I daresay it'd be a bit quicker to Exeter or Honiton maybe.

Just call me Sir.

And give me a chance to get an overnight babysitter.

"Just call me Sir." lol ok, sir. Yeah if you can't make that date then we'll change it.

What what what? I don't drive! :P

If Puki does go, make sure you have enough sausages and sausage rolls otherwise he can get quite nasty. :)

Is that a joke or are you gonna get a train/bus combo or something? I can always pick you up if the nearest you can get is a few miles away.

Not a bad idea.

Sadly, Its no joke- I dont drive :) I've also not really gone far from Birmingham before (except France :P) But it shouldnt be a problem to get near there somewhere.

Okay,

Me and me Girlfriend are going to make a weekend of it.

I have no idea abou the area you're ins so when you have a place and time, Lemme know, I will want to book a nearby hotel :D

Who's GF? Oh, Girlfriend! OK, does she drive?

Looks like Grey is gonna have to bring the missus too now :)

Nah, she doesn't- She keeps giving up :/

Hey, if we all bring our missus' then they can all chat in the corner while we get stone drunk and eat pizza/play games and generally have a good time?


:P

Good plan Cygnus very good plan.

yeah it might just work, not sure how we can play "digial" games though unless you mean "party" games?

I'll bring my PSP with Win95 running and a working demo of Xmas Bonus running? Thats if you have a few hours spare to wait for it to load :P


haha.


Actually, Drinking games Of course! Why not?

would it really run on such a beast?

Win95 works. I dont have patience to use it though, So i really wouldn't know :P

So, when was it going to be?

Sat 11th Feb?

Headcount?

I'll be bringing Tracy since we will be there for a weekend or so.

Headcount = me, poss. my partner Helen, Indiepath + wife Penny, Cyg + Tracy, puki?, SoggyP. Shag hasn't commited and Big10p can't come, shame. So that's 8 max so far, that's cool.

I wondering about doing it in Exeter, it would be really easy for you to get a train there Cyg + they'll be hotels and plenty of places to eat + pubs. Or Dorchester as there is a train station there too. Both towns are good for shopping too if you arrive early or go round on Sunday.

Haha, I almost moved to Dawlish last november. We were going to buy the White Hart pub :)

Shame, Our house sale didnt go through so we couldnt actually move. I miss the place.


/me checks cost to Exeter Central..


*choke*...£62!???? WOAH!!!!!!!


Heh, Going to have to check that one out at the station later! >.<;;

get a car! Birmingham to Bridport = 150 miles x 2 = 300 = 10p per mile (small engine) = £30 (mine's about 20p per mile!). What's the cost to Dorchester? How old are you, can you get a <25 years old card? Or a Network South West card for any age (or something like that). Both give 33% off. Failing that get a pensioners card. Seriously, though check out what cards you can get to save money. The network card can be used for families and costs ~£18 and thus you may save that money on a single trip!

We could always move the meal to Taunton (station there too). Don't want to put off the Plymouth boys though.

Haha, Really wish I COULD drive now :D

I'll find a way, no problem :)


Dorchester's pretty much the same price. (£67!!???)

Trains are really expensive these days arent they?

Dont base the whole thing around me though. If you want to place it in Exceter, I can ask someone for a large favour :)

As long as the destination is set, I'll find a way :)

I'm thinking about a Pizza Hut as they serve booze plus everything is pretty cheap and stardardised. If this is too chav for you let me know. There is one in Exeter and Yeovil. Yeovil has two stations, one is a bit out of town though, it also has a Gamestation (good shop) and two (count 'em) Game shops. Possibly Exeter might be more exciting (and expensive) to stay overnight in than Yeovil. I also like Dorchester but there's no pizza hut, possibly there is a "proper" restaurant there, but I can't see an italian one on the web. I quite fancy the Yeovil idea but the only thing that puts my off is chavs trashing my car on sat night, I'm paranoid now cos of something I just read on a forum when searching for Pizza and Yeovil lol. OK I'm being a bit gemini about this, but I'll listen to a bit of feedback and then pick somewhere.

Some other time I'll have a Blitz meal in Bridport at the Indian or Thai restaurant (both are great) but the nearest station is about 15 miles away in Dorchester, although there are buses. Dorchester has plenty of Indian/Chineses too.

Price is not a problem mate, Yeovil seems to be a bit cheaper generally but there are even cheaper hotels in exeter (there are just more of them knocking the prices up :P)

Anyway, Enough of my yapping, Let's see what everyone else thinks.

I'm edging towards Pizza Hut in Yeovil, I've been there before and then when you stagger out the door, there's a bowling alley (with pool tables etc) right in front of you, which could be fun. I'm totally crap at it so there's no worries about that, of course I rock at Tekken Bowl and Super Monkey Ball Bowling ;-)

Yeah, let's see what the others say ... but I'm favouring that right now. Cyg: There are two stations in Yeovil, the one that's further out is the bigger one but you'd need a bus/taxi to town unless I could pick you up, depends if you want to come down early check into a hotel and go shopping type thing.

