Manchester Meet-Up

Caporegime
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Following on from agw's story...

We set off out of the services, onto the M62, little did we know that the police HQ for the motorway was behind the services, and as 6 or so french hatchbacks lit up wheels, their faces must have been priceless, whilst ours not quite so cheery!

Onto the M62 we head, a big long snake of blue french metal in and out of the traffic, must have looked a little odd to passers-by! We make it the next few junctions down, where agw decides he is going to almost miss the junction, end up at the front of the pack, and not know where he was going! Up the slip road we went, and whats this; agw's car going slowly up the hardshoulder! A fair few of us thought it had broken, but alas, he was just waiting for us to catch up as he was lost, bless!

Off onto the 3 or so mile stretch of lovely open country road down to the pub, the looks of the old couple in a beige/silver clio were priceless as we all shot past on a corner Only for us to arrive at the pub a few mins later. Coco at this time decided that he would overtake gilly, as gilly slowed down to enter the pub carpark! And wouldnt return for 5-10 mins! Just after this, the old dears turn up a further 5 mins or so! They they refused to get out of the car, and sat there in wonder!


We go for lunch...

So, we go for lunch, the pub/restaurant was a lovely little place, even if we were the only people there (bar the old couple too scared to get out of their car, nicely parked right in the middle of the meet cars!). We had a huge table laid out for us, which we did indeed nearly fill, then a thought occured, "where is thedazman67?!?!!!" Hmm, not in the carpark, and nowhere to be seen, has he done a coco? If so he will be approaching Leeds by now!

A few minutes lapse, Firestar returns to the car to get his camera mount come crucifix to scare some people with, and finally "thedazman67" arrives, not due to his 1l R5 not being able to do the hills at any pace, but actually due to a flat
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. Now all sat around the table, listening to varying forum meet anecdotes, and realising that gilly is quite a nutter! We all decide what we will have off the rather good menu (well all except coco who seems oblivious to the fact we are in a pub, must have still been driving in his mind!), and a few of us trundle off to go to order at the bar. We get informed that they will come to the table (why they didnt want the bar to actually appear busy we will never know!), then the waiter/ess (im still undecided if it was male or female) arrives at the table, and asks us one by one what we would like.

One by one up the table s/he gets, until coco, "What would you like sir?" to which coco replies, in a kind of half-dazed and definately doped up voice, "burgoh!", and that was it. A silence hit the table for maybe a minute, maybe less, then the whole table burst into laughter, with many mimicing voices to follow, even the barman/maid smirked! Coco remained oblivious to the whole situation, rather surreal!


We eat...

After paying the bill (muchos gracias to Trickle for tipping the staff, and cheers to mark for the drink), we re-congregate in the now filling-up carpark. A brief chat follows, farewells to braeden, and even a quick chance to take the rip out of Gilly's music taste (Mariah Carey indeed!
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). Gilly proceeds to "find" a copy of Maxim, to which he blatently denies knowledge of, and even places the blame squarely on Otacon
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. We proceed to start-up engines and rev up in synchronous harmony, then one by one leave the carpark, with Gilly leaving his trademark rubber on the road (after flicking up numerous stones from the gravel carpark)!

Heading down the country lanes into this tiny little village of Ripponden, coco again proves his ownership of "big kahunas™" by outbraking out accelerating, and out cornering anything with some form of forward velocity! Entering a 30 limit, the village gets narrower, islands in the middle of the road, double whites, poor attempts at "traffic calming" It was within this section that a cyclist with an inferiority complex, causing him to look about as stable, and keep about as straight as an "alcoholic on a tightrope" got rather in the way a few times; "thedazman67", having none of it cuts him up. The cyclist proceeds to shout profanity, and (bearing in mind he already was unstable on the bike!) starts to give off some very offensive hand gestures!
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We finally get through the village to a set of traffic lights, deciding that the village is a little TOO peaceful, we decided to liven it up, giving our best rendition of Beethovens 5th on our horns (ok ok i lie, it was just a mash of horns and engine revs), some of the looks we were given were superb, looks of disghust, looks of fear, looks of hate, and even looks of confusion were directed at us. The lights change to green and we proceed to turn right, boot it up a rather steep incline, and round a left hander, where we were faced with a traffic cop coming the other way! I was NOT on my own in thinking that ooh-eer he is going to turn round and follow, surely a long line of rather swiftly moving hatchbacks is a good target for a traffic cop), but no, we were left alone.

