This weekend saw our annual forum meet being held in the Welsh capital of Cardiff. Each year we meet in a different town or city in the UK, alternating between the north and the south. We do this to make it easier for people to get to at least one meet every two years, and because we like to experience new things.
I say new things, I mean new bars, new beers and new toy shops.
Previous meets have been held in Birmingham, London, Brighton, Bradford, Leeds and Chester. This was our first ‘international’ meet of sorts.
Anyhow, the meet kicked off in The Prince of Wales pub, by Cardiff train station. After a few pints, as is tradition, we took in a few toy shops while we awaited the arrival of more nerds.
Coming from all over the country it’s impossible to all arrive at the same time, especially when one of the nerds (no names will be mentioned here, but he knows who he is) is late every single time and, this weekend, managed the unprecedented feat of being late TWICE.
We visited shops such as The Galactic Attic, Magic and Mayhem, The Entertainer, The Lego Store, The Disney Store, Hamleys as well as the much maligned trip to The Pumping Station to see the various toy stalls in there.
Note to other geek meets in Cardiff, it’s not really walking distance from the centre. Especially if one of your party is five-years-old. Additional note, if you do walk to The Pumping Station you may find you miss any boats that may or may not have been planned, angering those who wanted to ride on a boat. She knows who she is.
The pub visits were more successful, with impressive numbers of pints being consumed in the Waterguard and the Tiny Rebel bar, as well as many others besides. Our meet climaxed, as it always does, with a curry on the Saturday evening at The Purple Poppadom – again something of a walk from the centre, especially when the Welsh weather is being particularly Welsh.
In all we managed to lure 14 nerds to the meet up, which is pretty impressive seeing as we have a core nerd base that won’t travel north of Watford. There are more nerds in our ‘collection’, and we’re hoping for an even bigger turn out next year.
Plans for our next meet up, probably February/March 2020, have already begun, with destinations suggested of Edinburgh, Dublin and Blackpool. I do hope these places are ready.
