Gathering 7, Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to the Tap & Spile we go

Bing bong, Gatherings Airlines is pleased to announce the arrival of
Review Seven.  Passengers are reminded to take all hand baggage with 
them as they disembark.  Thank you.



So here we are, it's the first Gathering of 1997 and it's the first
Gathering in the Tap & Spile.  It's also damned cold, but that's just
Newcastle...

For once there was a decent turnout early on in the evening, with me,
Jeff, Sherrie, Ian and Nick all arriving between 7 and 7:15.  Settling
down into one corner, we began by picking our way through the SFX
awards, seeing what B5 had won and where it had lost out to those effing
X-Files...  (OK, we all like them, but constantly reading about their
latest awards is getting a bit tiresome).  Since Keith had yet to
arrive, Ian duly did the honours nut-wise by whipping out a bag of
cashews - none of these poxy peanuts for our Ian, oh no!  
Janet then arrived about 15 minutes later, wandering over carrying a
glass of something that looked not entirely unlike the stuff G'Kar and
Arthur were drinking in ALDFA, which she assured us was warm and
alcoholic and just right for "this sort of weather".

As we were wondering where Keith was, and whether he'd remembered that
we'd changed pubs, who should walk in but.......someone totally unrelated
to the Gathering :-)  But not long after that, the man himself, Mr
Peanuts, arrived.  Sitting himself down, he immediately caused much
merriment by innocently announcing that he'd stopped off in the Head
of Steam for a quick post-work drink before heading up the hill to meet
us, and he knew all along that we were meeting somewhere new.  Yeah,
we believe you Keith.  No, really, we do!
Anyway, he redeemed himself by providing his usual bags of peanuts,
which seemed to be more popular amongst the masses than Ians cashews.
Perhaps we're just a bunch of commoners who prefer our nuts 
uncomplicated, or at least sounding less like a sneeze... gesundheit!

Unlike the Head of Steam, the Tap & Spile has an almost inaudible
jukebox.  Now whilst this is most useful when you've got something to
say (no need to shout), it is most annoying when no-one can think of
anything to add to the conversation, and you're left sitting there in
relative quiet.  It was in one of these short pauses that we just couldn't
help noticing that the music sounded very much like the sort of demo tunes
you used to get on those old Bontempi organs.  Strange but true folks...

Having just said farewell to Jeff and Sherrie (leaving early for once),
we barely had time to nab the comfy seats they'd left before saying
hello to Andy, our new recruit.  Immediately getting into our good books
by whipping out a set of photos from Wolf, he also got into our "spooky
file" when we realised that this was almost exactly the same thing that
Andrew Fullen had done when he first joined us last year, although his
photos were from Babcom.  Even so, for two Andys to join us and immediately
pass round photos from a B5 convention was too much for us to handle,
and fresh pints were quickly obtained to calm the nerves!


Shocking revelation time.  Janet doesn't stop the world to watch B5!  
Unlike the rest of us who make sure nothing can interfere with our
viewing pleasure, she readily admitted to being on the phone during the
first few minutes of Babylon Squared.  OK, so it was a close friend that
had called her, and she did (as nicely as possible) cut the call short
when B5 came on, but even so, we have to wonder just how much of a fan
Janet really is...

(Only kidding Janet :-)


Brief interlude time:  Cue the potters wheel...

  Most unfortunate name in the world - Courtney Cox.
  
  Think about it for a bit...
  
Right, that's enough potting.  We now return you to the regularly
scheduled programme already in progress.

 
The new series of Red Dwarf got a mention, with the general consensus being
that all the poor reviews were a load of bull, and that the change in
filming style was for the better.  However, that man Ian expressed concern
over the apparent changes to Kochanski's personality (and I suspect I've 
spelt that wrong, but I'm too tired to care), but it may just be that he's
cheesed off at not having Claire Grogan playing her.  We shall just have
to see...


Back to Andy's Wolf photos, someone noticed that one of the women in a
photo looked quite similar to Sherrie.  Andy pointed out that the woman
in question was Mrs JMS, which immediately had us reaching for the
spooky file again - what *exactly* is Jeff's middle name?  (bear in mind
that his surname is Sanda, so could HE be JMS???  Oo-er, spooky missus!)


Oh dear, we just couldn't help but pick on Star Trek again.  This time,
apart from tearing apart Worst Contract, we also picked on Voyager.
Somehow we got talking about cheese sandwiches (I think it originated from
a parallel thread on whether the B5 raider ships looked like Mambas from
ELITE - I leave it to you to figure out how we got from that to cheese
sarnies :-), and from cheese we moved to ham, which led onto a reworking
of the classic "get that cheese to sickbay" line.  However, we figured
that "get that ham to sickbay" would have been confusing, since there
are so many hams to choose from in the Voyager cast...

Ooh, we really are a nasty bunch, aren't we ;-)


As usual, the evening ended somewhere in the vicinity of 11, and those
of us who'd survived right to the end made our way outside into the even
colder night, departing into the night like ships in the bubble bath of
fate, or some such nonsense.


So, to summarise.  Another generally successful Gathering.  Our new
home seemed well suited to the needs of a Gathering - it's quiet enough
to hear everyone talk without having to shout, it never gets so full that
grabbing a table and chairs is a problem, and it's a lot easier to find
than the Head of Steam.  About the only blot on an otherwise spotless
marks sheet is that the range of drinks, whilst impressive, is a bit
alternative for our tastes - no Guinness or Caffreys.  Still, this does
at least put an end to the legendary drinks wars that've been a feature
of the Gatherings since number 2.


And finally - Quote of the Evening:

   "Jeff by himself, he's incredible!"



No computers were harmed during the production of this review.  All
words used have been obtained from sustainable sources, and the 
completed review is guaranteed 97% recyclable, in line with recent
EU directive 114.7(G), pages 45-47.

Chris

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