Okay, so I know that Dannyboy has suggested that we revive the France holiday idea and I like that idea a lot, however I have an alternative suggestion which may be easier logistically.

Stony Brow is a cottage near Halifax that sleeps up to 16 and has a swimming pool, sauna, pool table, darts board and pinball machine(!). Prices are seriously reasonable assuming that we get 10 people or more interested.

I was thinking that half term in autumn might be a good time so that Tart and Rosie will be able to get involved. I have checked out the Devurrrnnnnn County Council website and apparently half term is the 24-28 October.

Who is up for this? I demand to know!

Clever ploy, Ploy.

Yep we are up for. Where the feck is Halifax? I thought it was a bank?

Sounds like a great idea, but with the impending arrival of mini-hawk, we can't commit to anything for the next 18 years!

I'll keep an eye on the plans, but unforuntately at this point, count us out...

YES

Woot. Sounds excellent. Will chat with Pete as soon as I'm back from the US.

Okay, I have pencilled us in for Monday 24th to Saturday 29th October which they have quoted me £900 for. Assuming ten of us that makes it £90 per head which I think is pretty good. Obviously more than that will make it cheaper.

So far, we don't exactly have ten. The bad news is that I assumed Tizzy could make it, but it turns out that Devon half term isn't the same as Herts half term and therefore she has actually double booked herself for this week. Hopefully she will be able to rearrange and all will be well.

In order to actually book it I have to put a 10% deposit down. If I get a couple more yes's I will do that this evening.

Bo.

Absolutely, though I'll have to check witthe boss to see if she's up for it too...

Halifax is Up North between Manchester and Leeds so don't forget your vaccinations or your English to Northern phrase book.

Okay, so far we have:

Me
Tizzy
Tart
Rosie
Jennie (assumed)
Pete (assumed)
King
Jess (a.k.a The Boss)
Dannyboy
Sammyboy (pending agreement from The Missus)
Mel (Pending agreement from The Missus, i.e. herself)

Drew and Simona have also expressed a vague interest.

I'm going to take the plunge and assume that we will end up with sufficient numbers and finalise the booking today.

Prang!

Yo yo

Similar to the King, assume us as a yes pending vote of confidence from the missus

Bo!

Yo bludz,

We would love to come but we have already been booked for half term, arrgh!

Apologies.

King & The Boss are confirmed.

Okay boys and girls I have updated the list above and will continue to do so. At the moment we essentially have 11 people which my supreme calculator skills tell me equates to £81.82 per head. If Drew and Simona join in the fun this reduces to £69.23 per head.

Obviously we will have to buy food and gin on top of that but between all of us that shouldn't be too expensive. I have confirmed the booking and will be paying the 10% deposit shortly. I won't ask for any money from anyone until the balance has to be paid.

Now all we need to do is work out how many xboxes / projectors we require.

Sounds good from here.

realised today i had signed us up without chris knowing or having read the 'fest or fb of late. Yes, i'm in the trousers it seems!!!

Forcing your husband to spend a week with his best mates isn't that huge a victory though...Try getting him to go hand bag shopping with you

Cheers jonnyboy for taking care of the deposit. When is the balance due? Don't mind transferring some dosh to save you being out of pocket for ages.

Thanks for the offer Dannyboy, but it's actually a refundable deposit (presumably on the understanding that we don't do any damage). My cash-flow can handle it, so it's easier just for me to do so.

I could do that but his company would be no better than that of a mute brick ....

I've met a few husbands who would love to spent a few quiet afternoons with a mute brick Thankfully none of our generation. Because we're cool and don't marry nattering hen peckers. </unplanned rant>

Okay folks, he is the up to date list of attendees:

Confirmed:

Me
Tizzy
Tart
Rosie
Jennie
Pete
King
Jess (a.k.a The Boss)
Dannyboy

Tentative:

Drew
Simona
Williams
Sammyboy
Mel

Drew, Simona and Williams: you are under no obligation to confirm within any particular timeframe. In fact I'm sure you could just rock up on the actual day and it wouldn't actually matter. Hope you can make it.

