International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend.

Posted by: julf

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 25/12/2005 14:43

Quote:
Does anyone know if I can drive from Munich, Germany to Cambridge, UK?

Absolutely. You can even pop in here in Amsterdam on the way, and then take the Hook of Holland - Harwich ferry.

Posted by: mcomb

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 27/12/2005 04:00

Quote:
I've seen photo's of the cars @ 155 with under 100 miles on the car.

I broke 130 in my mustang on the way home from the dealership. Maybe not the brightest thing (I'm in the US), but I agree with the philosophy that cars these days are 98% broken in from the factory and the only way to take care of the last 2% is to run it hard. So far so good.

-Mike

Posted by: tfabris

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 27/12/2005 07:04

Quote:
I agree with the philosophy that cars these days are 98% broken in from the factory and the only way to take care of the last 2% is to run it hard.

I say the way to take care of the car is to follow the owner's manual. If it says to do something special during the break-in period then do it. If it says you don't need to do anything special, then fine. But I'd generally go by what the manufacturer tells me.

Did you ever even look at the Mustang's manual?

Posted by: Cris

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 27/12/2005 16:37

Please ignore me.

Thanks

Cris.

Posted by: furtive

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 27/12/2005 20:12

Quote:
Oh boy. You guys sure know how to make things difficult, don't you?

Can you both PM me, please, with details.

Did your mum never tell you about the birds and the bees?

Posted by: mcomb

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 28/12/2005 02:03

Quote:
Did you ever even look at the Mustang's manual?

Yes. All it says is to try not to drive at a constant speed for an extended period of time for the first 1000 miles. My last new car said something similar.

-Mike

Posted by: g_attrill

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 29/12/2005 01:09

Quote:
Does anyone know if I can drive from Munich, Germany to Cambridge, UK?

On the legality side of things, if it is registered in Germany it should be fine to drive in the UK due to the nifty EU rules. Driving a car without plates is sure to get attention thought, and unless you are driving to/from a port it would be difficult to talk yourself out of it. That said, as long as you have insurance the worst that could happen is you will get a fine for no registration and no tax and the court costs, probably a couple of hundred quid and the best bit is that it's an excise (tax) offence so no effect on your eligibility to drive in the UK.

However either way you must make sure you are insured in some way, it should be possible to get a single policy that covers you Europe-wide on the VIN number, however you will need to find a speciality insurer.

To get it *out* of the UK I would recommend driving to one of the larger ports and get it sent RoRo. I'm not sure of exact the costs but it should be cheap, I sent a car from Baltimore to Southampton for £425, it might be more given you are going in the other direction but probably not much more. You should arrange it in advance though, I have used ATI USA a couple of times - their website is usually at www.atiusainc.com but it's not there at the moment. The number is +201-327-8663 If you need somebody to arrange export at this end then Adrian Montgomery at Southampton Euro terminal is recommended (+44 2380 336 644 and www.2wglobal.com

Gareth

Posted by: Attack

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 29/12/2005 02:41

BMW does all of this for you. You get 14 days of insurance and special plates. Once your done you turn it in to a select bmw location and they then ship it to you. I see a location in London and would try to use that. I can only leave the jack and spare tire in the car anything else like the manual and floor mats must be taken by the buyer back to the US. The car then gets to you in about a month

Posted by: schofiel

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 02/01/2006 22:26

I really would not advise you do that if you expect to keep the car longer than a few months.

I'd also make sure you take the phone number of your embassy in Germany with you, as you'll be needing that after they arrest you and confiscate the car....

Really, you're prepared to do that speed in a brand new car with special plates? You must be crackers

Posted by: Attack

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 00:27

I'm still reading more about other people taking delivery of the car in Munich and quite a few of them seem to just flog the car others kinda take it easy but will end up going about 130 MPH. I've been told by that during the breakin period the RPM's should stay below 4000 and on long trips don't drive at the speed for long.

I'm very tired of my 88 CRX and really want a new car before April. If I did get the car in Munich after I got back I would have to drivemy CRX while waiting a month for the new car.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 00:33

Do they pay your airfare to Munich? When I got my Volvo, I could have done European delivery (as you describe) and they would have paid my way. I should have done that, but I didn't because I'm an idiot.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 00:38

Isn't it true that about half the German Autobahn has no speed limit?

