INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

 On the Bardon Hill walk I got a message from a young female beforehand requesting to join the walk but couldn’t register online. Thinking the website was playing up I told her to just turn up, no problem. At the top of the hill she mentioned something in conversation about not wanting to be photographed or being on social media. I took a short video clip at the top and panned around, she walked off but was laughing about it at the time. The day following I posted 3 sets of pictures online, 1 to the meetup page, 1 to the WAMM Facebook page and the other to my own Facebook page. Within a couple of hours she was frantically messaging me via a friend with the above message.  I obviously removed it but was completely taken back by the tone of her message. Out of curiosity I took a closer look at her meetup profile. She hadn't registered for any event in over a year, obviously taking extreme steps to avoid an online footprint.  The other strange thing was her membership in 70 ...

The time between Christmas and new year is always dead so it is a great time to schedule a walk. I was wondering how many would turn up on a cold foggy morning in Coalville and was surprised to get 22. My highest turnout ever. We headed through the estates before starting the climb. The mud was bad but not horrific. 2 issues included a woman who dropped out without telling anyone and an old man with poor eyesight. The view from the top was none existent but the mood amongst the group was excellent. Many had never been to the top before. The walk down was a lot easier, we had 30 minutes at the Rock where several left early. Then it was an easy 30 minutes back to the start point. My most successful walk to date with a bunch of 5 star reviews. Unfortunately there was an incident the following day that deserves a post of its own.

  A few afternoon drinks in a predictably packed out Weatherspoon's. Spend around 3 hours chatting to the Derby crowd many of which I hadn't seen for a while.  Headed back on the last bus. 

 I hadn't been drinking in the centre of West Bridgford before, so it was a great opportunity.  We met in the Portello lounge, an upmarket place. Conversation quickly flowed. By around 10, some of the lads got restless, and we checked out the Irish bar, which was a bit disappointing. I was going to bail out, but a large group joined us just before the bus arrived, and we sat outside (heatlamps). 4 of us went into town at a surprisingly subdued  6 Barrel Draft House, and I left soon after.

It was good to hear that the Christmas party was going to be different from the usual (mojos). I had an overnight stay in a hotel booked. The list went up to above 150, but dropped to below 120 on the night. In the end numbers were below 100. Spent an hour in the main bar of the whistle and flute before heading down to the basement that was reserved just for us. Great crowd and a Great crowd and a great night. The only pity was a large number of  people left before midnight.