Yep, it's that time again already... the dust has barely settled on the last cast party (and where are your pictures yet, Amanda?) and already there's been a fair bit of msn discussion about England - 2005.
There have been a few thoughts floating around. Mostly, though, we need to work out who's wanting to come and what's the best time for everyone? I know a lot of you require it to be around school break time, so the suggestion is that we schedule it for July/August. Which is good, since that'll cover what passes for summer in the UK... :wink:
The tradition has been that the party be hosted in the home city of one of the players. The LA CP was at Sherl's place, the Melbourne one at my Mum's... so it'd be good if we could have the UK one in similar circumstances. I've heard a couple of people mention London, but I think that's just because it's the capitol - nobody in LABN actually lives IN London. I think it'd be nice if it was in somebody's home town, at least.
However, that said, none of our members really have a place that's suitable. Robin's the only one who lives independently, and he's in a small one-bedroom flat which isn't really up to the task. So it looks like we may have to arrange accommodations such that we're all in the same hotel and we have at least one suite big enough to fit everyone. Dave and I had a largish suite at The Alexander in LA and it served pretty welll for gatherings.
My personal vote would be to hold it in the north of England, so at least we'd be closer to the majority of our UK members (sorry, Matt... you're the only one who lives down south). But my knowledge of the English countryside is limited to what I can sift through on the net. Those who live locally will know the pretty areas to visit and stay in... What are your suggestions?
So, a summary:
1. Who's going?
2. When is a good time?
3. Where will we have it?
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CP 2005 - England
And to answer myself...
1. Dave and I are going.
2. Late July/August sounds good to us, but any time is Ok (preferably warmer weather, though).
3. Somewhere pretty and interesting.
CP 2005 - England
Yaaay, second one to answer. w00t.
I cannot go for the reasons why I couldn't go to Melbourne"s :? If anyone forgets, here is why:
1. Under 18, parents won't allow me.
2. Too poor
3. Uh... too poor lol.
Yeah...
But hey, I probably can go to Montreal 2006 :D
CP 2005 - England
1. Ok I honestly will most likely make this one :)
2. Well, I know you guys said July/Aug, but if there was no preference, ill probably be in Italy for a month from like end of May to mid June so it would be pretty cool if I could just hop the train over at the end of that and head to the UK. Of course, if people cant, ill make the best effort to trek my arse back to Merry Ol' England
3. Where will we have it: In my opinion, I think London would be best because A) Those of us not from England would probably prefer to see London than some small towns up in the North (no offence to anyone). B) More things to do in the big city. C) well....probably better shopping :P
PS: 2006 better be Montreal!
CP 2005 - England
1. ill go
2. ey manchester would be the best choice for up north or middel ways for folk being im the only scotsman in labn
3. shuan london is liek everycity in britin just bigger and more of the same shops serouly
CP 2005 - England
I'm going to use all my powers to make this one. In fact, I'm going to see if my mother can go with me -- if you all don't mind. That should be fun.
I would prefer July/August because it gives me more time to accrue $$ and vacation time at my new job.
Going to London is kinda meh for me. Somewhere lovely is my preference -- nowhere cold!
CP 2005 - England
its britin mate its allways sodden cold itas - 4 out tonite with wind WITH WIND
CP 2005 - England
Of course I'll be going! Erm, sometime in july would be best. Late june is me b'day, and i wanna be home around then. Or maybe August. Either way, as far down south as it can be made plz :)
If it is in London: Jamie, Shaun, anybody else - up for a Monopoly board pub crawl round London?
CP 2005 - England
Will you even be old enough to drink?? :wink: :twisted:
CP 2005 - England
dose it matter we are british we ahve been drinking since we were 2 we are the only race of people who before going out for a drink ...have a drink :D and us scots get a bad name ill tell you its them english holiday makers that are teh bad ones
CP 2005 - England
Jamie, i hope you are drunk, because that message was impossible to understand!! Willyou be talking like that if we get to see you in person? :wink:
CP 2005 - England
There's an old saying that the Scottish are doubly incomprehensible becasue the think what they speak is English.