Posted by: Attack

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 01:27

Quote:
Do they pay your airfare to Munich? When I got my Volvo, I could have done European delivery (as you describe) and they would have paid my way. I should have done that, but I didn't because I'm an idiot.

At this time they don't have any travel specials. In the past they paid for a second person to travel with you.

Posted by: mlord

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 02:00

Quote:
Isn't it true that about half the German Autobahn has no speed limit?

They have limits near cities, but there are still long stretches between without any posted speed limit.

Posted by: boxer

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 08:03

There's a post somewhere around the time of the last owner's meet, of a guy returning from the meet to Norway, videoing himself doing way over the ton.
I can't find it, and even worse I can't remember the guy's name!

Posted by: kjohanss

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 08:39

Quote:
There's a post somewhere around the time of the last owner's meet, of a guy returning from the meet to Norway, videoing himself doing way over the ton.
I can't find it, and even worse I can't remember the guy's name!

Is it me you're thinking of?

I did 215 km/h in my Focus ST170. The clip can be found here (click on the camera).

Posted by: mlord

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 12:59

I mostly remember meeting up with Thomas at the '03 meet, and enjoying the drive (as passenger) across Germany to his place afterwards. He apologized for only having V rated tyres on the car (the usual Z set had a dented rim, I think), and so we leveled off at 225 km/h for much of the trip.

Cheers

Posted by: Cris

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 21:51

I was able to really let my hair down and get all the way upto 84mph in the Smart

I have to say, as one of the slower cars on the Auto Bahn I found the BMW's etc.... shooting past at almost double my speed quite scary, you look in your mirror, pull out, and wham! someones flashing their lights at you, back to the slow lane for the Smart

Cheers

Cris.

Posted by: FireFox31

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/01/2006 23:23

What was that story Patrick was telling about the car which was banned from the Autobahn? Something like an old Rolls Royce with a jet engine sticking out the back? And because it was so heavy, it was no good going round tracks. But the German highway system gave it the wide-open roads it needed to go fast enough to be banned. And if I don't get hit for starting so many sentences improperly, I'll be lucky.

Posted by: pca

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 04/01/2006 01:58

The Beast . Not a jet engine, but a rolls-royce merlin 27 litre aircraft engine. Even more impressive in many ways.

pca

Posted by: schofiel

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 04/01/2006 11:53

Yeah, but it's not the speed limit: if you are exporting the car they used to have quite stringent regs about what you may and may not do on the special export plate. There also used to be an issue that the manufacturer can be liable for certain things done by the exporting driver as they have to request the plate to be issued: this means BMW might simply dissociate themselves (and possibly void the insurance) in the event of say, a crash involving another vehicle.

I also don't think you can just get into a car in a foreign country with different road regulations and usage patterns, gas it up to 180 mph and expect to get away with it without getting into a crash. Other drivers on the bahn will expect you to stick to the "rules" (ie. lane discipline, etc.) that they expect. Driving at that speed after you have been only used to the double nickel or 75 mph speed limit is something completely different.

I simply wouldn't do it, and you would just glaze the engine bores anyway (no matter how well made it is) which will lead to increased oil consumption in the future. The whole idea is just a mess of problems waiting to happen.

Posted by: bbowman

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 04/01/2006 13:20

That reminds me of when I rented a Twingo (Renault) in Luxembourg back in '97. I got that thing up to 172 Kph on the bahn on our way up to Norway. That was a blast and dangerous as hell! I'll never do that again.

Posted by: sein

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 04/01/2006 14:30

Yeah, its amazing how fast modern cars are. A while after I got my Skoda I wound it up to an indicated 120mph on er, my private racetrack. It could probably take a little more (not near the red line yet). Thats in a little diesel shopping car normally driven by the Elderly which looks like ass.

Its definately not something I'd try in a non-german foreign country. In fact, over 100mph isn't something I'd recommend in my car. The aerodynamics, brakes and suspension just can't take it, captain.

Posted by: boxer

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 04/01/2006 14:38

Quote:
The Beast . Not a jet engine, but a rolls-royce merlin 27 litre aircraft engine

I saw it at Crystal Palace more years ago than I care to admit. It could barely manage walking pace on that tiny track! Years later the police blocked the M1 to stop it, I saw all the blue lights when I was going the other way, but only realised what was happening when I read about it,

Posted by: schofiel

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 07/01/2006 19:58

It's not forgotten folks, I'm still on the case.

