Bradford Elec Eng Reunion 2008

Bradford 2008 kicked off with the now traditional misunderstanding about where and when we should meet. That misunderstanding has also ‘traditionally’ come to involve Phil in one way or the other.

So sat at home on Friday night because we couldn’t get a dog sitter, I received the ‘Well, where are you and where’s everybody else then?’ from Phil who was sat somewhere in Bradford in a pub, alone, forlorn and forgotten.

So the main proceedings became quorate some 24 hours later when Sam and I and Richard and Aud arrived at the Holiday Inn and phoned Phil to arrange a rendezvous.

As per last year we went down to the chippy which I seem to remember has a sign saying that it’s a great plaice to eat and had 2 lots of the 2 for £7.99 special and one lot of the not-so-special because Phil was going gooseberry. He had spent the earlier part of the day in York wandering round the railway museum which, I can report according to him, is jolly interesting. The banter with the waitress was good and involved scollops, the nature of mushy peas which Aud does not like and bread and butter. The waitress seemed shocked to receive a hefty tip as if she’d never had a tip before, which knowing Bradford is probably the case.

We moved on to the Shoulder of Mutton which was much the same. We were immediately accosted by an old man who claimed that he’d come out this morning to Bradford to buy a paper, popped in to the pub to have a drink and hadn’t quite got round to going home yet.

After a time chatting to him, Dave arrived reliably with news that he had ‘retired’ and was planning a life of doing a bit of consultancy and decorating – well for the time being any way. And as the six of us sat there it seemed that this would be about it as far as this year’s group was concerned. Most of the others had sent feeble apologies (excuses) and some had disappeared into that grey, e-mail haven called the ‘Undeliverable Message’.

A notable thing about our annual Bradford visits is that we seem to consistently come into direct contact with more drunken eccentric nutters than one would expect to in a whole year. Part of the reason as far as the Shoulder of mutton is concerned may have to do with the fact that you can still buy a pint of bitter for £1.50. I suppose if you were an eccentric nutter who wanted to get drunk as cheaply as possible this is where you would choose to do it? So the probability of making contact is naturally higher.

Phil is shy

Looking concerned

Andy is tollerated by Phil