The only people I haven't heard from are Noj and Suzie, and Marno and Sam. I'm going to assume for now that Marno and Sam are a no, for similar "baby in tow" reasons to Ween and Empie. However Noj and Suzie I'm not sure about.

Nice one. Really looking forward to it.

Yeah, that's like UBER ORGANIZED...

Okay, Sam and Mel actually should be in the tentative category, which leaves 9 of us in the definite category. This represents a worst-case scenario of £100 a head for the 5 nights.

Sam has said that he and Mel may turn up for just a day or two rather than the whole week. Drew, Simona, Williams, Noj and Suzie: Please feel free to do this too if it turns out that you can't make the entire time.

Ha. I just added this to my work calendar and managed to get out of being on a committee as it interferes with the "dissemination week" scheduled. Thank god.

And what does that mean in English? Is that a week in which you tell people about the lack of progress made by the committee?

It sounds like the 'week in which we work out how little we have progressed' ahead of the Committee meeting to confirm the lack of progress and where nothing is agreed. I am sure it shall be efficiently minuted though by the unnescessary admin member of the team who was probably appointed as 'lead minuteer' when the chief exec saw an extra bit of budget going spare...

So we are just 6 weeks away - woop!

I'm excited and so I'm going to make a list of things to achieve whilst we are there.

1. Cook lots of good food.
2. Eat aforementioned food.
3. Drink tasty drinks.
4. Halo/Kinect/Guitar Hero etc. via some sort of epic projector set-up.
5. Pool tournament.
6. Swimming / relaxing in the pool.
7. Relaxing in the sauna.
8. Get some good photos - I'm thinking that we need to add to the 'Pete dancing' collection.
9. Play poker.
10. Swap books.

Other suggestions?

What collection?

Collection could be the wrong word. I'm referring to two photos - one in which you are actually dancing and one in which you look as if you might be. I'm hoping for more of the latter so that we can slowly build up a false historical record of your life, one in which you are a crazy dancing mofo who never passes up an opportunity to bust out some moves on the dance floor. Then we can show them to your children so that they will ask you questions like "Dad, why don't you dance any more?".

How do you like them apples?

(edit) For reference, I have attached the collection so far.

I feel I should note that at least one of those photos involved Beck. Just in case anyone is gathering music together...

Where have I seen that shirt before?

I have one just like it Sam.

Me too!

11. Play that Illuminati game of Pete's that we failed to play at StripyShirtfest in Cambridge.
12. Play War on Terror - a comedy board game we failed to play at Wales' FogFest at new years. It involves a balaclava.
13. Have a race down an infeasibly steep hill where it is impossible to stop
14. Poke Rosie's bump in a curious "Is it alive?" type manner.
15. Generally be entertained by Jess's every word.

11 - yes
12 - why not - but wash the balaclava please!
13 - not for me at the moment but reminds me of fieldwork in sidmouth this week where one kid rolled down the hil so fast i thought he was going to bowl out a few of the olds on the path below the bank...he is a fat lump of lard and boy, did he travel!
14 - If you poke it you're likely to get a response by that point so could be fun - although isn't that child cruelty?
15 - especially if it's fuelled by a particularly potent cocktal
16 - EAT YURRRMMMMMMM

13 - Ha, I thought you were talking about a person who was a fat lump of a mixture involving 'lard and boy'.

Reminds me of a joke that you grammar geeks will enjoy:

I will, to no one's surprise I am sure, be bringing many books. If you have some of mine and are finished with them, maybe there could be a general trade? Any requests, let me know (I have a copy of Sanderson's first novel; it's not amazing but okay for bog standard fantasy).
Also, are we xboxing it up?

**mike, I will also have "Earth Girls are Easy" if we feel the need for cheesy movie time.

Awe some.

If you have a copy of The Fear Institute I'd like to read it. If not I'll wait 'til it's in paperback. I'll try to remember to bring God Stalker etc.

I have the ARC; I'll bring it. Also, do you still have my copy of Fallout3?

I tink so - I'll dig it out.

and for anyone who may need to leave the house accross the course of the week there is this link to consider also...

http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/destinatio...th_pennines.php

I think it's a sign of getting old that I'm looking forward with anticipation to a hike in the Pennines...

you can roll me - up AND down hill!!!