Posted by: andym

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 07/01/2006 20:16

My Clio was supposed to top out at 155 I never got over about 110 before chickening out but it got there incredibly quickly and felt like it was only just getting started.

Posted by: boxer

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 07/01/2006 21:01

Your trouble is, you've never driven a Suzuki WagonR!

Posted by: robricc

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 07/01/2006 23:21

Quote:
My Clio was supposed to top out at 155 I never got over about 110 before chickening out but it got there incredibly quickly and felt like it was only just getting started.

My Viggen is supposed to be governed at 155MPH. I had it over 140 once and decided that was too much. I don't know the exact speed because I didn't want to take my eyes off the road for too long. It felt like the car was somehow disconnected from the road at that speed. Not very safe feeling....

Posted by: FireFox31

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 00:02

Quote:
like the car was somehow disconnected from the road at that speed

Odd, when I break 100 (not 140, though), I feel like part of the road. As if the road becomes a river and I'm a powerboat, gliding through the lanes with similar responsiveness.

What road allowed you to go 140+ and for how long? I'm to belabored by traffic and police in the day, and deer an police at night. Maybe out in Pennsylvania......

Posted by: robricc

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 00:07

I go above 100 more regularly than I should. The difference between 100 and 140+ is incredible (at least in that car). Then again, I have only driven that fast once. It was on a stretch of I-87 about 20 miles from the Canadian border. Not the best place to break the law, I know.

Posted by: bonzi

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 00:51

Quote:
My Viggen [...] felt like the car was somehow disconnected from the road at that speed. Not very safe feeling....

Yeah, the poor thing must have been close to rotation speed

Posted by: robricc

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 01:46

You reminded me of this old image.

Posted by: Roger

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 07:00

Quote:
My Clio was supposed to top out at 155 I never got over about 110 before chickening out

I got the Focus up to 120mph once*. Which is odd, because officially, it's only rated for 115. I guess the speedo's got a bit of slack in it.

* allegedly

Posted by: julf

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 18:00

Who cares about the viggen? I'm just waiting for these
to be sold off....

Posted by: Daria

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 18:48

Quote:
I go above 100 more regularly than I should. The difference between 100 and 140+ is incredible (at least in that car). Then again, I have only driven that fast once. It was on a stretch of I-87 about 20 miles from the Canadian border. Not the best place to break the law, I know.

I did 115 in a minivan (no, not the one I came to the meet in, it was more impressive: a 2.2l 4cyl) when I was 16, on PA60 north of Pittsburgh Airport. Never again since.

The Neon I got rid of in November was no longer interested in going 100+ when I got rid of it. The Sebring will.

Posted by: CrackersMcCheese

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 19:14

I got to 125mph once and chickened out (in a civic vti - is that an Si in the US?). It was effortless to get there and I think there was lots left in it too. Thats going by GPS and not the speedo though.

Disclaimer: The above is possibly fiction as the limit is 70mph. Assume therefore, that it was a dream.

Posted by: andym

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 20:23

Quote:
Disclaimer: The above is possibly fiction as the limit is 70mph. Assume therefore, that it was a dream.

I would be very impressed if the police could make a speeding fine stick just from a post on a forum. Just in case the old bill are reading this I did 155 in my clio and enjoyed every minute of it. Now prove it!!!!

Posted by: CrackersMcCheese

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 20:27

I have heard that someone posted their speeding acheivements in full detail on a car forum in Scotland (Edinburgh I think) - including photos of their car in their signature (complete with registration).

Rumour has it someone with a grudge printed it off and posted it to the police. I can't remember if action was taken or not but the speed demon was posting a couple of weeks later and was MOST unamused so I assume something happened.

Posted by: bonzi

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 08/01/2006 20:35

Quote:
Who cares about the viggen? I'm just waiting for these
to be sold off....

Ah, so you prefer a leisurely grand tourer...

