Bounding Fire 2020 - Blackpool, UK. November 2020

Martin Mayers

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Jim - you should indeed follow your plan to go to all of the British tournaments. Wonderful events with English and Scottish people at their best, always fun to play with. Although the Scotts are a little hard for me to understand even when they do their best?.

Joe has a point though. Double one is held at a wonderful college in the middle of the summer, the other two are held in possible the biggest dump of the British isles, Blackpool, in November and February, respectively. And here I am not only reflecting on my own experience but also quoting my one and only Golf buddy, a British former ambassador who lives halfway between Blackpool and Scotland in the winter (as well as this summer due to Covid). He fails to understand that ASL outweighs Blackpool???.
Yet again I am called into action to defend Blackpool's honour.

It is not a dump. It's in amongst a widely beautiful coastal area with a town centre which needs significant investment. It's run down through years of under-investment The South Shore where our tournament is held is reasonable (for what is a major town). And in fact a 30 minute walk from Lytham St Annes which is one of the most desirable and expensive areas to live in in the North of England. Bear in mind the North of England includes the Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland, Lake District, etc.

Ill-advised to judge an area by a one square mile area of it. You'd write off a lot of pretty desirable/popular places on that basis (including London).

Writtle is beautiful of course. But it doesn't have a coast. A major disadvantage for me. And the people can be somewhat parochial by comparison with Northern people. And, judging the two from a tournament attendee perspective myself, the living and eating accommodation in Blackpool is better.

So Spara...don't be put off by what people say about Blackpool. They know not what they do.

:)
 
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JoeArthur

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Yet again I am called into action to defend Blackpool's honour.

It is not a dump. It's in amongst a widely beautiful coastal area with a town centre which needs significant investment. It's run down through years of under-investment The South Shore where our tournament is held is reasonable (for what is a major town). And in fact a 30 minute walk from Lytham St Annes which is one of the most desirable and expensive areas to live in in the North of England. Bear in mind the North of England includes the Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland, Lake District, etc.

Ill-advised to judge an area by a one square mile area of it. You'd write off a lot of pretty desirable/popular places on that basis (including London).

Writtle is beautiful of course. But it doesn't have a coast. A major disadvantage for me. And the people can be somewhat parochial by comparison with Northern people. And, judging the two from a tournament attendee perspective myself, the living and eating accommodation in Blackpool is better.

So Spara...don't be put off by what people say about Blackpool. They know not what they do.

:)
Posted without comment :


And also:


I happen to live a few miles from Margate in the South East of England and the joke is I travel 8 hours by car to go to one deprived seaside resort to another :rolleyes:
 

Gamer72

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Double One is very pleasant in June (apart from the college beds : they’re shocking). What it doesn’t usually have is four of the top five currently active UK players according to the Crusader ladder : Toby Pilling, Mark Blackmore, Martin Vicca and Craig Benn. So if you want a more challenging game, then go to Blackpool - no disrespect intended to Double One attendees.
 

Martin Mayers

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Posted without comment :


And also:


I happen to live a few miles from Margate in the South East of England and the joke is I travel 8 hours by car to go to one deprived seaside resort to another :rolleyes:
It's deprived. But you're not making your 8 hour journey to buy a house, try to find gainful employment, put your kids into school, or even have a summer holiday here are you? You're here to close yourself behind four walls for 3-4 days playing a table top board game.

And yeah, if your attendance highlight revolves around visiting the Tash Rock Club with Pete in the Town Centre then you're going to find Blackpool to be a bit of a dump. If, on the other hand, your highlight is playing ASL in a hotel entirely given over to the hobby for a week, staying in a hotel run by an award winning Hotelier and former award winning Restauranter, and taking an occasional stroll along the seafront on the Blue Flag Award Winning South Shore Beach which borders Lytham St Annes. Then, it probably ticks your boxes. It certainly does mine.

