Wednesday, 28 December 2005

January Munch

January's munch will be on the 16th as normal - further details will be posted nearer the time! Happy new year to everyone!

Thursday, 8 December 2005

The Christmas Munch

This month's Reading Munch will take place a day early: that is, Thursday 15th December, from around 7.30pm, at The Outlook in Reading. We hope to be somewhere in the downstairs area, so don't go looking for us in the no smoking section by the main door, anymore. This is a wonderful opportunity to get your christmas shopping done before coming along for a drink!

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. This is the non-smoking section, however a satellite smoking group formed itself last month, and allowed for further mingling.

Look for the small but colourful toy cat - that's us.

Friday, 18 November 2005

We forgot the cat - we're sorry

Apologies to anyone who couldn't quite work out who we were, as we didn't have our faithful mascot with us. We did substitute a purple balloon with a cat drawn on it, but this may not have worked. Nonetheless we still got 11 people, including three newcomers, and a wide-ranging intellectual conversation.

The December munch will be on THURSDAY 15th DECEMBER - yes, you heard right; we're moving it to the 15th, because we expect most people will have christmas parties to go to on Friday 16th (we do, anyway). So we'll be braving the late-night shopping crowds for the last munch of the year - see you there!

Monday, 14 November 2005

Delayed start time

I might be delayed on Wednesday, so we will officially start the munch at 8pm; and Pete might be there without me. Please make your way in an orderly fashion to the downstairs bar, and look for him (hopefully with the mascot kitty), in the vicinity of the pool table. I hope to get there before closing time!

Monday, 7 November 2005

November Munch

The next Reading Munch will take place on Wednesday 16th November, from around 7.30pm, at The Outlook in Reading. We hope to be in the corner DOWNSTAIRS near the pool table, so don't go looking for us in the no smoking section by the main door, anymore.

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. This is the non-smoking section, however a satellite smoking group formed itself last month, and allowed for further mingling.

Look for the small but colourful toy cat - that's us.

Monday, 17 October 2005

Near-Disaster: The Outlook closed on a Sunday!

Imagine our dismay, to turn up at 2.45 and find the pub in darkness! I hope no-one missed us because of this, but we did leave a note in the door, and set up camp in The Warwick across the road, among a big crowd of Manchester City fans.

The place wasn't too unfriendly, and we had our usual mix of new people and old regulars - well, we've been going for 8 months now; there are definitely people who qualify as regs.

I hope everyone enjoyed themselves; see you all on Wednesday 16th November!

Tuesday, 4 October 2005

October Munch

The next Reading Munch will take place on Sunday 16th October, from around 3.00pm, at The Outlook in Reading. Last time we made ourselves very comfortable in the corner DOWNSTAIRS near the pool table, so don't go looking for us in the no smoking section by the main door, anymore.

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. This is the non-smoking section, however a satellite smoking group formed itself last month, and allowed for further mingling.

Look for the small but colourful toy cat - that's us.

Sunday, 18 September 2005

Outnumbered by Newbies

(Not new-to-the-scene newbies, just new-to-the-Reading-Munch newbies).

Last Friday's munch was a busy one, despite the crowded pub and the fact that we were sitting outside for most of the evening. In fact the downstairs area proved to be quite good for mingling, as we didn't end up all sat round in a big circle.

There were about 15 people altogether, only four of whom had been along before. Many more girls than usual, too. Jolly good show.

Next month the munch will be on a Sunday afternoon, so we will start early and enjoy ourselves. It may be a good idea to go downstairs near the pool table again, so the Doms can prove how good they are at wielding long thin pieces of wood.

The Cat's Claws

A new BDSM website and community for the Newbury and West Berkshire area

Saturday, 10 September 2005

September Munch Announcement

The next Reading Munch will take place next Friday 16th September, from around 8.00pm, at The Outlook in Reading. As it's a Friday night and we expect it to be busy, we'll be out in the garden unless it's raining. If it's raining, then, um, I'm not sure where we'll be, but we'll try and get the non-smoking bay at the front.

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. This is the non-smoking section, however a satellite smoking group formed itself last month, and allowed for further mingling.

Look for the colourful kitty - that's us.

Thursday, 25 August 2005

Minimum Age

I'm a Reading university undergraduate. Do you have an minimum age, as I'm 20 and was considering coming along this September

We've never really considered the need for a minimum age, as let's face it, most of us are no spring chickens (JOKING!). I would certainly not want to have to deal with anyone under 18 turning up (although I did once see a babe in arms at the Wokingham munch), but I would have thought that 20 is fine.

Drop me a line to the email address above if you want to be added to the mailing list.

