Very good thanks
Three of us got there just before 7pm on Friday, met up with a couple of others who went separately, & then went to the hotel [Express by Holiday Inn] (with a slight inadvertent detour due to poor map reading skills by one of my friends
)
Started off at The Shakespeare pub on Friday night, after unpacking & changing etc., as it was next to the hotel.
Nice place with cheap food & cheap beer.
Then headed off to Broad Street...
Went in one bar, can't remember the name, & we only stayed for one drink. Had some sort of horse statue in the foyer.
Then went off in search of somewhere else, & ended up in "Reflex", some cheesy 80s bar/club.
Stayed there for the rest of the night, 'till maybe 1am (didn't want to stay out too late, due to the paintballing on Saturday).
A good & drunken night. Felt a bit rough on the Saturday morning, but not too bad.
Paintballing on Saturday...
The five of us got a taxi all the way there (& 2 others came up to Birmingham on Saturday, & drove straight to the paintball site).
I ended up pre-booking with a local Birmingham taxi firm in the end, as they gave a cheaper quote (£45 each way) than the Taxiquoter thing. Phoned them a few days before, gave the day & time, & the *exact* address & postcode, & the bloke looked it up & said £45 as it was outside Wolverhampton.
The taxi turned up at noon on the Saturday, & we needed to be there for 1:15pm.
Our immediate impressions were negative, as he hadn't been told where we wanted to go, so obviously wouldn't have looked it up already or planned a route or anything.
I gave him the full address, & postcode, & also a bit of paper with it printed on (the confirmation form from the paintballing people).
The driver asked one of my mates if my mate knew how to programme his (the driver's) TomTom for him ("No"), & then asked my mate "How do you spell 'Wolverhampton' "?
After 10 minutes, he eventually got it programmed... Although he used the wrong postcode (something like WV6 instead of WV8). We pointed this out to him, but he didn't seem too happy at us doing so, & didn't change it.
After we got out of Birmingham (eventually - he seemed to be going a rather random route), we then slowly made the way towards Wolverhampton, with the driver avoiding all motorways etc. for some bizarre reason ("This way's quicker" - although I don't see how, as it made the route longer, & made the route go via slower roads)
Finally got to Codsall Wood, and after the driver asked a couple of different passers-by for directions we eventually found the paintballing site - just in the nick of time.
Asked the driver if he'd be able to pick us back up when we finished (the taxi guy on the phone had said simply to ask the driver for arranging the return pick-up).
"Oh, no, I don't want to come back out this way. Too complicated".
He also charged us £55, instead of £45.
"£45 quote was for Wolverhampton city centre... this isn't the city centre..."
NO IT WASN'T! IT WAS FOR THIS SPECIFIC ADDRESS OUTSIDE WOLVERHAMPTON AND THE CONTROLLER KNEW THIS!
Bah. Paid him anyway to avoid an argument, & to get rid of him.
We met up with the other two, & then went to get started with the paintballing.
All kitted up with "combat overalls", face masks, guns & paintballs, we began...
And it was awesome
Made me think of a real life game of COD4
We were joined with a huge group of 25 or so others (another stag party), & then the one overall group was split into two teams.
Played some Team Death Match games in the outdoor setting (I died lots), had a break & bought more paintballs.
We then headed off to the woodland game zone, & then played Capture the Flag (well, in this case tyre), plus what to me seemed like COD4's Search & Destroy (but with a jerry can instead of suitcase bomb).
We then finished off with the "stag hunt" game. My brother (Best Man) and I, plus the stag & best man from the huge group, had to face off against everyone else. We were invincible, while the other side were able to die.
Of course, being invincible, meant we got hit lots & lots of times
After we finished, the two with the car drove to the hotel (no room for all 7 of us, & if some went with them, the remaining ones would just have to pay more for the taxi), while we got the number for a local Codsall taxi (Codsall Cabs or Codsall Cars) & phoned up for a ride back to Birmingham.
We were quoted £45, & he charged us... £45.
And, he knew the way.
And, he went via the motorway etc., so the journey took a lot less time.
(& we actually beat the other two back to the hotel, even though we left around half an hour later, as they got lost & then got stuck in the West Brom post-game traffic).
All quite bruised, & very tired, but we all enjoyed it, & talked about doing it again sometime.
After showering & changing, we headed back out again for the night.
Couple of pints in The Shakespeare, followed by a soaking wet walk in the rain to the Celebrity Balti on Broad Street.
Very nice food
And a few bottles of Kingfisher...
We then wandered off in search of somewhere else. Ended up in Walkabout, & actually stayed there all night 'till it shut at 3am (had been talk of going to Legs Eleven, but we ended up just staying in Walkabout).
Got very very drunk, & felt extremely rough on Sunday.
Back to Cambridge on Sunday afternoon... rail replacement bus to Leicester, then train from Leicester to Cambridge.
Then had a nap...
Excellent weekend
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