Good morning Guardians, I survived my night out with Matt!
I called round for him at 4pm, as I had some climbing shoes for him, and some comic books for his lad Cillian.
We caught the bus into town, and went to the pub. The Guinness was good, particularly as we got the first pint free, but sadly the food has really gone downhill. They had a 2 for 1 pizza offer on, but they were really disappointing. After leaving, I got into a conservation with a random drunk, who asked me what kind of knot I'd use to tie up a boat! While it's one of the strangest questions I've ever been asked in the street, I was quite happy to have the conversation!
We went into the train station, with the intention of having a couple of pints in Huddersfield, but there has been major disruption to this line for the past year, as they're adding extra platforms to the station at Huddersfield. We thought things were back to normal, but the direct trains are taking 40 minutes, instead of 20, and the other trains have been replaced by a bus service. We had to wait 20 minutes, and then boarded the train wishing we’d brought a hipflask!
By the time we reached Huddersfield, we had to head straight to the theatre. People had been asking me all day who we were going to see, and I had to tell them I had no idea, which was quite amusing. It turned out to be a bloke called Daniel Kitson, who went to the same Huddersfield college as Matt, and is clearly well-known in the town. I’d never heard of him!
I’d not been to the theatre in Huddersfield before, and it’s actually very nice. Matt didn’t want to risk the embarrassment of having to leave his seat during the performance, so requested wine when we went to the bar. I asked what they had, and Matt told the barmaid he’d have a glass of Rioja. I asked her what sort of Rioja it was, and she told me she thought it was from Italy! Thankfully it wasn’t
Matt decided we needed a couple of whiskies as well. Strangely, they had half a dozen bourbons, but not a single Scotch.
The bar got crowded, and we shuffled into the theatre, greedily clutching a drink in each hand. An old hippy walked onto the stage, carrying a bar stool, and started fiddling with a mic stand. I took him to be a stage-hand or something, but this was Daniel Kitson. He asked if everbody was in from the bar, and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll only be 70 minutes, then you can go.” He then took his chewing gum out, stuck it under the stool, and started reading a story from a large book. It was a strange story, mildly interesting, vaguely amusing in parts, but without any real point to it I could see, centring on a man picking up a hitchhiker dressed as a Halloween ghost. I thought this would last for 5 minutes, then he’d tell a few jokes or something, but an hour and 5 minutes later, he concluded, fairly abruptly, and walked off the stage to applause.
Me and Matt walked through Huddersfield town centre, past the market, and to one of my favourite pubs, ‘The Sportsman’, where we had time for a couple more pints before boarding the last train back to Leeds. I was shocked to learn that the character we'd just seen was only 3 years older than Matt, as he looks considerably older than Matt's dad! Strangely, I could find no up to date photo of him online!
Anyway, have a good day today Guardians
Handsome IXL Bob
I have plenty to do today, so I better get to it! 
I'm meeting Matt for beer and pizza before we get the train over. Plenty to do before then though 
to cheer me up !