Monday, 15 August 2005

Young Things?

A comment on the last post wonders:
Even though I am a less-than-decrepit 60 year old I would not want to be the only oldie in the group.
Is it all young things attending?

Now I am trying to think - the age range is probably from mid-twenties to fifties, but obviously I wouldn't dream of putting names to ages, for fear of offending anyone! We are quite a mixed crowd, but I'd like to think we're all tolerant enough to avoid any accusation of ageism.

Free pint for the oldest person to turn up...

Monday, 8 August 2005

August Munch Announcement

The next Reading Munch will take place next Tuesday, 16th August, from around 7.30pm, at The Outlook in Reading. We hope to be in the non-smoking area to the right of the door, unless some disaster forces us to park elsewhere.

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. This is the non-smoking section, however a satellite smoking group formed itself last month, and allowed for further mingling.

Look for the colourful kitty - that's us. There may also be a Bapuss in evidence; you see, we're all just softies.

Please let me know if you are nervous and would like someone to meet you outside and introduce you around.

Friday, 24 June 2005

Next Munch: Friday 15th July

The next Reading Munch will take place next Friday 15th July, from around 7.30pm, at The Outlook in Reading. We hope to be in the non-smoking area to the right of the door. We have deviated from our usual routine of holding it on the 16th, so that people can get to the ST summer party on the Saturday. Pete and I will once again not be in attendance, but proceedings will be ably managed by Melissa and Bagpuss.

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We can usually be found at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. Look out for Bagpuss - can't miss him!

Please let us know if you are nervous and would like someone to meet you outside and introduce you around.

Saturday, 11 June 2005

Next Munch: Thursday 16th June

The fifth Reading Munch will take place next Thursday, 16th June, from around 7.30pm, at The Outlook in Reading. Pete and I won't be able to make it on Thursday, but Melissa has agreed to take charge, although I doubt there will be any problems. I imagine the gathering will be in our usual spot, the non-smoking area to the right of the door

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. This is the non-smoking section, however a satellite smoking group formed itself last month, and allowed for further mingling.

Please let me know if you are nervous and would like someone to meet you outside and introduce you around.

July Munch
July 16th clashes with the Sweet Torments summer party and a further double-booking for me and Pete, so we will actually deviate from the plan and hold the munch on Friday 15th July. Since the pub will probably be hideously busy on a Friday, we're going to go for a curry instead, so I will need to know exact numbers! Put it in your diary now...

Tuesday, 17 May 2005

The problem of men

I notice that all the munches so far have been virtually men's clubs - I think four women is the all-time high. What on earth can we do to encourage more girls to turn up? I mean, apart from promising a high ratio of single male doms...

May's Munch

I wasn't expecting so many people on a Monday night! Apologies to all for leaving early but I am still feeling a little bit under the weather.

I had one request from any newbie TVs in the Reading area who might want some advice or just to talk to someone - if so just email me or leave a comment and I will put you in touch.

For the June munch, I hope to be around, but I may be in China on the 16th, in which case you are all going to be in the safe hands of Mel. June 16th is a Thursday, which is of course a very sensible night to hold a munch.

In July, not only does the 16th fall on a Saturday, but it clashes with the Sweet Torments Summer Party and Pete and I are obliged to go to a wedding on that day. So my alternative suggestion is that we move it to Friday 15th, and go for a curry somewhere in Reading. Can anyone suggest a good venue?

Wednesday, 11 May 2005

Next munch: Monday 16th May

The fourth Reading Munch will take place next Monday, 16th May, from around 7.30pm, at The Outlook in Reading. We hope to be in the non-smoking area to the right of the door, which some of you will now know is our regular spot.

Yes, I know Monday is a weird night to have a munch, but that just means we will get a whole new crowd of people: the Monday-night kinksters...

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. This is the non-smoking section, however a satellite smoking group formed itself last month, and allowed for further mingling.

Look for the colourful kitty - that's us.

Please let me know if you are nervous and would like someone to meet you outside and introduce you around.

RSVP
I would appreciate it if you could drop me a line to let me know you're planning to join us - either leave a comment here (change it from anonymous to other to leave your email address); or email me using the address at the top of this page.

Saturday, 16 April 2005

April Munch Report

So, it turned out that the football wasn't being shown, and the pub was virtually empty. We had a total of 19 people, 7 of whom had been along before - so a lot of newcomers, which I put down to it being a Saturday rather than a midweek meet.

The Lifestyle Badges were available to look at and buy, and opinion seemed to be fairly evenly divided about whether it was a good idea to be able to identify someone's orientation and cut straight to the chase; or whether they were an unnecessary substitute for conversation. I've got contact details should anyone wish to order one; also I think they will be at the main fetish markets in the next few weeks.