To return to the original OT topic, I once did 135 km/h (83mph) in a Citroën 2CV (downhill, tailwind) - remarkably, its hood was not blown off right then, but a day or two later, on a windy day, while parked in Vienna. That is also about the top speed I can coerce my Twingo to do up any measurable gradient, if loaded. Perhaps I should swap it for one with 16V engine (and all of 75HP)... Then again, I might buy a car. (But, yet again, I am not the only one, even here, to drive a motorized shoebox

)

Posted by: frog51

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 09/01/2006 07:48

I'll have to dig out the old pic I have of the interior of a car with the speedo sitting at about 184mph. It was a fairly standard road car - a Nissan 300ZX twin-turbo. And it felt like it was on rails up to about 160mph.

[edit] And my Impreza is happy enough at 135mph, but the petrol gauge visibly drops at that speed!

Definitely not a dream

Posted by: julf

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 15/01/2006 18:09

Quote:
Eh? I didn't realise, sorry - but I haven't yet got anything pinned for a hotel, which makes it difficult for me to pose a weekend yet. I'll work on it and try and let you know.

Any news? It's getting really hard to keep the options open.

Posted by: Shonky

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 16/01/2006 21:11

Early June or early July would work for an Aussie to be there.

I'm planning to go to the World Cup (assuming we get tickets to the Australia pool games) which are roughly in the period June 11 to June 28 during which time we'll be travelling around Germany a bit.

Posted by: sein

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 01/02/2006 08:11

Quote:
Any news?

I really hope I'm not bugging anyone, but this is a gentle prod since it is February now. If we can get a date sorted out for this in the next couple of weeks it would be ideal.

Posted by: sein

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 09/02/2006 15:34

I will now not be able to make 22nd-23rd April or the 3rd-4th June.

Posted by: schofiel

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 09/02/2006 18:17

Don't worry, it's not going to be on either of those dates: it's looking more likely to be the last weekend in July.

Posted by: StigOE

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 09/02/2006 18:31

Quote:
it's looking more likely to be the last weekend in July.

That rules me out...

You all have fun...

Stig

Posted by: schofiel

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 09/02/2006 18:53

Aaagghhh! Why?

Posted by: StigOE

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 10/02/2006 00:32

Same as the other times I missed it...work...

I'm at work from July 4 to August 10th. I'm starting to get used to missing stuff I'd like to go to. Been invited to three weddings, missed all three, including my sister's wedding...

Stig

Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 10/02/2006 06:52

Geez... what do you do that's so important that they won't even let you go to your sister's wedding?

IMHO, that's not something I ask to take off -- it's something I tell them I'm taking off. If you let them walk all over you, then they will.

Posted by: StigOE

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 10/02/2006 09:55

I work on a seismic vessel on a five week rotation. It's a bit difficult to take the weekend off...

I can ask for one trip off every year, but that would mean one trip that I don't get paid for, so it would have been a very expensive wedding... One trip's salary is about 15k USD atm (Edit:before tax), so a very expensive wedding (or Empeg meet)...

Stig

Posted by: pca

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 10/02/2006 14:33

Do you mean you missed your sister's wedding for mere money? Heathen!

You should have billed her

pca

Posted by: julf

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 11/02/2006 11:04

Quote:
it's looking more likely to be the last weekend in July.

Great! OK, I will not be able to do the Morgan meet,
but I wasn't really sure about that event anyway.

Posted by: boxer

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 11/02/2006 14:21

No problem here!

Posted by: andym

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 11/02/2006 19:40

Quote:
IMHO, that's not something I ask to take off -- it's something I tell them I'm taking off. If you let them walk all over you, then they will.

I've had a similar dilemma, I've had to cancel a holiday in May, from what I gather whilst they're paying my salary they can pretty much do what they want. I should point out they're refunding the cost of the holiday.

EDIT: Should've said, nothing currently in the diary for those dates.

Posted by: boxer

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 11/02/2006 19:46

Quote:
I should point out they're refunding the cost of the holiday.

I'd think that if they're doing that:
a] It must be something crucial.
b] They respect your contribution.

Posted by: frog51

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 11/02/2006 20:19

This is looking promising, Rob - I am much more likely to get out of the house for a few days with a month old baby than with a week old

Posted by: robricc

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 21/02/2006 13:33

A date would be great as soon as possible. Air France is posting some awesome fares. I got a round trip quote of $360 for the last week of July.

