The Leeds Rhubarb Meet Report
Created | Updated May 14, 2007
For Vip, the meet started when she got home from work on Friday to discover that Richard had not only picked up Thaumos from the station, but that he'd picked up a copy of the Hitchhiker's film too. Then she realised she still had to write the quiz and panicked.
The Leeds Rhubarb took place on the 12th of May 2007. We met in the Scarborough Hotel opposite Leeds train station at around two o'clock, merrily playing various games of cards as the numbers increased to our final count of nine (in rough order of arrival)-
Apologies were accepted from Z and agcb, who unfortunately couldn't make it.
Pontoon (Twenty-One, Blackjack- we got confused with names) ground to a halt as people got into the spirit, pulling up tables, drinking beer and generally outliving the hell out of getting to know everybody. Even religion had a brief spell as a topic conversation, but thankfully it died down before anyone got hurt.
A few pints later, once the rain had started, it seemed like a good idea to move on. We headed off, led by Bagpuss, to Whitelocks. Although it was rammed inside, that didn't stop us enjoying our pints outside in the variable rain. Clive didn't let it stop him enjoying his cup of tea, either.
Food called to us at around five thirty and after some vague debate we ended up in a all-you-can-eat Chinese, having added Vonnie's sister Jac to the mix. We were on a tight schedule as the buffet closed at six thirty (or they'd charge us the full Saturday evening price- no thanks!), but I think everyone still ate slightly more than they should have done. Those of us with tea suffered slightly less, and were in fact still drinking it right up to the cash register.
Where to next? We suddenly realised that it was in fact a Saturday, and that half of West Yorkshire were actually out in Leeds too. Bagpuss offered to scout for empty pubs, but thankfully Jac knew of a place that would be quiet enough for us all to sit together and without music so that we could actually talk. So, off to the Courtyard, where we compromised on our wishes for beer and inside seating to gain an outside, covered courtyard practically to ourselves.
The quiz was held to general derision and confusion, but it looks as though it wasn't actually too hard as the lowest scoring mark was a grand 20/30. The winners, with 24 and a half points were Clive and Amy. *claps* Oh- and I think we were all right- the radio series says 'salt and protein', not just protein. The film just says salt.
Jac headed off home after just the one pint, and not long after we all realised that it was actually quite cold out. Bagpuss was sent out as advance party to find another drinking hole, and a few minutes later came back to reveal that the Victoria, a real ale pub just down the road was open and had seats. These seats turned into a leather corner seat, low tables and enough leather armchairs to house all of us- score!
With the departure of Clive and Amy at half eight the gradual wind down was in sight. Richard headed off a while later, and finally at around ten to ten the rest of us headed off to the station, to catch our various trains and buses back home*.