Lets just get @#!*ed and then have a curry - simple - satisfying and fun :)

well that changes it all, I don't mind, but we could do that in Dorchester and the stations are right in town (well pretty damn near). Cyg?/Puki?/SoggyP? Oh and Helen will come if we can get a babysitter.

Shawana, up for it yet?

haha, You have no idea where Tracy works ;)



Tracy and I dont drink all that much, I'd be up for it though!



If you were to pick me up, I'd owe you big time!

Let's just see If i can get there first. Will find out tonight!

PS Yeovil prices are coming up at £100+!!!!!!!

Thats gotta be wrong. I can get it cheaper without the return ticket, haha.... I'm trying to find a lift or some cheap ticket cards as you mentioned.

Ah, I meant pick you up from the station to save you a few miles walk/taxi, not from Birmingham, sorry, that would be INSANE! Nice as you are and everything :-)

*** OK. CHANGE OF PLAN ***. Curry in Bridport, yay! I can of course vouch for the restaurants here. I can also recommend the Bull Hotel (not expensive on B&B rates) there are also plenty of cheap B&Bs around and LOADS of pubs which stay open late now. Cyg: If you go to Dorchester or Crewkerne station and I know what time, I'll pick you up and drop you off the next day. When everyone's agreed on this, I can state a meeting place and time. The ball is rolling ...

Okay, if we can confirm the date I'll get the hotel booked. I reckon I can get away with dressing this one up as a pre-valentines present :) Oh, and get the company to pay for if :D

LOL. I didn't mean from Birmingham! Hahaha :)

Okay, Definitely Bridport? That hotel doesn't seem bad, Thats the price I was going to spend. Will probrably get a lift down early in the day to enjoy it.



Right, the system's are working again at work now, I've got to do some :P

.

He has a point, you know...

What did he say?

He said..



He does have a point......


[edit]

Sorry Grey, I've trashed this thread with my yapper.

that's OK, I went to lunch (rather nice Thai Restaurant with 3 course lunch for £7!) and came back and my Wanadoo Livebox had gone down, I called techincal support and it just worked as soon as I got through, must've been a firmware update.

OK *** Final Details ***:

Sat 11th Feb 8pm:

Sundorbon Tandoori Restaurant
68 South St,
Bridport.
Dorset.
DT6 3NN.

multimap:
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=DT63NN&title=Sundorbon+Tandoori+Restaurant

You can park in South Street car park (moreless opposite the restaurant) on the left as you go down it (the East side). I think it's free at night. If you're staying at the Bull, I think they have their own car park (ask them).

Cyg: If you get here in the day, Bridport has a market on Saturday which might be fun if not raining. If you get bored, call me on X.

I recommend the Bull hotel for cheap effective accomodation.

After the meal we can have a drink in any pub/bar, even the Bull.

Bridport is 1 mile from the sea so if you get time on Sat or Sunday go to West Bay and have a look around, it might be cold this time of year but it is nice, plus all the surrounding countryside is nice.

OK that's pretty much it then, sorted. Hope the others confirm soon.

I was thinking it might be good if members do a "home town" meal once in a while as you should be able to recommend places to eat/stay/park etc plus give accurate directions.

Okay mate, Got it all down!

Will probrably stay at the Bull :)

Im not sure if its safe for you to leave your number on show here :) Cheers.


Can't wait now!

Thanks, number deleted before it gets grabbed by bots or google. Look forward to it too!

Wish I lived nearer huys, Manchester is a long way to go I'm afraid.

IPete2.

I wish I lived nearer Manchester. ;)

Agreed!

IPete2.

I was in Oldham last weekend, took 4.25 hours to get there with a break, not bad for 250 miles! Can take 7 hours sometimes.

The Bull it is....All booked we're gonna make a weekend of it and come down on the Friday night.

It's dirt cheap!! £65 for a double room per night including breakfast...!!

cool, well if you get bored call me and we can meet up. I can show you the pig sty I live in, whatever.

yeah, was going to suggest that. You never know, I might have a nice cheque for you :)

oooh ooh oooh, then I can blow it all on the company meal, yay!

*might*

deflate...:-(

I will be booked within the next few hours. Indiepath, You better not have taken the last double!!!! :P :D

Gah, my 4096 post got wiped. OK it was the number of colours on the Amiga 500.

[edit] I was waiting for that post for weeks, sigh.

LOL!

[edit] LOL!

Hey, Do you guys have Expenses?


I do :P


Oooh, found a 5% off deal for the Bull :D

Well I can pay for the meal with my company card and write it off as a developers meeting. This means I'll get VAT back and then write the cost off against tax saving another 19%. Won't really be able to claim for any booze in the pub though.

Pint of lager and a receipt, please mate! :P

Agreed, I don't mind paying for myself, And i'll certainly get a round in if there arent too many of us, I'm not rich though!

I'll sneak in a bottle of vodka to save money ;-) kidding.

Oh yes, still comes out of my pocket since it's my company, but like Jake I will claim the VAT and Tax relief. With regard to the booze, depends on what they put on the receipt :P

Grey why didnt you come over and say hello - Warrington is only a few mins off the 'beaten track'?