Posted by: FireFox31

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 26/02/2006 15:39

A cursory glance at Air France quoted me $1000 round trip with stopovers going out and coming back. There must be a trick to getting low fares by choosing optimal depart and return days and times. ie: Is it cheaper to leave weekdays instead of weekends, cheaper to leave late night instead of morning? Finding optimal rates for very flexible depart/return dates by trial an error is tough.

Posted by: altman

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 13:09

Any idea what's happening on this? A weekend needs to be picked soon - the last weekend in July seems as good as any if we're picking arbitrary weekends!

Venue: Sigmatel towers has a large amount of car parking, 20-or-so places of which are ours. Should be no problem for more cars there too at the weekend as nobody will be in any of the other offices. Should be fine for the competitions, and also the office is right there which means toilets, kitchen, etc are available too. Enough open space for Patrick to vapourise things.

Hotel: Travelodge central cambridge. Fairly soulless, but new & clean & £56/night at the moment (friday & saturday night) is pretty good going for a hotel actually in cambridge. They even deal with group bookings (...but no discount...) on their website. Less than 5 minutes walk from the venue. Parking is pay-for, I think, but you could just park at the venue.

Food: Could book out pretty much the whole of Al Casbah on mill road. Algerian cuisine, which means a huge charcoal grill and lots of meat (in the true ribs tradition). Starters, main & wine is around 20 quid per person. 15 minutes walk from the hotel, with lots of pubs on the way.

Morning after food: hotel or BLD's on mill road

Possibility of a big barbie in my garden, weather permitting...

Non-pub-related activities: punting!

Other sights: lots of Cambridge to see, all walking distance from the hotel.

Comments?

Hugo

Posted by: julf

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 13:41

Sounds good to me!

Will be there with the Pinkie.

Posted by: boxer

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 14:30

I'm up for it, I'll have to take a weekend off from track laying, but my weary bones will welcome that!

Posted by: Cris

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 14:36

I think I (we?) can make it. Sounds Good!

Where has Rob got to?

Cheers

Cris.

Posted by: Schido

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 15:22

Got my 3 weeks of official holidays then
I'll be there, not sure if i'll come by car or motorbike (would have to install empeg on bike then)
Might even stay a week or so traveling around brittain then. (but i'm not going to help boxer)

Posted by: rob

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 15:43

Hugo

Would be nice if it wasn't at Sigmatel in some ways, but the car park is the biz and CBS could do installs across the street while you wait

Rob had some kind of plan, but I'm not sure if it was coming together. I had suggested Chilford Hall, which has some very large function rooms, lots of places to park cars, catering, a bar, and tolerance of noise. Downside - might be pricey, plus its in the middle of nowhere.

If we BBQ at yours, I'm doing the lighting, right?

Rob

Posted by: frog51

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 17:34

Dern - last week in July I did have an issue - Porsche 911 race day, or my 7th wedding anniversary and looking after new baby could clash with Empeg meet.

However my firm has solved the problem by deciding to send me to Las Vegas for Blackhat/Defcon. So now I can miss out on empeg, 911 racing and annoy Claire.

But I do get to play in Vegas for a week! As long as I bring back goodies, I'm forgiven, apparently.

Posted by: mlord

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 17:38

I think SWMBO & I can do September, but not July/August.

Cheers, all!

Posted by: andym

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 31/03/2006 20:10

Sounds good.... where do I sign?

Cris, I'm sure if Nicola is willing to attend then I can probably convince Amy to tag along as well.

Posted by: altman

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 01/04/2006 16:23

Sigmatel as a "base" just seems to make sense - it's free (and flexible, as many of us are still there, so we don't need to be tied down to meeting rooms/times/etc), the nearest hotel is good value (though there are plenty of others walkable if people want to get something more upmarket), and it's close to pubs & food places.

Also, I can see Chilford hall getting upset if Patrick starts blowing bits of it up

Hugo
ps Will your lighting rig even *fit* in my garden?

Posted by: rob

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 02/04/2006 12:04

Quote:
Also, I can see Chilford hall getting upset if Patrick starts blowing bits of it up

So Sigmatel are cool with pyro? Excellent

Quote:
ps Will your lighting rig even *fit* in my garden?

Absolutely. It will be the architectural configuration (without flame throwers I suppose).

