[cuboard]

Has anyone heard the story about Greshams first scottish winter climbing trip with me, Ian Harrison and Wookie?

[Bubba]

Can I just add: Do your homework, Do what you are told at school, Obey your parents, Eat your greens, Don't use bad language, Tidy your bedroom, Train hard and NEVER EVER neck little pills with the superman logo stamped on them as it will not end well  .  As some folks found out in a field in Wales once!

OMG - Yeah - what he said.  That was a long and strange weekend.  God knows what actually happened between 10pm on saturday and 4pm on Sunday.  I just remember waking up (coming to) on the lawn of some climbing club hut at about 4pm on sunday.

Props to Bubs on that one for somehow getting us + a load of record boxes, all to Wales in a tiny white nissan micra that I think we'd hired.  More so for getting us back safe!! 

Forgot you were there too Vinnie (most of that weekend is lost tbh).

God I remember that, those pills were dangerous - they were called "Spice Girls" and were ephedrine along with a shitload of valium and ketamine.  Dunno how we made it back to that house. IanV was actually dribbling at one point   I remember reading how loads of people who took them blacked out and woke up in random places, often after being robbed and presumably far worse for some unfortunates. Nasty business.

Do you remember we nearly totalled that Micra on the way to the party after a sheep wandered out in front of us?  Bit of a nightmare weekend really coz the locals didn't even let us on the decks.

[ianv]

They made the front page of the daily mail. That was an interesting weekend.

[Jaspersharpe]

Has anyone heard the story about Greshams first scottish winter climbing trip with me, Ian Harrison and Wookie?

You've not told me this one. Get on with it.

[SamT]

Never made it to the Orbit, got within 5 ft of the door once before being told it was full (5th or 6th birthday I think).

Wouldn't have mattered that much if we hadn't popped everything a couple of minutes before. Run back to car, leg it down the motorway, leave car somewhere in Don Valley once the driver (not me) started to come up and desperately search for a club. Sheffield on a Saturday night was never going to work, all glam house etc. Luckily we found a house party with One Armed Dan DJing. Life saver.

Ha.. yes gutted.  It was jeff mills too. I was in the other car .. driven by Norton.  I'm sure we ended up in a club though, which was shit and half empty.

[ianv]

Ha.. yes gutted.  It was jeff mills too. I was in the other car .. driven by Norton.  I'm sure we ended up in a club though, which was shit and half empty.

Just to rub it in a bit: The 5th Birthday set from Mills was the best one I ever heard him play infact, one of the best sets I have ever heard. He had been doing the tour for his liquid Room CD and he was super tight with his mixing when usually it was a bit sloppy. It was an amazing set and there are bits of genius I can still remember to this day. If you had bothered to get in touch you could have been on the guest list.  Punters   

[Fiend]

Good gloating 
Off topic but the first and one of the very few club nights I went to when moving to Glasgow was Jeff Mills and Dave Clarke at The Arches, totally  , although I prefered DCs dirty american techno funk to JMs deep minimalism on the dancefloor at least. I wasn't on drugs and got in easily, HTH.

[Will Hunt]

What I want to know is how all this was organised. In the age before portable telephones how did you ancients tell everyone you were having a massive rave? Write each other letters or something?

[andy popp]

... on vellum.

[rich d]

What I want to know is how all this was organised. In the age before portable telephones how did you ancients tell everyone you were having a massive rave? Write each other letters or something?

telegrams

[fatdoc]

We had analogue mobiles from '95..... Cost about 30p a text ( SMS) and £1.50 a minute, each way.

Local radio / illegal radio was a source... ( from my knowledge of Oxford weekend get togethers in very lae 80s)

[Paul B]

...we all think the works party is a massive event but unless they've splashed out on Jurassic Park cut-outs I think I'm going to be thoroughly disappointed.

My eyes were opened to the Sheffield scene as fresher by Quent in the Earl. Here was someone from TPOC as I'd never imagined!

[Jaspersharpe]

I didn't have a mobile phone til 1999.

There was only The Foundry to climb at and The Broadfield to drink in in the early 90's. Wasn't difficult for word to get around for Nether Edge/Hunters Bar house parties.

The bigger stuff was the classic get a number and random directions from the pub and then stop at a phone box (when the convoy was lost somewhere near Derby) to check you had it right. "Turn off after the third bollard after they turn white on the left man, can't miss it.".

Back in the car, "Must be this lane, sure I counted the bollards"...bit rickety and no lights but I can hear it, can't you?.. Shit that farmer's got a gun! "Turn round for fuck's sake!". Other cars coming up the lane... "NOT THIS ONE!!" Window down waving so they don't get shot.