CP 2005 - England
naw its just us glasweigans that are like that we talk twice as fast as the irish and can twice as drunk just as fast 8)
CP 2005 - England
1) Who's coming: I'M COMING :D and my friend jen (hehe, yes, those of you - namely robin - who had to live through that torment last time, shall have to live through it again :twisted: to the others: she actually ain't that bad, i just like making it seem so. plus she and robin had a fun ol' time last time which is why i poke fun at him. Rather smashing actually :wink: (ps. that looks worse than it actually was, hehe (shutting up now)))
2) When: whenever, doesn't bother me. so long as it's after May :wink: *i'm so excited... and i just can't hide it...* :mrgreen:
3) Where: i have noooo idea as of yet what my preference to this is. who knows! i might be living in some swanky huge ass apartment right smack bam in the middle of London, baby, YEAH :mrgreen:
4) Pictures: they're coming :oops: am just ver' busy and important. that, and i have to scan each photo individually then manually transfer them from one comp to another :oops: :oops: :oops:
5) Jamie, i just noticed you didn't even answer question 2, and instead answered question 3 twice, using number 2... if that made any sense
and also!
6) you're talking about pre-drinks there sonny jim :P you aren't the only bloody country that drinks before they go out for a drink. it's cheaper that way! get pissed before you go out, but not enough that they'll refuse entry when you get to where you're going :wink: as far as i'm concerned, any country that doesn't do that would have to be crazy :?
CP 2005 - England
Okay I so meant to answer this sooner, I shall be coming to the cast party naturally even if I have to sell my soul for minimum wage to pay for it! I think July/August is a pretty good time of year, July tends to be the hottest month (but this is England so don't be surprised if it pisses it down or even snows - yeah it has been known.)
As for where, I'd really like to go to London, there'd be a ton of stuff to do through the day and most of it tends to be free nowadays. Plus with it being July/August there might be some open air concerts too, not to mention loads of varied nightlife - who's up for a ride on the London Eye ;).
There's also going to be alot more reasonably priced accomodation too which could be a factor since you'll get less for your hard earned dollars over here. Heather mentioned getting a minibus but really I wouldn't advise anyone to try and DRIVE through London unless you have a death wish and actually like paying congestion charges and astronomical hourly parking fees. Getting around by tube and train really is the only way to go.
Um, I can't think of anything else just now, i'm sure I will later ;)
CP 2005 - England
Sigh...Is it even necessary at this point for me to say that there's no way I'll be making this one either? Obviously not...
CP 2005 - England
Actually, the minibus suggestion was for if we wanted to have a day trip (or an overnight trip) away from wherever we held the CP, be it London or elsewhere.
During the Melbourne CP we did an overnight trip down the Great Ocean Road, which was fantastic. I wondered if perhaps we might do something similar in England... maybe spend a day touring some castles or whatever. *shrug* I certainly wasn't planning on driving in London.
I'm still not real keen on the idea of having it in London at all, but if that's where the majority want to have it, that's where we'll have to go. It's just a matter of putting it to the vote, I suppose. The CP itself only lasts a few days - Dave and I can leave the big smoke and go visit more interesting places afterwards. :)
CP 2005 - England
SQUEEE!!! UK CP!!! YAY!!!
*calms down* ok, i might be here in manchester in august, i'm planning on doing an internship, either in manchester or in london, and i may do it in london just to make it for the CP.
so i think i might be coming!!! YAY!!!
CP 2005 - England
I found this on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=25617&item=650391...
Apartment in London GBP 150/night in the heart of the city.
It is interesting becasue it is a full apartment that sleeps 4 (sofabed and bedroom). It has a pool and workout room. Split among 3 its only 50gbp each or 4 it's 75gpb. In other words, a fair bargain for two couples or a couple and a friend.
Just thought I'd pass it along
Here's another one - same building $300 US and it sleeps 6.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1310&item=6505220...
CP 2005 - England
Do you guys think we can soon decide on official dates because for some, (ala those travelling across the ocean) its alittle more difficult to plan. It would be alot of help if I knew the dates sooner than later :)
CP 2005 - England
Bagsy a bed! :P
CP 2005 - England
It makes little difference to me when it is exactly - I'll have to arrange time off work no matter when we pick. For those who are students, however, it seems that the holidays would be the best time to have the CP.
