INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

It's one year ago today since I first signed up and at the time of writing this I have attended 17 meetups with varying degrees of "success". The following is a summery of my first years meetup experience. 1) It's made a big difference to my social life. Before joining I spent 90% of my weekend nights sitting in the same 3 or 4 village pubs, wishing that this was the night someone wanted to go out and do something different. Now I have a calendar full of events often having to choose between multiple events on the same day. 2) If you life outside a big city be prepared to travel . The nearest meetup to date from my home was around 10 miles and required a change of buses. I constantly have to use infrequent night buses where possible to get home from Leicester, Derby and Nottingham to keep the costs down. 3) You need to attend at least a dozen meetups across different groups and different types of events to get a proper feel of it. There is a big variation b...

After a terrible Christmas in which I was struck down by a horrible flu for nearly a month a good night out was long overdue. We met at the standing order for a couple before heading off to the flowerpot, nobody seemed to be doing dry January as both places were packed. Apparently it's a popular live music venue in Derby but I'd never been before. The band were great and the atmosphere was outstanding, I met a load of familiar faces with the group as well as some new ones. Had a few drinks after the band had finished, I didn't have the energy to carry on after midnight but everyone else seemed to be going anyway. Got absolutely soaked walking back to the bus station......