INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

  I'd been given an organizers spot on a drunken night out years ago but never got round to actually using it. I used a day off work to plan a route that I posted on meetup. Initially I was a bag of nerves especially having to post details on parking (I don't drive), planning for bad weather and what to do if people turn up late. The attendee list never went higher than 16, overall 26 people signed up, 7 attended including myself, some dropped out on the day and some dropped out without updating on the website. Expecting a mud bath we headed into Cotgrave country park and followed the Grantham canal all the way to Bassingfield. The ground was reasonable, the weather was mild and the conversations were flowing. It's a lot easier with a  small group. We crossed the fields, the busy main road and had a short pitstop at the garage before heading into Skylarks nature reserve. The path to the river Trent was the only major muddy part which we overcame in a few minutes...

  Arrived early with accommodation booked expecting a very busy night out. Walked into town and it didn't seem any different to a normal weekend night. Met in Weatherspoon's expecting it to be 3 deep at the bar but we all found a table without any problems. The plan was to stay in there until 11pm then head to the fan club. Some of the "usual suspects" didn't turn up and it had an "older crowd" feel about the night.  The fan club quickly filled up and it turned into a "good but nothing special" kind of night. Left around 2:30am.  

  Met in the Bell Inn where we stayed for a couple of hours before taking a walk around the Christmas market.  Unfortunately a small error in judgement ruined most of the night. I waited for a tram to pass while the others ran across the road just before the entrance. In doing so I lost the group in the tightly packed crowds for the next 2 hours. I walked around and grabbed a venison burger (nice but overpriced). Giving up I went to Weatherspoon's for free Wi-Fi to find they had gone to the Pit and Pendulum, only on arrival to discover they had gone to pitcher and piano.  By the time I caught up with them there was less than an hour to my train and the group was starting to disperse. 

  Not the sort of thing I ever envisioned myself doing on meetup but nothing else was happening that day and the weather was awful. I'd debated with Chris on numerous issues on walks and was persuaded to join his group. They meet in a downstairs room at the malt cross every 6-8 weeks.  It began with a 30 minute slideshow highlighting the good and bad of the pharmaceutical industry (which to be fair was well balanced). Followed by a debate, I thought 20 people was far too many but about a dozen people including myself did the majority of the talking. For the record I'm pro science, pro vaccine and consider the alternative medicine industry a scam. Needless to say a hardliner who promoted the theory that covid vaccines make you magnetic (a fringe theory even among antivaxxers) dominated most of the conversations. I expected a lot to be like her but the group was balanced, the debate was civilised. There were a wide range of subjects which off topic such as face to face...