So... those who have definite date limitations, let us know what they are so we can begin pinning this thing down to something concrete.
CP 2005 - England
yea holidays would be good for me + gives me a little time to gather funds i would need to get about 400 odd pound to even have a half way good time down in london
me mat shuan in soho you know what i meen :wink:
CP 2005 - England
Ok, Jamie - but what are the DATES of the holdiays? Those of us who don't live in the UK have no idea when your holidays are, which is why I asked for people to list the dates. :)
CP 2005 - England
Plus schools in Scotland have different holidays to schools in England so Jamie really IS the only one who'd have a clue when that is :?
CP 2005 - England
im a collge merchant i can i think we get the same days off as the english colleges anol im no sure throu
CP 2005 - England
School holidays are usually around mid/late june through to septemberish. Unless you have exams, like me, in which case college won't finish until end of june/start of july (damnit. My last exams are on 28th and 30th of June. When is my *18th* birthday? That's right bloody 29th of June. >_< Is Matt going to be able to get wasted on his birthday legally for the first time ever? No. Bastards.)
This said, best time for me would be mid-july or later. Early August should also be cool as well.
CP 2005 - England
I'm easy peesy. i'll be there, garaunteed (did i mention i got my tickets to london already? hehehehe ^_^ yes, i think i did.... oh well! yay)
ps. we had a lovely 29 degree day today, and are having a lovely 35degree day tomorrow :D did i mention i have BOTH these days off work to bask! SQWEEE!
CP 2005 - England
How convenient! The weather here is supposed to reach 29 also. Of course, that's using real temperature measurements. ;)
CP 2005 - England
And here... it's been snowing steadily for the past three hours :?
CP 2005 - England
This morning was a balmy -12C (about 10F) so the less said about sun and warmth will spare you hours of humiliation later, if you get my meaning.
CP 2005 - England
Woke up this morning to ice on the windows and -12C on the thermometer. That's 10F for you backwards-types. :wink:
Brrr, I don't want to go to work today... it means I have to set foot out there. :?
CP 2005 - England
Stop posting just before me, you bugger. :P hehe
CP 2005 - England
ohhh noooooo -12 SOOOO cold.....
Yeah, -25 here today, I win.
CP 2005 - England
Well, here it was Cold Enough To Stop Smoking which is even more cold than Freezing My Bollicks Off (Yes, I use my own personal rating system :) None of that farenhite or celcius crap).
By the end of the week its expected to be OMFG How Can It Be This Cold And Not Snow? I beleive...(joy)
Y'see, here in England, its rarely cold enough to snow, when you can actually enjoy the cold because of said snow, but its still BLOODY FREEZING. At least all you lot moaning about the cold can usually expect to get snow (unless you live down under or in the middle of a desert) so quit moaning :P
CP 2005 - England
Here we are enjoying a spectacular beach day.:D
In my country we never get less than 5 degrees (centigrades, of course. What kind of system starts at 32º, come on! :roll: 0 is the freezing point for water and 100 is the boiling one, it cant get more logical than that, right?)
CP 2005 - England
Actually, we had snow not long ago. It's akin to Moses and that whole Red Sea thing around here, but it happens. Very rarely, but even in the middle of the desert, snow sometimes falls. It was 10 days ago, and it's 54 F today. God, I do love this town.
CP 2005 - England
I'm glad to see y'all getting into the spirit of this topic... talking about the weather is a great British pastime - that and the state of the roads. Have I mentioned recently that I hate those stupid spot round-a-bouts? The ones where it's more dangerous to actually drive AROUND it than over it? Try explaining that to the boys in blue when they pull you over - and as for pot holes and traffic calming measures? Fuhgeddaboutit!
I'll make Anglophiles out of you all yet! :twisted:
CP 2005 - England
I know those roundabouts. They started putting things like that in skinny suburban streets in Melbourne a little while back. The best part was, they made the central island pretty flush with the road so it was no trouble just driving straight over them. :)
Hmm, is it possible to get pie floaters in London?? I haven't seen one since moving to the US.
CP 2005 - England
Update....i made a mistake, it was -25 WITHOUT the wind chill....the official rating today WITH windchill factored in was a lovely -37. Lets just say my little nose was VERY cold walking from metro to my car
(Metro = subway)
CP 2005 - England
Oh joy.