Another thing that endlessly pisses me off though about Blackpool. As well as the fact that the it's deprived, and that it rains a lot in March and November (and that's when it's not snowing FFS !) is that it goes dark so fucking early. And it's not just November. It seems to be everytime I attend a tournament there!! It always goes dark, depressingly at 4pm in the afternoon. Whereas, in Writtle, it stays light until like 10pm at night. Just another reason that people should sack Blackpool off (in March and November), and go to Writtle instead (in June).
 
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Martin Mayers

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Double One is very pleasant in June (apart from the college beds : they’re shocking). What it doesn’t usually have is four of the top five currently active UK players according to the Crusader ladder : Toby Pilling, Mark Blackmore, Martin Vicca and Craig Benn. So if you want a more challenging game, then go to Blackpool - no disrespect intended to Double One attendees.
Good point. And thanks.

I love Double One tournament and missed attending this year.

Writtle is astonishingly beautiful. It ticks a number of boxes for me that Blackpool does not. I'd urge people to attend all and any UK tournaments. The organisers sure as hell need it.
 

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You're here to close yourself behind four walls for 3-4 days playing a table top board game.
I totally agree, that's why I have been in Blackpool attending two tournaments in the last three years (dump or no dump). And one in Bournemouth or whereever it was. Plus two in Writtle :p:p:p

However, I would have used modern technology to make sure the sentence "an award winning Hotelier and former award winning Restauranter" was cut out before it went overseas (such as to the EU where there are French, Italian, German and even Swedish readers :)). I love you Brits, but a 50 year British seaside hotel and food in an unchanged 50-year old British tradition could be funny and enjoyable, but only in Faulty Towers???. I also love Charles, but he would be more appreciated by me if he had served food from his native Germany (or is it Austria???). Remember the joke

In Heaven: the cooks are French, the policemen are English, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and the bankers are Swiss.
In Hell: the cooks are English, the policemen are German, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and the bankers are Italian....

(corresponds to my experience, except for the Swiss Lovers. There are enough blond Swedish women married to Swiss men to make this part questionable - but then again, maybe the guys they married were Bankers :) ).

There is one very good Indian restaurant though, maybe two, and I yet have to go to that Armenian place with Joe.
 

Actionjick

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It's deprived. But you're not making your 8 hour journey to buy a house, try to find gainful employment, put your kids into school, or even have a summer holiday here are you? You're here to close yourself behind four walls for 3-4 days playing a table top board game.
Unless you need to provide distractions for your significant other who unwisely decided to accompany you to the tournament proximity to tourist attractions should not be a major factor in determining tournament locations.

Neither Austintown or Brookpark were tourist meccas. Truth be told Brookpark was a dump but Fish was trying to keep it affordable to attend Oktoberfest while having a location near a major airport. Hosting an event is a balancing act with accessibility to restaurants and transportation hubs major factors to take into account. Cost to attend doesn't seem to be the as much of an issue as it was bitd.
 

Martin Mayers

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I totally agree, that's why I have been in Blackpool attending two tournaments in the last three years (dump or no dump). And one in Bournemouth or whereever it was. Plus two in Writtle :p:p:p

However, I would have used modern technology to make sure the sentence "an award winning Hotelier and former award winning Restauranter" was cut out before it went overseas (such as to the EU where there are French, Italian, German and even Swedish readers :)). I love you Brits, but a 50 year British seaside hotel and food in an unchanged 50-year old British tradition could be funny and enjoyable, but only in Faulty Towers???. I also love Charles, but he would be more appreciated by me if he had served food from his native Germany (or is it Austria???). Remember the joke

In Heaven: the cooks are French, the policemen are English, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and the bankers are Swiss.
In Hell: the cooks are English, the policemen are German, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and the bankers are Italian....

(corresponds to my experience, except for the Swiss Lovers. There are enough blond Swedish women married to Swiss men to make this part questionable - but then again, maybe the guys they married were Bankers :) ).

There is one very good Indian restaurant though, maybe two, and I yet have to go to that Armenian place with Joe.
I know there are elements of tongue in cheek. But I'm pretty astonished by your comments on the quality of the food at the Headlands which are at odds with most feedback I hear.