I'll volunteer to organise Sunday punting & champagne picnic if that helps at all.

Rob

Posted by: altman

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 02/04/2006 13:02

Picnic sounds excellent (fingers crossed for the weather)... in pub-based discussions as to how to get a large volume of beer up to Granchester in the easiest way (ie, from the back of a car), Dave English volunteered to his kayaking skills to move large volumes of alcohol on the river, probably from sheeps fen.

All we need is for Patrick to rig up some sort of pontoon

Hugo

Posted by: julf

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 02/04/2006 14:58

Quote:
Dave English volunteered to his kayaking skills to move large volumes of alcohol on the river, probably from sheeps fen.

Should I bring the folding commando kayaks?

Posted by: FireFox31

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 02/04/2006 15:36

Sounds like a great plan! I'll be there (and if work tries to stop me, all the Saturdays I've put in recently should work in my favor).

Posted by: boxer

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 02/04/2006 16:13

Quote:
the nearest hotel is good value (though there are plenty of others walkable if people want to get something more upmarket)

The trouble, from our point of view, with Travelodges is:

(a)They don't tend to have bars, and it's nice to flop down and have a good chat late into the night, when late opening pubs are not a good option, it's been a good feature of Amersfoort. Besides, those that are familiar with me, know that I get panicky and disorientated more than a metre from a bar!

(b)They don't do deals, apart from advertised promotions (Or so they told me when I was their ad. agency).

It would be nice, and logistically ideal, if everyone was in the same hotel. Most of the other chains and independants will probably do a deal if we know the size of the party.

Beg pardon, I note that this Travelodge has a bar, so it's probably fine for our purposes. Other comments remain pertinent.

Posted by: boxer

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/04/2006 06:05

.....to which I should have added, being probably the only retired person with time on my hands in the U.K. (and with a free bus pass, not that that gets me to Cambridge), let me know if I can do anything to help with the organisation.

Posted by: altman

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/04/2006 08:39

It does have a bar, yes, though I guess there's not a huge range of drinks. Less than 60 seconds walk away is a trendy bar with late opening & everything, but it is one of these "trendy" bars. Still, nowadays there are plenty of good pubs that also open late(r) than they did previously.

Cambridge centre is really not an easy place to find a decent budget hotel with parking! All the ones that might be more amenable are either totally out of town (post house) or far enough out to make walking ot bars a pain (the new holiday inn express).

Though it does pain me to say it, the Travelodge is a pretty good bet, and the price is actually pretty reasonable for a town hotel.

Hugo

Posted by: Roger

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/04/2006 10:37

Quote:
Cambridge centre is really not an easy place to find a decent budget hotel with parking!

Tell me about it :-)

Posted by: sn00p

Re: International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend. - 03/04/2006 10:37

Quote:
It does have a bar, yes, though I guess there's not a huge range of drinks. Less than 60 seconds walk away is a trendy bar with late opening & everything, but it is one of these "trendy" bars. Still, nowadays there are plenty of good pubs that also open late(r) than they did previously.

Cambridge centre is really not an easy place to find a decent budget hotel with parking! All the ones that might be more amenable are either totally out of town (post house) or far enough out to make walking ot bars a pain (the new holiday inn express).

Though it does pain me to say it, the Travelodge is a pretty good bet, and the price is actually pretty reasonable for a town hotel.

Hugo

Hugo speaketh the truth!

There's just a general lack of hotels in the city centre, certainly cheap ones. (and decent ones too!)

Cambridge is a PITA to park in, you're definately going to require a hotel with parking included, otherwise be prepared to take out that second mortgage to cover the price of your carpark!

The eagle is my personal favourite pub in the city center, barring the fact that during term time it's crammed with university students, but you kind of just have to live with them!

The mill-pond is also very good, given that it will be summer you can get your beer and sit on the common by the river

Places to avoid:

the regal (<- number one place to avoid!!!)
b-bar
all bar one
slug and lettuce
rat and parrot

We have lots of very cool pubs in the city centre if you stay away from those places!

A taxi to the posthouse (impington) would be somewhere in the region of about £10-£12, but it's not a distance you'd want to walk from city centre (although I've done it many times!).

International Owner's Meet, 2006 - choose your weekend.