What follows can only be described as a blur, cymatty was up front, (as he was the only one who knew where to go), followed by Gilly, myself, and then a slowly disappearing 1l R5 (thedazman67). However we hit a loooooong straight (must have been a mile or so long), Gilly and I shoot past cymatty onto the BUMPIEST straight in the world, the rear end skitting everywhich-way (but loose fortunately), seconds later coco appears from nowhere and is past me, hot on the heels of the Gillymobile, gradually pulling away from me I stick with them until my car's talents run out and I feared I might end up in adjacent fields, so back off a little (but not much). Continuing around this "circuit" we get through the "nightmare" junction (that everyone else seems to overshoot, either in smoke or in soiled pants) and start our decline back towards another village (and the second pub!). Catching up with coco ang Gilly on the not so straight parts of the road (they caught traffic), I then stuck with them (after overtaking the traffic on straight on the dam) until we reached this village. Not 100% sure we were in the right place, we enter a pub's carpark.

A few minutes later the guys arrive, however cymatty (living just a few miles away) did not know this pub even had a carpark, so the rest of the guys park on the side of a main road even though we were waving from the carpark entrance!


We go for drinks...

This new pub was rather small, not actually a bad little place, but small, and the selection of beverage was limited. Everyone decided on what to drink, and we all sat huddled in a corner, trying to stay out of the way of the "locals". The conversation turned to agw's dying rover, and the surrounding people's AA/RAC cover
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The conversation then turned back to OcUK anecdotes getting a little heated in places, but funny none the less. We reminisced the previous 15 minutes drive, discussing peoples failed attempts to stop at junctions, braking-incuced plooms of smoke, and dodgy manoevers, not to mention the more hairy moments of the drive (sliding action after the dam Gilly!).

For some odd reason, there was a phenomenon (du doo de doo do) across the table, everytime this one person walked past, eyes would become fixed on their general direction, conversation would cease, and minor dribbling was present from some quivering lips (lol, maybe it was one particular member of the female barstaff who had a rather tasty rear-end, im not sure). A second female member of staff was starting to give us evil looks (probably jealousy from her lack of attention from the sexeh lads in the corner!), and it was around this time that the evil looks became more stern, that we decided to go for another run.

Agw left his dying rover behind (what was that about FRENCH build quality andy!) and hopped onboard the VTR of cymatty for the second trip. It was decided (and this is important) that we would stop at the SECOND carpark, opposite a lone house, on a corner overlooking the reservoir for pictures and another chat.


Off we set...

We left the pub carpark (well the ones of us that found the carpark left the carpark), Gilly deciding to just pop infront of an artic leaving the carpark, leaving me and coco behind. I leave the carpark, and nail it past the truck on the incline, I can only assume coco followed on shortly, and that was it, the three of us never saw the other guys again for the next 20 minutes or so. Things happen pretty much similar to the latter part of the last drive, Gilly follwed by Me, then Coco, right the way down into the village, stopping at the lights.

Gilly at the lights opens his window, leans out and asks me "who has kept up" to which I replied "just Coco", a cheeky grin, the lights change to green, and we are off, back up to the twisties and long straights. Speaking of long straights, this is where coco decides that he wants past me, and off he goes at the speed of sound past me (and its not like I was hanging around either!). We continue to play havoc with the roads, scaring pedestrians, dodging sheep, and generally having a laugh on these very quiet and fun roads.

Now, remember what Coco did at the restaurant? You know, completely ignore slowing down, and disappears off for miles, well he only went and did it again at the carpark we were due to stop at! Despite Gilly's best efforts or hazard lights, waving and the like, coco nails it past gilly and shoots off into the distance, as we both roll into the gravel carpark (features in 90% of the photos in the thread). This induced much laughter from me and Gilly, dumbfounded that he managed to do it AGAIN!

Sitting and waiting for either the others or Coco to return, we were even more surprised that Coco turned up a good few minutes before the rest of the pack! Coco leaving us a fabulous excuse, that he thought Gilly's pointing, indicating, braking, and hazard lights were actually a signal to "give it some welly!" The rest of the guys excuse was a little more plausable (cows in the road - backed up by the vid), but still lame. Odd that we (Gilly, Coco and I) never even saw 1 cow, let alone any on the road!

We then sit around, chat, laugh at my misfortune of finding a rather deep hole in the long grass (and disappearing), take some photos (including the group one), and finally some of the guys say their goodbyes (too much action for them tbh).


We leave in diminished numbers back to pub #2...

Well, what can I say. All that were left of us were the rabble who had nowhere better to be (or didn't trust our own judgement to get home on our own!). We set off from the carpark, in still a spirited, but much less enthusiastic pace than before, quite evidently on wind down from the whole day. The fact that we were winding down and chilling out didn't however stop me from taking a cheeky inside line past thedazman67, and setting off into the distance!

A few minutes later, arriving at the second pub for the second time, we pull up mainly to say our goodbyes and to let agw get back into his dying rover. Some bright spark (who will remain unnamed) asked us if we were all shooting off or staying for "a swift half", and seeing as none of us were particularly needed at any other location in the country, we stayed.