*** (Sorry to semi hijack this thread).

On a completely different note I am getting really fed up of my posts being deleted and then finding that other posts are completely off thread by the fifth posting and have nothing to do with anything to do with computers. Shessh!

My Star Trek thread has gone now - and I would wager there's a definate possibility of a game spin off! What's wrong with these people?

:(

****

IPete2.

Haha, When I was in London, We got a receipt for

"Entertainment".

Bah, can't remember the exact phrase. Was funny, Beleive me :/

Cyg: Yeah I've uh done the same, in Birmingham in fact, The uh Rocket Club, very entertaining.

IPete2: Yeah sorry, I was kinda busy throwing people around, maybe next time I could plan it a bit better. Shame about the star trek thread, I didn't even consider it off topic, but actually I guess it was thinking about it. you missed my 4096 one then. That got deleted as meanlingless fluff I guess.

yes, how strangely inconsistant. Anyway we better not turn this into a thread deletion discussion as I don't want to get it wiped.

Hmm... fair point Grey, I don't want to be responsible for that so have "deleted" my post too.

It wasn't MY receipt though- I had Goats cheese for lunch, it was incredibly strong and made me so sick I went back to my hotel. Shame eh?

cyg: you let down!
avon: how did you delete your post? I'm aware you can edit but not delet, did you email the admin or something?

*** ATT ALL ***

The table will be booked in the name of Birkett (that's me) in the event you arrive before me. I have long black hair in a ponytail and am 30ish with spectacles and am slim, not too tall (5'6") plus have a stupid beard. In fact here's a (totally unflattering) pic of me a few years ago (uh 5 actually)

[edit: found a better one, phew!]

This is at manchester? Hell, i might be able to make that, hehe.

uh no, hence title of "South West", you were kidding right. Anyway you are welcome to fly down.

Probably a good idea to meet up in a pub before, have a beer and break the ice. No point turning up at the curry house and waiting for people, anyway it tastes nicer after a few.

We'll do the next one here : http://antiguanvilla.com/

I agree with Tim.

I'm not a let down. After i went back to the hotel, chucked up my food, drank some water, and went back out,

I went to some place where i subsequently met Jordan, Peter Andre, NADIA *smirk* *Falls on floor laughing*, and some guy who won Get me out of here. We were laughing at Jordan's hair- and this was the day before the same hairstyle was all over the papers!

Was a good night, I didnt know who the last bloke was.

Sorry guys, i must have skimmed that too much :) Anyway, have a good night!

Ross C: Thanks

Cyg: wow what a night!

Tim: Well I normally down the drinks pretty darn quick in the Indian before the meal arrives so I'm plastered when it does. OK then, let's meet at 7:30pm in a pub (well you can go there earlier but I gotta get the kids in bed) and eat at 8:00 (is that too soon)? Lets meet in the "Beach and Barnicot" which is on the West side of South street, right at the top, opposite the Town Hall (big red building with a clock on top). There is an area with benches in front of the town hall, the beach and barnicott is directly opposite this; it's a bar rather than a pub and has a big window at the front and tables and chairs inside. It has a cosy upstairs bit with sofas in, if the upstairs is open, I suggest we meet up there, otherwise downstairs in the bar. Just look for me and hopefully we'll all find each other that way, worst case we just meet at the Indian. OK?

Sounds like a plan!

OK 17:30 pub for 20:00 grub.

"I love it when a plan comes together" we are the B-Team!

can you move this to Atlanta so i can go?

Sounds great MarkD but uh well you know...

I edited my post down to a ".", and someone else then deleted it, which is odd but fine by me.

ok neat, I've seen lots of dots before and I guess they get cleaned up eventually by a mod. Weird to think they must read everything we post ...

Where and when are you guys meeting?

Might be up for a trip myself.

11th Feb in Bridport Dorset.

yeah come along!

Eyyyyy :D Room at Bull is booked :D

Cool, nice one. Are you bringing Tracy too?

OK I've emailed SoggyP (who said count him in) and Shagwana (who needed convincing) so hopefully I'll get replies so I can firm up the numbers for the Indian booking. Puki has a dumb email address of "yep" so I can't let him know.

Puki? I'd have a guess at Sausages@...

I pity the mail-bot that catches that one :P


Yep, Tracy shall be coming :D

Well there 6 confirmed then 3 Blitzer and 3 ladies. Plus SoggyP sounded positive, I just need 100% confirmation. Puki sounded like he meant it too, but he hasn't responded to all the new posts yet.

Yeah, and no talking SHOP!

Can we talk retro?

yeah, at least I know retro.

I'll bring my spectrum 48K to use as a placemat (and to impress the birds)

I'll bring my PSP with a speccy emulator. :P

ooooh mr one-upmanship ;-) Actaully put a C64 emulator on it and it'll be even better! Hope you can carry all this stuff (well to my car at least).

I normally have a Terrorist-like rucksack on with my laptop and all electronic gadgets.

I'll leave goofy teeth, thick glasses and a geeky laugh behind this time though! :D

Once again, Much apreciated mate!