We also talked about the recent furore about some north-western munches being outed in the local papers, but people seemed fairly relaxed and quite prepared to be open about what we do. So we won't stop advertising. In fact we have some nice flyers, if anyone wants to take a handful to any events they might be gong to - email me and I will send you the Word document.

May 16th is a Monday, so put that in your diaries now!

Friday, 15 April 2005

Football Warning

My worst fear has come true! There is an FA cup semi final on Saturday, so there is a strong chance that the pub will be full of Arsenal and Blackburn supporters. Hopefully they will all be downstairs, and they won't do something awful like put the biggest screen in our precious no-smoking section.

Nevertheless, the colourful kitty and Pete and I will be there from 2pm, attempting to stake out our space. We are going to need all the help we can get!

Saturday, 9 April 2005

Next munch: Saturday 16th April 2pm

The third Reading Munch will take place next Saturday, 16th April, from around 2pm, at The Outlook in Reading. We hope to be in the non-smoking area to the right of the door.

The mailing list has doubled in size since the last munch, so we are expecting a decent turn-out; why not add yourself to it?

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you are lucky.

Dress Code and Behaviour
Since they would not allow us to book, the pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. This is the non-smoking section, however a satellite smoking group formed itself last month, and allowed for further mingling.

Look for the colourful kitty - that's us.

Please let me know if you are nervous and would like someone to meet you outside and introduce you around.

RSVP
I would appreciate it if you could drop me a line to let me know you're planning to join us - either leave a comment here (change it from anonymous to other to leave your email address); or email me using the address at the top of this page.

Tuesday, 5 April 2005

Paddling is also good for you

And again, of course, we already knew that. Here is a useful map of good places to hit someone (and I don't mean, for example, Cornwall).

Thursday, 31 March 2005

Lifestyle Badges

I received an email today offering enamel lifestyle badges for use at the munch and presumably in any environment where you feel the need to state your orientation to those in the know.

The email says:
As a sub I have found that there is no way of recognising a fellow D/s person when out in a vanilla situation, sick of wondering is he or isnt he a dominant when i saw a bloke i fancied, i came up with my lifestyle badges. Beautifully enamelled they can be worn with pride, Discreet to the vanilla eye, yet they will speak volumes to those in the know. Imagine being in the pub and someone else came in wearing one! no prizes for guessing the chat up line!

[I can't show you pictures, but] :- Black background denotes Master/Mistress and sub who are in a collared relationship, Red background denotes Dom/me and sub who play or are available, currently under design is a badge for those who switch. Demand has been intense and we are reserving badges for when they are ready, and we are also looking for agents to introduce them at meets and munchies.

actual size is 20mm from top to bottom


If anyone is interested in this idea, let me know.

Update:
The badges will be £5 each, and the badge-maker hopes to be able to bring some to the next Reading Munch.

Friday, 25 March 2005

Useful Hints

  1. The next munch will be at 2pm on Saturday 16th April. I have decided, in the absence of any input whatsoever from other munchgoers, that we will risk The Outlook without booking it. Once we have sufficient numbers, we can intimidate the other punters from our precious non-smoking corner of the pub. If we end up getting thrown out, we still have all the other pubs in Reading to choose from...

  2. If you wish to be added to my mailing list, you have two options:

    • Email me, reformatting the following address by replacing the capitalised words with appropriate symbols: edesmacska AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk.

    • Write a comment at the end of this post, changing the identity from anonymous to other in order to leave your email address.


Friday, 18 March 2005

Techy Bit

On Wednesday I was asked about a feed for this site.

Lo and behold, it was lurking at http://readingmunch.blogspot.com/atom.xml all along. I had an inkling.

Dom:sub ratio

I estimate the ratio of Doms to subs on Wednesday as about 12:5. So that's what top-heavy means.

March Munch Report

The Second Reading Munch occurred on Wednesday, and we had 17 people - a good cross-section, from lots of different circles, and everyone seemed to get on really well.

Luckily we managed to intimidate the group of students out of the seats we wanted before too many people arrived, and were able to take over the non-smoking area, with a sort of munch-annex in the smoking area.

The next time that it falls on a weeknight, I will definitely book; but I've been told by the pub that we can't reserve any tables on a Saturday afternoon, so I'm wondering whether to try and find an alternative venue, or to take the risk. They did tell me they were usually pretty quiet on a Saturday afternoon, unless the football is on. Any thoughts from anyone?

The next munch will be at 2pm on Saturday 16th April, venue to be confirmed.

