The day today

[venta]

This morning, I wandered round pubs asking if my rapper team could pop in and dance there tomorrow. I've done this round Oxford before; it involves extensive explaining of what kind of dancing we do, assuring them we won't harass their customers, arguing about whether an entertainment licence is necssary, convincing them we won't damange their floor/ceiling/fittings...

I didn't bother going into the known rapper-friendly pubs in Darlington, we'll wing it with them tomorrow morning. I wandered round the rest of the town-centre hostelries (getting a few funny looks as I stuck my head round the door and eyed up the ceiling-height and whether they were carpeted), and found four which looked suitable. One said I'd have to go back later and ask the manageress, which was a bit of a pain. Of the the other three, two immediately said "no problem", and the third said we were welcome to try if we could find the space.

Learn, you grumpy southern bastard pubs.

In case anyone else ever wants to organise a rapper tour in Darlington town centre:

Known rapper-friendly pubs: Tap & Spile, Twenty-2, Turk's Head, Glittering Star, the-Irish-pub-on-Duke-Street (no one seems to know its name), Quaker Coffee House (daft name for a pub), Pennyweight,

People who said yes: Hole in the Wall, Green Dragon, Duke's, (?Golden Cock)

Order of the Carpet: Falchion, Queen's Head, Nag's Head, Tanner's Hall, Red Lion, The George, Slater's Arms, Boot & Shoe, The Brittania, Bierrex (which used to be The Bowes), Humphry's,

Undecided: Flare's (the place was deserted, couldn't find anyone to ask...), Yates (couldn't face going in to find out)

And yes, this is just the town centre. We have a lot of pubs :)

Of course, as far as being in the north goes, the two and a half hour train journey up the East Coast Mainline last night was also a bit of a giveaway.

This afternoon I went and ambled round the railway museum in Darlington. It's very small, compared to the museum in York, and I've been there often before, but it's a fun place to amble round. I found a drinking mate of my Dad's perched on top of Locomotion, polishing its paintwork... and, as usual, anyone who works in a museum is full of useless information about the exhibits. So I chatted to him for a while, and found out all kinds of interesting things about the unusual design of "Derwent", one of the other very early locos. If you like that kind of thing :) I'm descended from a long line of trainspotters, I can't help it...

Oh, and an update for anyone who cares about the Ancient Order of Kalithumpians, and Mr d'Arcy Orders.

It seems that the AOK, be it real or imaginary, does actually exist and meets around three times a year in Cambridge. However, it was formed in the 1920s at the suggestion of "a man
from the North" who was aware that similar societies already exisited in Darlington and Stockton before WWI. Mr Orders wants readers of the Darlington and Stockton Times to volunteer any information about the origins (or continuing existence) of these northern societies.

Apparently, the members have "made up a comic history over the years which claims Kalithumpus was an Egyptian second-hand camel salesman".

And, courtesy of my mother:

There once was a young man from Kent,
Whose tool was exceedingly bent,
To save himself trouble
He pushed it in double,
And, instead of coming, he went.

Comments

That is awful...

[condign.livejournal.com]

...awful, awful, awful. :(

Is a penchant for horrible limericks a Northern trait too?