Manchester, UK AARland meet-up

[DensleyBlair]

Hey all,

Inspired by the gathering in the US earlier this year, @TheButterflyComposer and I have been talking on and off over the past couple of months about doing a meet-up in the UK. The plan would be to gather in Manchester one Saturday and, essentially, see the sights. (If it goes well, we may well do another one in London some time.)

A couple of months ago when we first discussed it, TBC and I set on August 6 as a date – but now that’s only a week away, that may be… optimistic. Now it looks like some time early autumn might be more likely.

Therefore: who’s up for it, thinks they would be able to make it, etc? Obviously this is not just aimed at Brits; all are welcome!

Any other thoughts, please do drop them below.

DB

 

[stnylan]

Alas, I will have to bow out of Manchester. Not that I dislike the place - though it has been decades since I last did anything up there. But I just checked the train prices, and let us just say that effectively made up my mind

 

[DensleyBlair]

Alas, I will have to bow out of Manchester. Not that I dislike the place - though it has been decades since I last did anything up there. But I just checked the train prices, and let us just say that effectively made up my mind

I had to have a short lie down in a darkened room after checking them last week myself, so that’s entirely understandable. We’ll be sorry not to have your company, all the same. Hopefully a future location will be better placed!

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Mm. It may be cheaper when the strikes stop...or maybe not. Depending on how they go.

 

[El Pip]

Alas, I will have to bow out of Manchester. Not that I dislike the place - though it has been decades since I last did anything up there. But I just checked the train prices, and let us just say that effectively made up my mind

Could be worse. I looked and the website said "No fares available for this journey". Which I believe is railway speak for a fare so expensive that it has broken their system.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Could be worse. I looked and the website said "No fares available for this journey". Which I believe is railway speak for a fare so expensive that it has broken their system.

Is this your quiet way of telling us you've been barred from Manchester for crimes unknown?

 

[DensleyBlair]

Is this your quiet way of telling us you've been barred from Manchester for crimes unknown?

Knowing Pip, the website he consults is probably still waiting on the completion of the L&MR before it can figure out the fare.

 

[El Pip]

Is this your quiet way of telling us you've been barred from Manchester for crimes unknown?

Well the place was still standing last time I left it. And I know it can't be because of all that alleged Simony because I always charged a fair price. Or would have done if I had ever committed the alleged acts.

Knowing Pip, the website he consults is probably still waiting on the completion of the L&MR before it can figure out the fare.

I looked at going by stage coach but the Turnpike route is in a terrible state of disrepair. It is sufficient to make a gentleman ponder where all the toll money goes, because it surely does not pay for Master Macadam's tar.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Tis a good thing the city is connected to the canal network then. I'm sure a horse driven coal barge would be obliged to take you down.

 

[El Pip]

I had to book some work train tickets so I checked again. It turns out my route to Manchester would involve Avanti West Coast and they have no idea how many drivers will bother to turn up to work so no longer sell tickets more than a couple of days in advance. The tickets are not horrifically expensive when they do sell them, but apparently the weekend service is infrequent to non-existent for the forseeable.

It may well have to be horse drawn coal barge at this rate.

 

[DensleyBlair]

Ah, my route would also involve the cursed Avanti. I’ll have to be wary of that. Any luck by the autumn they may have seen sense and negotiated a settlement – but somehow I won’t hold out for that…

Perhaps it’s time to join you Pip and start making inquiries down at the Lee Navigation…

 

[Tom D.]

I heard about British railway being bad but this sounds just outright terrible

 

[stnylan]

Perhaps it’s time to join you Pip and start making inquiries down at the Lee Navigation…

I also looked up National Express

Which does run from Taunton to Manchester, at affordable prices. But it would also involve spending 8 hours on a coach (assuming no delays) each way, which is, I must confess, a bit much more than I am willing to bear except in cases of dire emergency.

Though it does remind of that that great 90s song.

 

[DensleyBlair]

I also looked up National Express

Which does run from Taunton to Manchester, at affordable prices. But it would also involve spending 8 hours on a coach (assuming no delays) each way, which is, I must confess, a bit much more than I am willing to bear except in cases of dire emergency.

Though it does remind of that that great 90s song.

Yes, I did consider National Express. Though I recently spent a combined 22 hours on two coaches from Almeria to Paris, which safe to say has fulfilled my coach quota for quite some time.

It was also 22 hours during which I had Neil Hannon’s voice in mind…

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I had to book some work train tickets so I checked again. It turns out my route to Manchester would involve Avanti West Coast and they have no idea how many drivers will bother to turn up to work so no longer sell tickets more than a couple of days in advance. The tickets are not horrifically expensive when they do sell them, but apparently the weekend service is infrequent to non-existent for the forseeable.

It may well have to be horse drawn coal barge at this rate.

Apparently some genius of a business board room decided to not hire enough people to run the bare minimum of services and instead hope none of their current workforce says no to working on rest days.

It's a shame because their trains are actually quite nice and modern, accessible etx...just apparently owned by morons or extreme skinflints.

 

[DensleyBlair]

It's a shame because their trains are actually quite nice and modern, accessible etx

Though I’ll always hold a minor grudge against them for being an Italian imported version of something BR and the UK government just didn’t want to fund back in the day.

 

[stnylan]

Though I’ll always hold a minor grudge against them for being an Italian imported version of something BR and the UK government just didn’t want to fund back in the day.

It doesn't matter who owns them, there will always be leaves on the line Or cows (one memorable train journey to Scotland back in the days of smoking carriages).

 

[El Pip]

Just a thought, is the problem perhaps not the trains but Manchester?

Admittedly I'm not sure which location is currently blessed by TBC's presence, but I think for everyone else somewhere further south would have cheaper tickets and be less cursed by unreliable train suppliers.

Though there may be an excellent reason Manchester was selected and not, say, Oxford.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Oh London is fine, as Davout suggests. Though we may have the same train issues there as well...

Admittedly I'm not sure which location is currently blessed by TBC's presence,

Certainly isn't Manchester.

Though there may be an excellent reason Manchester was selected and not, say, Oxford.

Well I wouldn't want to subject anyone to Oxford when Cambridge is right there...

 

[DensleyBlair]

I’m in London so that’s obviously fine by me, but Cambridge would also work.

No reason Oxford couldn’t work either, of course, though I don’t know it at all.