I eat out a lot, in very nice restaurants (entertaining clients). I know my food.
 

JoeArthur

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Magnus - you very kindly bought me a pizza in Sweden. It will be my pleasure to buy you a kebab in Blackpool:)

Martin - I enjoy your tourny. You and Simon go to a lot of hard work to make it what it is. Charles who owns the hotel is a great host. I enjoy tasting the Scotch that Tony brings down from Scotland for everyone to help themselves. I was merely trying to provide some advice to a US player who might have been able to afford only one trip to the UK............
 

Martin Mayers

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Magnus - you very kindly bought me a pizza in Sweden. It will be my pleasure to buy you a kebab in Blackpool:)

Martin - I enjoy your tourny. You and Simon go to a lot of hard work to make it what it is. Charles who owns the hotel is a great host. I enjoy tasting the Scotch that Tony brings down from Scotland for everyone to help themselves. I was merely trying to provide some advice to a US player who might have been able to afford only one trip to the UK............
Your advice being "don't go to Martin's tournament - go to Double One in 2021 instead"

Gee thanks Joe.

?
 

T34

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Yet again I am called into action to defend Blackpool's honour.
How screwed are you when you need Martin Mayers to defend your honor?

Seriously, though, while Double One is a well run tournament (or at least it was until this year), Bounding Fire has better weather and scenery for the hearty ASL'er. And, as much as I hate to say it, the curry is better.
 

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The Magnus

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Magnus I remember well you were struggling with the Scottish accent when we went to the indian restaurant with Martin Vicca and Steve Cook. As an Englishman I struggled with Steve's accent after he had a couple of beers!!
That is one excellent Indian restaurant. I could go there every evening of Heroes, were it not for evening games.

I know there are elements of tongue in cheek. But I'm pretty astonished by your comments on the quality of the food at the Headlands which are at odds with most feedback I hear.

I eat out a lot, in very nice restaurants (entertaining clients). I know my food.
Fortunately taste is mostly personal and thus this is an area we can agree to disagree :).

I have tried to avoid eating dinner at Headlands given their breakfasts (Cereal and Toast is OK), but last Heroes I had to eat some dish at Headlands due to an evening game. This is IMHO, but it did not taste anything except the salt and pepper I had to put on it, and - again IMHO - I must qualify it as one of the 10 least tasty meals in my 63 years of existence (I do not eat the curry at Double One either, so this is not a plug to go to Writtle instead of Blackpool;)).
 

The Magnus

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Joe i'm taking the credit for this as I introduced you to the splendid Armenian Kebab!
Given your good taste in both Indian and Armenian restaurants in Blackpool, what other restaurants/take-outs can you recommend in the vincinity of Headlands?

Delivery services would be fine...
 

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Given your good taste in both Indian and Armenian restaurants in Blackpool, what other restaurants/take-outs can you recommend in the vincinity of Headlands?

Delivery services would be fine...
I try to be fair and support local business. Therefore, I will buy an evening meal at the hotel and lunches throughout and go for some local delicacy (if you call an Armenian Kebab and Indian Restaurant) as local.
 
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JoeArthur

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Joe i'm taking the credit for this as I introduced you to the splendid Armenian Kebab!
And I thank you for it Ian. The best kebab I have tasted and I have eaten a few. I was not even drunk when I ate it either :)
 

MajorDomo

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One factor not mentioned is that the Copenhagen tourney is usually a week before Heroes, which yields a two for one on a flight to Europe ( with some sightseeing, futbol and beer drinking).

The excellent Indian restaurant is Lee Raj on Squires Gate. This from a Chicagoan, who both cooks most Indian dishes and benefits from a large ethnic Indian population and their restaurants.

Charles is as conscientious and pleasant host I could ever imagine. I enjoy his breakfast and lunch, while dining out for dinner.

Have attended several Heroes, a couple of Intensive Fires, but never Double One.

We in the States seem to be bent upon gaining herd immunity, hope I can travel to Europe again some day.
 
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