266 Kelvin outside and snowing!
CP 2005 - England
Oooooh! Look who's going all science boy on us! :twisted: What? is Farenheit and Centigrade too good for you now? :wink:
CP 2005 - England
I had to drive home on snow today - my first time driving on snow. Luckily, it had stopped actually snowing some 3 hours earlier so the snow-ploughs and salters etc (whatever the hell they do to the stuff so you don't wind up in a ditch) had already been through most of my route home. Mind you, the traffic was bloody slow... :?
CP 2005 - England
Welcome to America :)
CP 2005 - England
Well, given the underwhelming interest to the call for date preferences, I'm making an executive decision based on the limited response received.
How does an official UK Cast Party date of 16th July 2005 sound?
I envisage getting to London on the 14th or so, and generally hanging about together over the CP weekend (Fri 15th to Sun 17th) then we'll take it from there for the rest of the week. We could fit in a day trip or two if we want - there are plenty of places you can get to on the train that are only a couple of hours away. Given how many of us will be going, we may not all want to go see the same things but might split up into smaller groups. We can play it by ear when we're there.
One thing that I'd highly recommend is to have us all staying in the same place - none of us will have our own transport so if we're in the same hotel or B&B we'll have a good base of operations. I've done a little research in this area and have discovered a pair of B&Bs that sound interesting. This is the blurb I have on them (from a 2004 guide book).
Now, the rack rates are what you'd expect to pay if you walked in off the street. If we were to book for five months ahead and tell them we want accommodation for a week for upwards of 10 people I'm sure they can do much better. From the prices I've seen so far for London, these are quite reasonably cheap and they sound comfortable. With enough of us staying at one, I daresay we could more or less 'take over' the common room area and turn it into our meeting place. :)
So, any thoughts, comments, suggestions?
CP 2005 - England
I ABSOLUTE LOVE the place and I think it'd be something I can swing.
The dates are iffy for me -- the later it is the better it is for me (later in July or early to mid-August) -- new job and all -- more accrued vacation time, etc.
But since my LABN board status is hit and miss at best, I don't think it fair for me insist on consideration. You all fix the dates most convenient and appropriate for you, and I'll do my damnedest to make it.
My mother's trying to weasel out of coming with me, but if I hit her on the head and drug her, maybe I can get her on a plane.
CP 2005 - England
If it helps any, My mother has also expressed an interest in going.
CP 2005 - England
I don't have a problem with those dates, anything after the Wimbledon tournement has a better chance of good weather too (call me superstisious but it ALWAYS seems to rain for Wimbledon - especially if you're on holiday then :? ) Right now dates aren't an issue for me since I'm not working and I had to drop out of uni because of all my *sigh* blah, blah health 'issues'. I'm sure I'll have things sorted by July - lets face it if i'm still sick in another six months I'll probably hang myself anyway :evil:
Um, yeah so time isn't really an issue for me 'cos so long as I have specific dates I can book the time off with any job I get before then. I haven't checked out that web site yet Heather but I agree that staying in the same place (or hotels that are pretty close) would be best.
BTW, England's pretty small so I'm quite sure you can get almost anywhere in a few hours on the train - assuming there aren't leaves on the line :wink:
CP 2005 - England
Much like Sher, the later it is, the better the chance I can make it. And I mean really make it. I should hopefully have a new job soon, which means my credit cards can actually get paid down to the point where I can afford to put things like tickets on them, and take time off. Later July, or even Mid August would work best for me.
Damn.
I hate being a poor student.
CP 2005 - England
Of course the only problem with August is that by that time ALL the school kids will be unleashed making the big smoke hmm, i'd say around x500 busier and surprise, surprise, the prices for things (like tickets, hotel rooms etc) tend to go up too. :?
The begining/mid July would avoid most of that since the majority of schools break up in the last week of July if memory serves (I'm not including colleges or school kids doing exams but primary and secondary schools which normally means loads of families and screaming kids everywhere).
August also has a tendancy for poor weather over here too - July DOES tend to be warmer and less rainy.
But of course, getting people there is the main thing afterall.
CP 2005 - England
HEY!
Some of us LIKE cooler and rainy, you know. :)