London meetup?

[Occult Means Hidden]

If any regular wants to meet for a drink sometime, message me. Cheers.

[82_28]

I'd love to have a drink with you sometime, OMH. Sadly we have this whole half a world away thing to contend with. How many Londoners do we have here anyways? You, Semper, Ahab, Morgan, Hammer that I can think of off hand.

C'mon guys, get wit it! Go get drunk together!

[justdrew]

I wish. I've always tried to escape to England. Foolish I know. but still. Wish I could meet up. Nice new piece about current GB in the new Harpers. check it out.

When I was a kid I tried to get into England on a one way ticket. knowing no one, with only a few hundred dollars in my wallet. and a hundred pound note I found out had been "retired" - but the government made Virgin take me back to Amerikay, after a night in the Beehive Immigration and Detention Center. Too bad, who knows what the world would be like today if I'd successfully entered Britain (with naught but my leather-jacket and electric guitar) in 1989. (or was is 88?).

Anyway, cheers

[Stephen Morgan]

I'd love to have a drink with you sometime, OMH. Sadly we have this whole half a world away thing to contend with. How many Londoners do we have here anyways? You, Semper, Ahab, Morgan, Hammer that I can think of off hand.

C'mon guys, get wit it! Go get drunk together!

Londoner! How dare you. I'm not from that pit of iniquity. Vanlose is.

Also, teetotal.


ALL hail to Mr Murphy, he is a hero brave,
That has crossed the mighty Atlantic wave,
For what purpose let me pause and think-
I answer, to warn the people not to taste strong drink.

And, I’m sure, if they take his advice, they never will rue
The day they joined the Blue Ribbon Army in the year 1882;
And I hope to their colours they will always prove true,
And shout, Hurrah ! for Mr Murphy and the Ribbon of Blue.

What is strong drink? Let me think– I answer ’tis a thing
From whence the majority of evils spring,
And causes many a fireside with boisterous talk to ring,
And leaves behind it a deadly sting.

Some people do say it is good when taken in moderation,
But, when taken to excess, it leads to tribulation,
Also to starvation and loss of reputation,
Likewise your eternal soul’s damnation.

The drunkard, he says he can’t give it up,
For I must confess temptation’s in the cup;
But he wishes to God it was banished from the land,
While he holds the cup in his trembling hand.

And he exclaims in the agony of his soul –
Oh, God, I cannot myself control
From this most accurs’d cup!
Oh, help me, God, to give it up!

Strong drink to the body can do no good;
It defiles the blood, likewise the food,
And causes the drunkard with pain to groan,
Because it extracts the marrow from the bone:

And hastens him on to a premature grave,
Because to the cup he is bound a slave;
For the temptation is hard to thole,
And by it he will lose his immortal soul.

The more’s the pity, I must say,
That so many men and women are by it led astray,
And decoyed from the paths of virtue and led on to vice
By drinking too much alcohol and acting unwise.

Good people all, of every degree,
I pray, ye all be warned by me:
I advise ye all to pause and think,
And never more to taste strong drink.

Because the drunkard shall never inherit the kingdom of God
And whosoever God loves he chastens with his rod:
Therefore, be warned, and think in time,
And don’t drink any more whisky, rum, or wine.

But go at once– make no delay,
And join the Blue Ribbon Army without dismay,
And rally round Mr Murphy, and make a bold stand,
And help to drive the Bane of Society from our land.

I wish Mr Murphy every success,
Hoping he will make rapid progress;
And to the Blue Ribbon Army may he always prove true,
And adhere to his colours– the beautiful blue.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

How many Londoners do we have here anyways? You, Semper, Ahab, Morgan, Hammer that I can think of off hand.

C'mon guys, get wit it! Go get drunk together!

I'm in Glasgow, 82_28, a couple of hundred miles up the road, but I do love London (and a drink of course). I'm glad you replied to OMH, I was feeling kind of bad for him the more I saw the thread here with no replies. Good on ye for getting us in here. Don't think I've got the money to get down there right now though. Come to think of it, since I'm not a Londoner, I'm not even invited.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

When I was a kid I tried to get into England on a one way ticket. knowing no one, with only a few hundred dollars in my wallet. and a hundred pound note I found out had been "retired" - but the government made Virgin take me back to Amerikay, after a night in the Beehive Immigration and Detention Center. Too bad, who knows what the world would be like today if I'd successfully entered Britain (with naught but my leather-jacket and electric guitar) in 1989. (or was is 88?).

If you'd gone to Ireland first, then took the ferry to Liverpool, you could've easily become the extra rythym guitarist that Echo and the Bunnymen always lacked and desperately needed. The leather jacket alone would've got you in the door.

God damn UK immigration. Chucked you out and let Moussa Koussa in?!? The Foreign Office and Home Office should both be proscribed organisations, acknowledged by the security services and the public as severe dangers to the continued stability of the British state and the continued unity and integrity of Great Britain as it is currently constituted. 'Cos they are.