Friday, 11 March 2005

Meet and Greet

Brilliant turn out Kitty... good to meet the new faces... def.comming to next one!
Mel

Thursday, 10 March 2005

March Munch Announcement

We will be celebrating our second ever munch at The Outlook in Reading next Wednesday, 16th March, from 7.30pm.

Directions and Parking
The link includes a map showing that the pub is on the Kings Road, on the town centre side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge you will find the Queens Road car park, accessible from the A329. You can also park right outside the pub if you get there early enough.

I don't actually drive in Reading if I can ever help it, so if these directions are nonsense, please feel free to correct me. No hard feelings will result.

Dress Code and Behaviour
The pub is not currently aware of our meeting or our inclinations, so please dress in street clothes and be discreet. No pink latex hotpants please. And absolutely no whips.

Locating us
We plan to sit at the front of the pub, round the corner to your right as you come in through the door. It is a slightly separate area which we can fill up nicely if we get enough people.

The book on the table will be Hotel New Hampshire, which is a big blue paperback with a dog on the front.

At this early stage, I don't think it will be necessary to meet & greet shy first-time munchgoers; I would simply recommend turning up early. If you think you can't handle that, please let me know via email and I will talk you through it.

RSVP
I would appreciate it if you could drop me a line to let me know you're planning to join us - either leave a comment here (change it from anonymous to other to leave your email address); or email me using the address at the top of this page.

SEE YOU NEXT WEDNESDAY!

Sunday, 6 March 2005

Munches are bad for you

Yesterday, I consumed one cup of tea, a bowl of nachos with nasty squeezy cheese, two red bulls, one glass of very rough red wine, a coffee, half a frozen pizza (reheated), two more cups of tea, three pieces of sweet & sour chicken, and at least two mini packets of skittles.

He had about ten pints of beer, and I have the worse hangover, from about four times my normal caffeine/sugar/general junk intake. Perhaps next time he will take pity on me, and drive.

Tuesday, 1 March 2005

A local munch this weekend

The Southern UK BDSM group munch will be going on this Saturday afternoon in a pub near Sandhurst. Email or comment (leaving contact address) if you require details.

This group munch only happens once every three months or so, and it's very well-attended by people who use that particular Yahoo group. Normally it's held in Wokingham, but it seems we're venturing into the wilds of Surrey this weekend. To the best of my knowledge, we two will be going.

Thursday, 24 February 2005

Correction

Thank you to all the kind people who politely pointed out the nonsense date in the future on which I claimed that we had held the first munch. I'm doing that a lot lately; I blame the internet for truncating my attention span.

I've corrected it, and to be clear: The last munch was on the 16th of February. The next munch will be on the 16th of March. The one after that will be on the 16th of April, which is a Saturday - huzzah!

And a note for anyone leaving comments: If you switch from anonymous to other, you can leave an email address in the website field. If you do that, I will add you to the munch mailing list. Or don't - as you prefer.

Sunday, 20 February 2005

March Munch

The next munch will be on 16th March at The Outlook, starting from around 7.30.

Since posting on the Midlands and the Southern yahoo groups, I've had quite a few responses from people who will probably join us; I think we might even double the numbers! I am not planning to run a meet'n'greet service while we are still so small; instead I would recommend that anyone who is at all nervous makes sure they get there early on, so that they can be at least half way down their first pint before any particularly scary types turn up. Or, better still, so that they can say hi to us and start to feel at home before the table gets crowded.

This is now the official Reading Munch website. I've chosen this publishing system because I've been using blogger, on and off, since June 2001, and I just like it. It offers total anonymity, but allows two-way communication between reader and writer. I did consider whether it was sensible to use an open web page for this subject, rather than a members-only group; but then Informed Consent is open to all, and I'm not planning for there to be any overt discussion of what we actually do. And as you can see from the list on the right, there are already a lot of quite graphic weblogs on the subject, so the world won't notice one more.

So, this is it, officially launched. If you want to contact me, you can leave a comment below, or my email address is at the top of the page.

Saturday, 19 February 2005

Inaugural Reading Munch

The first Reading Munch was held in The Outlook in Reading, on Wednesday 16th February. Five people attended, including me and my Dom.

It was agreed that mid-week munches were a good thing, however I know of at least one couple who can only join in at the weekend, so I decided that we would always hold it on the 16th of the month, and then it would sometimes drop into a weekend. I did check that there was no danger of it clashing with either the Farnborough Munch or Christmas, the organisers of which might be offended if I set up in competition with them.

For the time being, if you wish to contact me, please leave a comment. Further design and functionality will be added later.