We always found it eventually or found that it'd been relocated. Generally about a mile from where we'd originally set off from. The drive was often as good as the party.

I can't live without my phone these days but I do recall life being a little more exciting before such things existed.

When you go to a gig and half the audience are watching the whole fucking thing through their phone (or worse, tablet) it makes me glad I lived my reckless years in a time when you lived them rather than filmed them.

Oh no, I've just turned into underground and it's not even midnight.

[ianv]

...we all think the works party is a massive event but unless they've splashed out on Jurassic Park cut-outs I think I'm going to be thoroughly disappointed.

If graham goes, you will have a real, live dinosaur. Way better!

[Falling Down]

What I want to know is how all this was organised. In the age before portable telephones how did you ancients tell everyone you were having a massive rave? Write each other letters or something?

No mobile phones until the late 90's.  If you had a shared house it usually had a landline and you had to write your calls in a book and settle up every quarter.  There was always someone in the house had a boyfriend or girlfriend miles away or in another country who never believed their bill and caused massive rows.  It was a right pain in the arse.

[lagerstarfish]

Mark Leach was the first person I knew to get a mobile phone (1994)

needless to say, a couple of days into ownership it called from his pocket and ran up a massive bill - and that on top of The Saga of The Porsche put me off wanting to own a car or a mobile and convinced me to continue to blow all my money on climbing and snowboarding trips

[ianv]

The Saga of The Pink Porsche

   

The first mobile I ever used was like this:



Mobile is a bit of a misnomer though as it was the size of a briefcase.

[tomtom]

The Saga of The Pink Porsche

   

The first mobile I ever used was like this:



Mobile is a bit of a misnomer though as it was the size of a briefcase.

I had one like that (it was a bit smaller) that was affectionately called the Brick. So that was my first mobile in 91... At the time I was scrapping cars and flogging the parts via Loot (and other such publications) and it paid for itself numerous times over..

[dave]

My dad had a mobile for work (and before that a pager), at was one of the first of the modern era, as in it would fit in a pocket but it still took the entire creditcard sized SIM card.

[lagerstarfish]

I was at that one. Was it when Glenn and his boyfriend had a disagreement ending in a brawl to put Holyfield/Tyson to shame?

is this the acceptable gay bashing that Cuboard was on about?

[Will Hunt]

The Saga of The Porsche put me off wanting to own a car

That must be worth a story?

[GraemeA]

I was at that one. Was it when Glenn and his boyfriend had a disagreement ending in a brawl to put Holyfield/Tyson to shame?

Special Forces John wasn't Glen's boyfriend, which is what caused the ruckus. Glenn's gaydar had identified John and this was strengthened when they started comparing knifes (!!!) and then tattoos  - some of which were in interesting places apparently. Glen was convinced he was in but John said no.

Glen's gaydar was very good, we were working at the NIA on one of the World Cups in the early 90's. Glen pointed out one of the riggers, massive bloke  , shaved head, beard. Known as Sinbad I seem to remember. "He will be mine" said Glen, by the end of the week he was 

[Fiend]

*waiting for some bellend to object to the term "gaydar"...* 

[fatdoc]

Pager and mobile 94.... There the constantly contactable life started... For better and worse.

[GraemeA]

Just remembered another interesting night about 20-25 years ago. Me and about 15 others went to Manchester Poly to see Tad, Nirvana and Mudhoney in the Schuch van. I was driving so played by the rules and had a pint over the whole evening - which was a fucking great gig, long before grunge became big. Others were not so restrained in their intake, Hippy Martin had a lot of shrooms with him.

Anyway driving back through Glossop we get pulled, back light out. So coppers come to the window and ask 1) have you had a drink and 2) how many in the back. Yes and about 15 so off I go to the police car to get breathalysed (I passed as only 1 pint) and get told off for having so many in the back of the van as it wasn't a passenger vehicle.

Meanwhile FBSF is in the passenger seat next to Martin. Martin is busy panicking as already explained and everyone in the back is busy working out how to stash their 'gear'. Copper asks FBSF if there is anyone in the back and gets the answer no. Copper took FBSF's word for it.

Also the van must have stank of whatever the bad boys in the back were smoking  Copper must have had a cold or something.

Unbelievably the coppers don't confer, I get a producer and we are on our way. The trip back across the Snake was very sedate. Obviously the Schuch van had no MOT but I got let off!

Who was in that van?

Me, FBSF, Hippy Martin, Big Al, Ade plus about 10 others, but who were they?