Burton Slouch and ZZ9 Meets

[Zarniwoop]

First off here is ZZ9's Description:

Slouches
Slouches are the most common event that we do. The idea is that we travel to somewhere new, and slouch around. OK - you are encouraged to come if you live there, because we will want your advice about what to do and see. We usually gather at the local train station about lunch time and see the sights. Pubs may be involved at some point so please tell us if any minors are coming along. What has this got to do with Hitchhikers? Well, you can look it up.

I am thinking about trying to organise one for Burton..

For a start we got the pub thing down!!!.. There is plenty of visiting potential with the Brewery museum etc.
But beyond just getting some of ZZ9 society up for a good old social, I would like to try and get a local regular Hikers meet going on locally.

First problem is that I organise a lot of stuff already, so a willing volunteer to assist would be great.
Second, it would be nice to get some more people to join the society so it really is a local branch meet as well as trying to seek out any actual members that are nearby

Where to meet, probably one of our nice local pubs and when to meet as the evening calendar is getting quite full.

Mostly it would be nice to hear back if anyone is interested, thinks its a good/bad idea or help spread the word to find any local or nearby members of ZZ9 that might want to get this thing going.

If there is enough interest I can get in contact with ZZ9 to discuss the Slouch idea and see what is involved.

Just floating some ideas..

Thanks for listening

[EvilGinger]

Very interested & would like to help even if not yet a member & usually insanely busy or asleep

 Ginger

[Zarniwoop]

Well when I renewed my subs to Mostly Harmless I ended up discussing this fanciful idea with them.

I got a reply from their social organiser who would like to add it into their schedule for January sometime. I have yet to formally reply but it sounds like a plan, it would encompass the Brewing museum and I guess we would need to plan a decent route from the Train Station to the Museum and back via a good selection of pubs

If people are interested or wish to help as guides to our hoopy froods from ZZ9 when they come for a visit then please reply here or PM me.

[Zarniwoop]

So @ZZ9news organised a Slouch at Burton on Trent Jan 16th which I managed to get too almost on time Still given I walked/jogged/ran it was not bad I was only about 5(ish) minutes late!!

So I met Carrie and Deborah first then Richard and Emma arrived next. I think Carole's influence on me is showing as I was really quite social for me actually starting conversations and everything despite Carole not being there as she was due to meet us at the Musuem (long story not interesting )

So once the gang was all together they foolishly let me (as the local) lead them to their destination, I even managed to do a little bit of tour guidery stuff along the way. We passed down Station street so mentioned the pubs along the way (Coopers, Devonshire, Roebuck) for possible visits on the way back. We passed the now sadly closed Ritz World Buffet where I told them about its restoration and recent bad news. Finally we got to the Museum, due to timings we thought we would be late for the 13:30 tour but there was apparently 30+ people on it so we managed to get in just after they started so tagged along. Many new healthy(!?) excuses have been added to the list for why it is a good thing to drink real ales   .


When the tour left the main building and headed towards the museum proper, I diverted off to meet Carole in the bar and said to the group we would meet them there after looking at the exhibits.

We all met up again in the main bar and sampled many fine beers, though the others decided in the end that the first beer (reservoir) was the best, the rest being good but not as good  



There was good conversation and reminiscing about previous ZZ9 events and socials, as well as good general discussion about Life, the Universe and Everything   We had a quick snack there, with some of us eyeing Emma's plate of food with much envy   as it looked really appetising. We were all just discussing the trendy and maybe impractical use of breadboards instead of plates these days when her meal came served on one.

Afterwards we started the walk back to the station and popped into the Coopers, a lovely pub that feels like going into someone's living room. There we spent a bit more chatting about dogs, pets and other matters and really having a great time. We may have lingered a little too long as we did not have enough time to try either of the other pubs before people need to think about getting back home.



I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the day as well as the company and hope we can do something similar again in the future. I will certainly have to keep an eye on the Calendar to see if I can make it to one of the other Slouches.

Further details of events can be found by following any of these links:

Website: www.zz9.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ZZ9PluralZAlpha/
Twitter: @ZZ9news
Google+: https://plus.google.com/117434720234430336192/

[Zarniwoop]

I have to say I am very excited and happy to see my report on the Burton Slouch has been published in the latest "Mostly Harmless", issue 140.
This is quite novel for me I'm in print