Not really much happened, we sat outside this time, admiring the rather fast bikes (one of which decided to show off in front of us by wheelieing up the road), laughing at the rather tastless modded cars that rumbled past, and even taking a breif intrest in the local bird life (and im not talking feathered here, nudge nudge wink wink). Conversation drifted into the days events, the plumes of smoke, and the multiple soiled undergarments from the less observant/talented of drivers (mentioning no names hehe), and finally deciding that we need another manchester meet, maybe in a different location, but that is as yet undecided!

All in all a fantastic day, which given the choice again would not be missed even if something else had cropped up!

Lookout for MM2 (manchester meet 2) prep threads in the near future!
 
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Soldato
OP
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Superb stuff paradigm! You've captured every single detail in your story, brilliant!

ROFL @ the barmaid walking past. It all started when Gilly decided to watch her go past, unaware that the rest of the table had their eyes on him.

Looking forward to the final part.
 
Caporegime
Joined
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Leafy Cheshire
I was tempted to put the story and pics in another thread, as I'm unsure how many new people are going to join a thread coming up to 600 replies!

Might get some new readers, but then again, im not sure about the rules regarding that, seeing as technically its two similar threads.
 
Caporegime
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Location
Leafy Cheshire
paradigm said:
I was tempted to put the story and pics in another thread, as I'm unsure how many new people are going to join a thread coming up to 600 replies!

Might get some new readers, but then again, im not sure about the rules regarding that, seeing as technically its two similar threads.

I was thinking about starting up a new thread for "Post your meeting pics" we could all stick our meeting and group pics in this thread save us all looking back into the archive etc.

What do you think gilly if i started one up could it be made a sticky?
 
Caporegime
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Cheers anyways boss, nice to see we are already bending the rules :p

Anyone know of a program that i can use to flip a video 180 degrees, the rubish W Movie maker will allow me to flip the image but that makes it look like i have a LHD car :D
 
Soldato
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I'll just add a little more to paradigm's story about when the few remaining people got back to the 2nd pub.

As has already been mentioned, there were several delights on the roads (lots of bikes, and quite a couple of kit cars - 4 in fact) which roared past us and made us grin. Then, of course, we've got the not so delightful cars... a Rover 200 with limo tints driven by a blondie, a Peugeot 106, which when it came into view had some awful music playing. As it drove past, a couple of us pointed out the hideous Lexus lights to which we all had a good chuckle at.

As for my dying car, the alternator belt was very slack since the tensioner bolt decided to give way when I went down to the services on the Saturday. I charged up a second battery on the Saturday night as a precaution and took it with me when I left the house on Sunday. Got out of my estate and set off towards a roundabout which contained the motorway turn off. I got to the roundabout and put my foot down when the car died.

For a couple of weeks, my car has suffered from starting/stalling problems and I've recently realised it's all down to the coolant temperature sensor. The sensor is reading the engines' temperature incorrectly and thus flooding it with petrol to compensate for the low temperature, hence the stalling. After looking quite bewildered with what had just happened, and several repeated attempts to start the car, I got it going and was on my way again. I set off down the M62 and got to the services some 10 minutes later.

Pulled into the services and started chatting to the guys. Mark turned up and I proceeded to tell him about the slack alternator belt. I opened the bonnet to which several members had a good old poke about, when I decided I would start up the engine to show them what it was like. What's this... click click click click. There wasn't enough power in the battery to get the starter going :eek:

I got into a slight panic and was so lucky that I had brought the second battery with me. The best bit was trying to get the bolts undone that held the battery down. In the time it took me to get the battery swapped, cymatty and Coco had both turned up and they all had a good laugh at my expense as I swore and cursed my british built car.

Never again will I slate french cars, when for a good percentage of the meet, I couldn't even get mine going. :(

I'm glad to say that all is now good. I went and picked up a new tensioner bolt today and fitted it tonight. I'm hoping to replace the coolant temp sensor tomorrow and then all should be fine. Just need to get the water pump and cambelt replaced before the RR, and I'll be good to attend any further meets.

Looking forward to the MM2, as the first one was an absolute success. My thanks go to everyone who turned up :)
 
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Caporegime
Joined
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So, who wants to start planning MM2? Maybe get a thread going once this one has died off the first page, and give people a little more notice :p

Still, turnout was good even with the 7 day notice, better than the Southampton mini meets anyway ;)

Nice addition to the story agw :)
 
Caporegime
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paradigm said:
So, who wants to start planning MM2?

We can go today, can you get this afternoon off work...... ;)

Video turned out alright, only ripped at 320x240 cause its 5mins long and was only 22mb at that res, problem is its a little dark sooo i'm going to rip it again tonight at 640x480 :)
 
Caporegime
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Location
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Well the video is up, needed to setup a new Domain / Host but least we can use this for future events, mind saying that no idea what the download speed is like!

Sorry for the GPS mount in the way its a real pain, had some major technical problems with the camera mount meaning I couldn't locate it properly, but never mind I will know for next time.

(Right Click Save Target As!)
Video - Link broken fixing it now!

Bit of background, was shot after the big carpark / group photo on route to the 2nd pub :)
 
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