And they also have serious downsides.

Why were you running away to England though, Drew, if you don't mind me asking? Too much Flock of Seagulls as a youngster or something?

[gnosticheresy_2]

London, it's right next to Scotlandshire and DaphnefromFrasierton

[justdrew]

When I was a kid I tried to get into England on a one way ticket. knowing no one, with only a few hundred dollars in my wallet. and a hundred pound note I found out had been "retired" - but the government made Virgin take me back to Amerikay, after a night in the Beehive Immigration and Detention Center. Too bad, who knows what the world would be like today if I'd successfully entered Britain (with naught but my leather-jacket and electric guitar) in 1989. (or was is 88?).

If you'd gone to Ireland first, then took the ferry to Liverpool, you could've easily become the extra rythym guitarist that Echo and the Bunnymen always lacked and desperately needed. The leather jacket alone would've got you in the door.

God damn UK immigration. Chucked you out and let Moussa Koussa in?!? The Foreign Office and Home Office should both be proscribed organisations, acknowledged by the security services and the public as severe dangers to the continued stability of the British state and the continued unity and integrity of Great Britain as it is currently constituted. 'Cos they are.

And they also have serious downsides.

Why were you running away to England though, Drew, if you don't mind me asking? Too much Flock of Seagulls as a youngster or something?

a fair question. but... I don't know, I had left college or rather it left me, and I had some money left over, enough to "roll the die" once on some idea, but I didn't have any clear plan. I'd have been broke in days, they may have done me a favor. It was a one-way ticket. Had it been a round trip, they'd have probably let me in, but I couldn't afford both ways.

something I just thought of... how the heck would an American mother in the early 70s have known about Andy Pandy? I'm not seeing any indication that that was ever broadcast on american tv.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

London, it's right next to Scotlandshire and DaphnefromFrasierton

London encompasses the whole of England. The countryside bit nearby is called Scotireland. Wales, as a principality, has produced John Cale from the Velvet Underground and nothing else of any note in it's entire history.

It's churlish to be churlish about people from other places seeing it this way, though (I'm not saying 82_28 does see it that way, just that it's a pretty common view) given that most British people are equally uninformed of their own country's real georgraphy, history, and current status, due to the weird and ever-changing propaganda produced by the British state.

And given how confusing and changeable the geography, history, and status of these constituent nations have been in reality over the centuries, it's churlish to be annoyed at British people not knowing much about it either. I still don't. Not really. We're encouraged not to think about it much. It's just supposed to be the best nation ever, and always will be, even if large parts of it subsist in grinding poverty, and always have, and always will. But don't get me started!

I don't know, I had left college or rather it left me, and I had some money left over, enough to "roll the die" once on some idea, but I didn't have any clear plan. I'd have been broke in days, they may have done me a favor. It was a one-way ticket. Had it been a round trip, they'd have probably let me in, but I couldn't afford both ways.

Ah, I don't know. Bill Bryson did alright just by turning up with nothing and hanging out. I love "Notes From A Small Island" - it is a great book for anglophiles (horrible word, but an admirable trait in most circumstances) who don't have too much of a rose-tinted view, or a vested interest in seeing Britain itself as infallible. He ended up, through no plan of his own, getting a job at The Times, and accidentally became involved in the Wapping printer's strike against Murdoch's nascent empire (actually, from his own account, it's quite clear that he was regularly crossing the picket lines, but I forgive 'im since he's American and might not have known what that meant at the time). It's a great book if you want to get a view of Britain from the perspective of an American who had previously dreamed of the country through the prism of it's own internationally projected self-image. He was here around about the same time that you nearly were.

The book's not a harsh deconstruction or a heartbreaking tale of epic disillusionment or anything, in case I've made it sound that way. Just a funny, sarcastic, and accurate travelogue. Good book.

something I just thought of... how the heck would an American mother in the early 70s have known about Andy Pandy? I'm not seeing any indication that that was ever broadcast on american tv.

I... I don't know. When did BBC America start up? Jesus, not till 1998! So the knowledge can't have come from there. And Andy Pandy was made in the fifties (though a new series was made in the 70s as well, but only broadcast in Britain to my knowledge). Maybe your Mum was just exceptionally cool and knew about stuff from other places? My Mum and Dad were big into Motown, in Scotland, in the 60s. And so was everybody else. But Andy Pandy was no Berry Gordy, so that's definitely a puzzler.

Did yous all know about Desperate Dan over there, from the Dandy comic books? There's a scene from an early eighties British drama I want to post on the film scenes thread, but it makes no sense (and is not funny) unless the viewer already knows who Desperate Dan is. I'd bet money Gnostic will know the scene I mean.

[Hammer of Los]

...

I'm desperate, Dan.

Gizza job.

...