h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I can thoroughly recommend the tour that we took as the daytime portion of the meet. Tripadvisor agrees with me, with it being the highest ranked tour of Manchester (indeed, 'twas how I found/chose it). If you don't know much about Manchester, go to learn in an entertaining way. If you already know lots about Manchester, go for the storytelling (the guide (still the only guide, though he's looking to hire more) won a Special Commendation for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting just this week, so there's some objective evidence as to his storytelling!) If you're an h2g2er, help me work on him to join up--after all, we've worked out a name for him--tibtig (I take full responsibility for the name, as the etymology of it is less than modest... Perfectly fine if it's bestowed, though, which it was).

Anyway, it wasn't clear who all was going to being at which part of the meet (like the London Meet, there were 3 bits planned), because everyone was waffling. It ended up being fords, Dr EV, MiniBinnie, Wand'rin Star, Milla, 2BeDecided, Alphonze, and myself. We all met by the Alan Turing statue in Whitworth Gardens before 11am, along with what turned out to be roughly 60 other people! (Normal tour size, according to tibtig later, is generally 2 dozen...) This did make the tour run 3.5 hours instead of 3 hours, just because of the sheer amount of time it takes for that many people to cross streets, but the info for the tour *does* say 3-3.5 hours. The focus of the tour is industrial and post-industrial Manchester, plus "Madchester", though tibtig does give a quick overview of Manchester's history at the beginning of the tour.

At roughly the halfway point of the tour, there is a 15 minute break for coffee and whatnot. Researchers being what they are, there was a scattering. I, on the other hand, decided to stick with tibtig, on the theory that the tour wouldn't leave without its guide I got chatting with him, and ended up inviting him along to Beer Nouveau. This is not something that I would normally do, but I thought tibtig would fit in well with our subset of internet weirdos

ComicCon was in Manchester that weekend, but I didn't get any pics of any cosplayers, because my hands were full every single time I saw anyone I would've liked a photo of When we went by the convention itself, I was clumsily trying to place tibtig's bluetooth speaker in my red h2g2 bag, to free up my hands for picture taking, but it wasn't working, since I still had my cup from the coffee shop in the other hand, and I didn't want to drop the speaker.

At the end of the tour, tibtig had a limited amount of maps to give out. I saw that 2BeDecided took one, so I didn't ask for one--not realizing that he, Milla, and Alphonze would not be joining us on our trek to MOSI, but would instead be heading back to their hotel. said trek to MOSI shouldn't've taken long, from what tibtig said when giving recommendations for other things to do in Manchester. Apple Maps decided differently...

We (fords, Dr EV, MiniBinnie, Wand'rin, and I) were following fords' phone's directions. The night before, Google Maps had not been working, which is why fords decided to use Apple Maps, instead. Once we had walked longer than the estimated travel time, with no indication that anything large was anywhere near, much less our actual destination, we called a cab. Which couldn't find us. Once it finally did, it was too small, so a bigger vehicle was dispatched, which also had trouble finding us By the time we finally got to MOSI, we had less than an hour until closing...

At MOSI, we joined Metal Chicken, Phil, Bald Bloke, and Sasha. We saw Baby, one of the very first computers--if it weren't for Baby, I would not have been in Manchester at all. We caught the tail end of a textile lecture, and headed to the hands-on stuff upstairs. I mostly hung out with Sasha, knowing that the others were all going to be at Beer Nouveau that night, and not being sure if Sasha was. Good thing, too, as Sasha ended up leaving after a photo outside.

Food was badly needed by this point, and there are only snacks at Beer Nouveau--and not many, at that. So we stopped for dinner on our way (since the group now included people that knew how to get where we were going). Ordering was fun--they were out of my first choice, and it was so loud that I could not hear when I was told this. The server, I think, assumed it was an accent problem, and got her manager, who spoke loud enough. After eating, we walked to Beer Nouveau.

I don't remember what order everyone came in, except that I know that Pastey and Alabaster were there first, obviously, since it's their establishment I also know that tibtig was there before the rest of the h2g2 contingent--Pastey tells a tale of a young man coming in, rather hesitant, and asking if there were any middle-aged foreign women there. After initial confusion, h2g2 was mentioned, and all was made clear. At least until people kept saying that it was nice/odd/ to see my in three dimensions tibtig finally broke, and asked, so I explained that normally only a self portrait (or multiple copies) of me makes it to UK meets, and that that had been a tradition since 2001. He took it in stride. By this point, there was quite a group there. Milla, 2BeDecided, and Alphonze had rejoined us, and J'au-æmne, me[Andy]g, Granny Weatherwax, Nogbad, Just Bob, and lostinscotland were there, along with those of us who had walked from MOSI via food--Wand'rin, Dr EV, fords, MiniBinnie, Bald Bloke, Metal Chicken, Phil, and myself. I also learned that Mr 603 was there, but he never introduced himself, and I thought he was a regular that had gotten caught up in it all

Pastey gave a tour of the brewery end, including the chance to taste both roasted and unroasted malt, and a chance to handle and smell hops. We went up the only steps in the place to look into one of the vats. Being the group that we were, there was heckling, and a certain Scot woman may or may not have been flashing a few fingers at Pastey during the talk. You'd think this was a group of people who had known each other for ages or something! After the brewery tour/talk, there was the normal socializing, and amazement that there was mead! Actual mead!

Eventually, it was time to close up and wander off to our various sleeping places--homes, hotel rooms, spare bedrooms... Plans were confirmed for the next day, goodbyes were exchanged, and off everyone went.

Great writeup

I can imagine tibtig's tours are good - playwright skills aren't something many tour guides would have, and that's amazing about the bluetooth speakers too, so everyone can hear more clearly than if someone is just shouting Is tibtig something along the lines of The Best Tour Guide?

It worked out really well at MOSI, though, that you and I got to hang out the most as that was the only portion of the day that I could manage A shame that circumstances conspired to mean you couldn't get there earlier, but at least we made the most of that hour - it was an absolute pleasure to meet you in person and chat as well as enjoy the exhibits and puzzles

It is a bit of an odd sensation that we hadn't met before and yet got on so well like we had met before, but I already knew you're friendly in 2D text, and 3 dimensions of friendliness was even better

Glad you enjoyed the rest of your day, too - that was an impressive gathering at the evening do

That's exactly where tibtig came from That, and my realizing that typing TBTG would be annoying, and that tibtig was the best way to pronounce it (The non-capitalization came about when I messaged him after finishing the NaJo for Day 17 and told him I'd just choose, since he didn't tell me if he wanted name, initial, or ambiguity--I'd originally came up with Tibtig, and said that he didn't seem an all-lowercase type person)

I will admit that I struggled last night with the no advertising rule--though I suppose giving a recommendation isn't quite the same. Still, I didn't want to risk the huge main post disappearing!

tibtig runs Free Manchester Walking Tours. Like I said, it's #1 of the tours on Tripadvisor, and there is also a FB page

"That's exactly where tibtig came from "

Aha!