Jennie - I have that girly book you left - "he's so not into you" or something similar.

I think I also have the doldrums book but not read it yet so will steal it longer...

I've also deliberately put off starting the final Codex Alera book until last night so I will have that to read all next week. That's me sorted.

Some sad news - I'm not sure I can steal the projector as it's a working week and the office uses it. I do have a beast of a CRT TV though I could bring. Unless I train it up but we'll see.

Also do we want a blueray player? I just bought one.

Johnnyboy - when are we meant to turn up at the Badgerfestival accommodation and then when are we meant to leave please?

Plus, I have work to do, boo hiss, is there internet?

Ta.

Hello and bonjour,

Some logisitics for Badgerfax:

Arrival time

You can essentially rock up whenever you like on the Monday. Tizzy and I are heading up relatively early so that we can grab the keys etc.

I figure that we will go and do some food and drink shopping in the afternoon and whoever is around by then can join in/not join in on that as they see fit. If you are intending on bringing any food/drink then just drop me a line to let me know. Similarly, if you have and requests and you don't think you will be there in time to come to the supermarket with us then just let us know in advance.

Internet

I have been informed that there is no internet access at the cottage. If, like me, you have some work to do whilst away then I suggest bringing along some kind of 3G dongle / tethering arrangement. I will be bringing an example of the former which I will be happy to lend to people for work purposes. Obviously this does depend on us not having to be online at the same time. If anyone would like to borrow mine then please let me know in advance as it is a PAYG one and I will need to make sure that there is enough credit on it.

Xbox

Following Dannyboy's bombshell regarding the projector situation we need an alternative arrangement for Xbox ploys. I suggest that we use Dannyboy's mahoosive CRT unless anyone has a better solution that they fancy bringing along.

Who wants to bring their Xbox? I am happy to bring mine, but I reckon that we need at least one backup, preferably of the later, slimline, quieter flavour in case we get red ring of deathage. Also, I only have one controller, so if others could chip in on that score it would be great.

Kingol: Can you bring Guitar Hero / Rock Band and related controllers? I only have it for the Wii, which I can bring if needed, but I would rather we didn't have to keep switching consoles.

BluRay/entertainment

Dannyboy: BluRay player sounds good, but could be fairly redundant if we only have a non-HD CRT telly.

Given the lack of broadband internet access please make sure that you bring any media that you want with you as we will not be able to download things on the fly.

Activities

I have an additional suggestion:

Given that it will be nearly Halloween, I'm thinking that we buy a load of pumpkins and get creative. Thoughts?

Other

Don't forget gear for swimming / lounging in the sauna.


I will definitely have missed something so expect more later.

Bo.

I will bring my rock band paraphernalia.


And Marmite.

Pete has a mini lazer projector that I think works as long as the room is dark. Perhaps that might work for late night movies? The days are closing in anyway so it's dark from about 7pm.

Alternatively we be ultra cheeky and buy a projector and return it within 14 days...the morality of that is more uncomfortable mainly as projector bulbs have limited lifespans. However I've known more blatant efforts (a chap in argos returned a kids pool at the end of the summer as they'd given a 3 month return policy. a whole summer of usage for free).

Internet...nooooooo!!!
Ok - before we go and buy dongles etc can you confirm what signal the place has if any? The photo makes it look properly in the middle of nowhere and I suspect we'll be getting 1G at best (at best).

Okay, having done a quick check on some of the major network provider websites, it would appear that coverage is mixed. Vodafone looks bad (which is annoying from my point of view), T-Mobile and O2 okay, with Orange and 3 claiming that their coverage is excellent.

The owners told me that they don't have any problems with using a 3G stick when they are there, but I didn't ask which network they use.

Also, can we think about which Xbox games we want to bring with us?

Ok

I may have sourced a projector...

Oooh, that's good news Dan. We have and can bring any number of RPGs and every iteration of Halo. Plus, uh, books. Mike, I was also going to bring the 3rd Scott Westerfeld steampunk book if you'd like.