After spending the week in Edinburgh, I hopped on a train and went down to Leeds to meet with some very cool people.
I am a member of the Simply Syndicated forums. Simply Syndicated is, to put it basically, a podcast network. A better description would be to call it an online community.
The shows they put out aren’t the usual radio style, cookie cutter fake friendly voice crap you may be used to. They’re all just mates who sit down in front of microphones and chat about…well you name it; movies, music, food, games, beer, trivia, sci-fi. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please check them out at www.simplysyndicated.com. Download some top quality audio entertainment, sign onto the forums and meet your new best friends.
And meet them I did. About every two months, Simply Syndicated holds ‘meet ups’ which are essentially a chance for people who have only ever communicated through the internet to see each other in the flesh.
I had already arranged to share a room with Sydney (AKA Sissillie on the forums) She had been travelling around Europe and had planned around the meet up. She was already in the room when I arrived. Our first meeting was, well, awkward. Which I suppose is normal for people when they first meet, let alone when they are about to share a room. She headed on downstairs while I stayed to shower.
Freshly showered, I went down to the lobby. The lift was occupied by Simon (Wryterra) and Mike (Heaphestus) of the World 1 Stage 1 podcast. I hadn’t a clue what they looked like but I instantly recognized their voices.
In the lobby, Mary (Mecca) and Jenni (Jen) were chatting with Sydney. We spent a couple of hours there, greeting other ‘Synners’ as they arrived. We had gravitated towards the T.V. which was showing Galaxy Quest. Rather fitting as my first episode of Movies You Should See was a review of it.
The afternoon wore on and the drinks flowed. We eventually had a pretty sizeable group which now included Richard and Allison, the Emperor and Empress of SimpSyn. Many people had brought chocolates from around the world and Jenni and Andrew (Uraifen) had baked some delicious muffins. I admit, I felt a little ashamed that I didn’t bring anything from Ireland. I had planned to but, of course I left it to last minute and it didn’t get done.
We next headed to the Vic. Rich had booked the back room so we had plenty of space to spread out. It was here that James (CaptainMorgan) opened the bag he had been carrying with him and revealed his pirate costume and mini accordion. (Yup, you read that right)
The evening bounced along with many a surprise appearance; Craig Bevan and his fiancé Sophie and Here Goes Nothing host Boz and his girlfriend Lavinia who had spent the previous few weeks bemoaning the fact that she wouldn’t be able to make it.
I think it was around one o’clock when the barmaid tried to get us to leave so she could close up. After she failed to be heard over the crowd, Boz gave it a shot by standing up and shouting at us to get our stuff and get out.
Ten minutes later, we were on our way to the Hi-Fi Club. I bloody loved this place. The music was fantastic although some of our gang would disagree. It was here we were joined by Will Tristram another SimpSyn host. I spent most of the remainder of the night on the dance floor. Most probably embarrassing myself. I do remember dancing with Laura (LauraPakora) though I’m not sure if it was dancing or I was just swinging her around the room. :s
We left the club around 2.30 and headed back to the hotel. We all said our goodnights and fell into bed. Now comes one of my patented, alcohol fuelled bouts of strangeness. At some point in the night, I got up and left the room. I don’t know why, I just jumped from the bed and left. What’s worse is I wound up locked out. So, I had to go down to reception and get another key card, in my pyjamas.
The next morning started…off…very…slowly… We woke up around 9 to the sun beaming in through the windows. Sydney had half-assedly closed them the night before so it was quite a wake up call.
We arranged to meet for breakfast at 9.30. That was a quiet breakfast. It was also delicious. A Traditional English Breakfast is a surefire hangover cure. Most of the gang showed up though some, including Rich, were not only knocking on death’s door but lighting a bag of dog poo on fire and leaving it on the porch.
Back in the lobby and, hangovers temporarily withheld, we waited for everyone to check out. We all hugged and shook hands. The last of the muffins were shared out and we went our separate ways.
On the journey back I experienced a train delayed by two hours and sleeping through my alarm causing me to miss my flight home. I also lost my pen.
But still…
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