Toronto meetup

November 10, 2005 5:53 AM

So, is the Toronto meetup on Friday night still taking place as planned?
posted by greatgefilte to MetaFilter Gatherings at 5:53 AM (20 comments total)

Sorry to pre-empt you, orangeswan, but it's the day before and I just want to make sure people still remembered!
posted by greatgefilte at 5:53 AM on November 10, 2005

Arghh, beaten to the punch. Well, at least I know there's one other person eager to go;-)

I'm hoping to see a goodly number of people (both meetup-scarred vets and meetup virgins coyly emerging from their mother's basements) at the Bishop & Belcher (on Queen West between John and Peter), at 8 p.m., on Friday November 11th.
posted by orange swan at 6:51 AM on November 10, 2005

hmm...
how long do people generally linger at these deals?
i may zip down on my bike after we do bedtime for 3 kids, so it wouldn't be until after 9.30 or so.
posted by chococat at 7:49 AM on November 10, 2005

As long as they want, chococat. People come and go as they please. If past meetups are any indication, there'll be a changing assortment of people there from 8 until closing time, and sometimes there's even a group heading out to an after hours bar.
posted by orange swan at 8:38 AM on November 10, 2005

I will be there, at or slightly before 8. Will there be a sign or something?
posted by heatherann at 12:12 PM on November 10, 2005

I may try and poke my head in, too. I'll look for the group of people that look like they don't know each other.

And hey, it looks like Number 1 is in town... Mathowie, will you be showing up?
posted by Robot Johnny at 5:08 PM on November 10, 2005

I think I might show up. How do we recognise one another? There aren't nametags or any such thing, are there?
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 11:48 PM on November 10, 2005

I might show up, if mainlining ColdFX does the trick.
posted by docgonzo at 8:29 AM on November 11, 2005

yeah sure. see you people there!
posted by joelf at 11:15 AM on November 11, 2005

Usually it's pretty easy to tell who the Mefites are. At the last one, I posted a small written sign, since I was first. I suggest anyone planning to be there early-ish (uh, which would be, not me) bring a sheet of paper with MeFi written on it so others can see them.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:53 AM on November 11, 2005

Otherwise, if Orange Swan is there first, you can't miss her beautiful hair.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:54 AM on November 11, 2005

I took two quick photos before I left after a couple hours. It was fun!
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:58 AM on November 12, 2005

Why, thank you, Jacquilynne!

So we had the meetup. The short version is that I got egg on my face, but things turned out pretty well anyway.

Here's the longer version:

I arrived at the Bishop & Belcher at 8:13 or so. That is, I arrived at the former location for the Bishop & Belcher. It had closed down. After much sincerely meant though unoriginal profanity, I evolved a plan. There was a pub right across the street that looked like a good default venue. I decided I would wait at the former Bishop & Belcher until at least one person showed up, then I'd write a note on a small piece of plywood that was screwed to the door to the effect that we were across the street at the Black Bull and to come join us.

Greatgelfite showed up very soon after that, I wrote the note (hoping devoutly meanwhile that I was not going to get arrested for vandalism while so engaged) and we went over to the Black Bull.

We had some difficulty getting a table, and had just managed to find one for two when mathowie and heatherann showed up. After an interval (during which everyone was too polite to take one of the too few available chairs so we all stood) we found a booth and sat down. Jacquilynne and chococat arrived somewhat later.

And then we all sat around and pleasantly if not profitably discussed greatgelfite's torture of rats (it's a living), how Jacquilynne had a fine view of the parking lot where her car got crunched at last February's meetup through the Black Bull's window, and the life and times of a university graduate student (specifically heatherann's and mathowie's). Etc.

Mathowie left at about 11 and the rest of us about a half hour later. My apologies to anyone else who tried to meet us at the Bishop & Belcher and didn't happen to see my graffiti. Greatgelfite and mathowie each took some pictures so bug them if you want them posted.
posted by orange swan at 5:59 AM on November 12, 2005

Sorry I didn't make it. I was at a birthday gathering at Southern Accents and then Pauper's and didn't get out till almost 2.

Cool that you ended at the Bull--not my fave place but miles better than the B&B (great news that it's closed, thanks!).

Cool that Matt showed up--how was Toronto, Matt? The weather today is much nicer than it was earlier in the week so hopefully you're still here.

As for that parking lot... I saw one of the sexiest things in my young life there when I was probably... 22 I think. There was a used clothing sale going on there and I was browsing the racks and some girl came up next to me wearing a cotton print dress. She lifted the dress high, pulled on a pair of jeans, dropped the dress to cover them, stepped into her sandals, and left, thanking the cashier as she walked by. I sort of watched on stunned and once she hit the sidewalk she turned around and winked at me, her silent conspirator. No reason for it to be sexy, I guess, but I've always remembered it that way, and vividly. I think of it every time I walk past that lot--complete opposite feelings, I'm sure, to Jacquilynne's regarding the same area of concrete.
posted by dobbs at 9:40 AM on November 12, 2005

Great meet-up. Nobody stormed out in a rage. Nobody's car was tragically crunched. The food was pretty decent, and cheap like borsht. The conversation was fun. Sure, it was the second meet-up this year at a closed place, but Orange Swan handled the problem with grace and graffitti.

It was nice to meet Mathowie after all these years of accepting his hospitality - we promise to buy only mature, responsible, lefty, sock puppets with your change, Matt.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:37 AM on November 12, 2005

Ah, shit. I passed by the old location of the B&B at 7:15 with a pal, saw that it was closed, and debated whether to head to the new location or not. Instead, we bailed. Dang.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 11:43 AM on November 12, 2005

Sorry I missed you all. RobotJohnny told me about this while we were drinking at C'est What? the same very night, but we were too tired afterward to come over. Especially sorry to have missed Number 1!

Do these occur fairly regularly? I will try to be at the next one!
posted by jmcnally at 5:48 PM on November 12, 2005

:( i walked around the abandoned Bishop and considered going to the new place that was at church. then i went home.
posted by joelf at 9:02 PM on November 12, 2005

Dammit! I need to check up on this place more often.

Ironically enough, I tried to go to the B&B on Saturday night and found your (near-permanent) note directing MeFites across the street. Nice touch.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 6:43 AM on November 14, 2005

We were actually joking at the meetup that it was going to be there for ages and that everyone would wonder what it meant. It's really amusing that an actual MeFite found it the very next night.
posted by orange swan at 12:33 PM on November 14, 2005