Here's Cha0tic and PP enjoying Saturday evening.
This year we stayed in a pleasant little hotel on the Tettenhall Road The York Hotel.
Arrived on Friday night and after a couple of pints of Guiness in the hotel bar we ventured out to our favourite old haunt The Newhampton public house, where we occupied the back room for the remainder of the evening. Lots of beer, gossip and catching up. The journey down and several pints Landlord later got the better of me, and I was snoring in my chair by the end of the evening!
Up for a rather nice cooked breakfast at 09:30, then back to bed until 11:30.
Walked into town, and made a detour past a couple of houses that we occupied once as students. Looked pretty much like the same landlord was keeping them in the same state of disrepair :)
Walked round the town centre, then stopped at a pleasant little Pizzeria for a spot of lunch.
Found ourselves with a little time to kill before meeting up with the rest of our pals, so we went onto the Gothic/Metal watering hole, known as The Giffard Arms. Whilst we were standing at the bar enjoying the music and the scenery, a couple of rock-star look alikes came in. "He fancies himself as a bit of a Robert Plant look-alike" I thought. It turned out that he was Billy Kulke, the lead singer in the Led Zeppelin tribute band Letz Zep, and his mate was Simon Jeffrey, the drummer.
Leaving The Giffard behind, we went on to The Posada, to meet up with everyone else. We stayed there until England had lost to Ireland in the Rugby, and then it was Curry Time!
We dined at a crowded little Balti house on Broad street, that is conveniently next door to an off-licence, so wine was purchased and fetched round, to go with the meal. Crispy poppadums, a selection of tangy chutneys and dips, onion bhajis, fresh salad, tasty curry's and piping hot Naan breads were all devoured with gusto.
Rolled out of the Balti house, and round to the Hog's Head pub. There seemed to be a lot of blokes out in black curly wigs and heavy eye make up, accompanied by girls dressed as chamber maids. So The Rocky Horror Show must have been in town, or was this was just Wolverhampton on a Saturday night?
After shivering in the open air beer garden for a bit, we voted to finish off the evening by attending the Gig that was taking place at the Wulfrun Hall.
Hats off to cha0tic for arranging for a couple of us to get in on the Guest List, and to the Wonderful and Kindly staff of the Wulfrun Hall, who allowed three more of our party in for free (we were willing to pay, but the box office had just shut for the evening).
We managed to catch the last few songs of Limehouse Lizzy's set, and the whole of Letz Zep's. Limehouse Lizzy put on a polished performance, and did a good job of reproducing the sound of Thin Lizzy. Letz Zep's guitar work was fine, the vocals were OK, but the drumming was a bit weak. They were also a lot rougher in the mix. A good night all the same, and the band members were all in the bar after their sets.
Dr C. was tiring by the end of the evening, and did what I did the previous night i.e. fell asleep. Due to the lack of chairs in the Wulfrun Hall he assumed a perfectly balanced "squatting buddha" position.
We augmented this with a few strategically placed pint glasses, and began to take photos. We should have charged for this, as soon a crowd had gathered, snapping away - including one of the Security Team, who just walked off chuckling, after taking photo "for Security purposes".
Shook Dr C awake - then headed back to the now very crowded Giffard and a final few drinks amongst the exotic crowd there.
Fond farewells, and a Taxi back down the Tettenhall Road to the hotel.
Another tasty breakfast the next morning. Checked out of the hotel and dropped PP off at the station with promises to never drink beer again/do this again next year.
Whizzed back up the M6 and home.
Great Weekend!
