INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

 A steady night out due to having to cycle home from the airport. 4 pubs that were all new to me. Cured, Fellows, Fothergills and The Castle. Great turnout and good to catch up with familiar faces. The main downside was the slightly blustery weather. Case in point was Fothergills, which was more of an eating place, but it was too cold to sit outside. If we had gone an hour later, we wouldn't have been getting in the way of the people trying to serve food. Overall, a good night.

  Heard of these events many times before, so it was time I gave it a go.  Got early and grabbed a drink at a nearby bar, expecting massive queues, but people steadily streamed into the venue over a couple of hours. The atmosphere gradually picked up and was in full swing by around 18:00. Unfortunately, I had to leave at around 21:30 due to public transport, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for these events in future.

  A slightly overcast day that cleared up and got hot very quickly. Had a late start due to the popular free car park filling up.  As we headed out, 2 of the walkers were a lot slower than the rest of the group. This made the full walk about 45 minutes longer than usual. There was plenty of friendly conversation, and the rest of the group didn't mind. Everyone enjoyed the views and Old Bunny Woods nature area.

  After 4 years, it had become a bit of a routine, staying overnight Friday and Saturday. The list went from around 25 to a dozen in the last month, I was a little disapointed that some of more colourful characters hadn't made it. It was a similar route, Elephant's Head, Oxford Arms, Wetherspoons, and several others, before finishing at the Horley Arms. I was one of the last few standing at the end and was back at my hostel by around 10pm after starting at midday.

Time to try something new, a pub crawl in a more rural area. Had to put a 35 limit on attendance knowing the actual number was closer to 25. Thankfully none of the venues were packed.  The Railway was a good start with it's spacious front room. The Nags head had a lounge that was like going back in time to the 1980s.  Pick of the day was the white lion, proper old school boozer with a pizza place out the back. Barely beer garden weather but doable. Harrington Arms was the final venue, more of an eating place with a small bar area. The numbers had dwindled by this point to less than a dozen. Got loads of good feedback the following day.

 Not been to Leicester since before Christmas so it was good to catch up. Met in the Rutland and Derby for an hour before going to the actual event. Over 30s and was told to bring ID, it was also a ticketed event. Didn't see any of the security checking anyone for ID. Was expecting a larger crowd than a 2/3 full place. It took a while for the event to build up, good music but drinks flowed for over an hour before many hit the dance floor. The main complaint was that the toilets went out of order and everyone was queuing for one disabled cubical. Things died down after around 7pm

Not wanting to clash with a walk on WAMM I posted this on meetup only and got a lower turnout (5). Admittedly this was one of the furthest walks from Nottingham. Everyone liked the location and most hadn't been before. It took over an hour to reach the bottom of the park. This was a good indicator to the size of the place. We stopped at the White Horse on the edge of Birstall and one of my predictions came true. Two people turned up who'd got the wrong carpark despite me clearly stating which one it was. They came along for the second half of the walk. I got the bonus of a lift home.

 This is a presentation on how money works, from cash to Bitcoin to proposed CBDCs. From my perspective, 80% of the talk was a bit pointless. I'd owned cryptos for a decade, and most of it covered the basics that I already knew.  The debate aspect was CBDCs being used as a “tool for control”. I'd posted a link from my anti-conspiracy blog refuting social media arguments against a cashless society. The response was that CBDCS were not a “conspiracy theory”. I pointed out that rational objections such as a foreign university student being unable to buy food from campus because they had gone cashless were perfectly valid. I also pointed out outrageous claims such as an Australian saying his country hadn't printed any banknotes since 2018. Or CBDCS were going to turn our country into North Korea and go deep into conspiracy territory. They seemed more interested in arguing over the definition of “conspiracy theory” than answering my questions. Funny that.

 A (5) pub crawl that was slightly north of the town centre in several places I'd never been before.  Met in Sherwood manor a large place with lots of people eating. Numbers went up to about 8 before heading across the road to Jenkins. This was a cocktail like place with no seating so we had small drinks and left. The Winchester would have been a great place to spend a summers evening, but sitting outside with smokers trying to keep warm with headlamps was not great. I drank up and went to the next destination alone. Samuel hall was a typical Weatherspoon's I had 4 hot drinks since I was so cold. Like the Winchester we lingered a bit too long after rushing the first pubs. The crafty teller was closing so we went to the Robin Hood which was a bit rough and ready but lively. By this point several of us were clockwatching for the bus. An average night,  

No rain, minimal mud and a 20 person turnout. We headed out past Dishley pool and followed the river by Normanton on soar. Conversation flowed and we headed into town to the excellent and welcoming Dew drop pub.  After getting a little too comfortable we followed the main road back to Dishley.  We headed down Pear tree lane. Then through Baileys plantation, pear tree lane park and Rabbit wood before arriving back at the start point. Great walk with the added bonus of getting a lift home.