Just Curious

[Guy]

:hi:Not every been to the UK there are things I have learned about your culture thru different things I've seen and heard. But there are other things I am curious about.

When you talk about a "holiday" is that to honor a person or event? Or is that time away from work?

Does your beer taste better warm or chilled?

Do pubs have Happy Hour?

what are the different denomination of you currency?

I'm sure I could find answers to this questions on the net but this gives me the chance to interact and get more questions.

In turn, I'm ready to be quizzed.:whistling:

[DaveR]

Holiday is usually time away from work................or time away somewwhere !

Beer .....well my choice very chilled as most in the UK i think

Happy Hour ar well yes we do but thats a debate on its own as binge drinking has become a nasty event in the Uk with many blaming the sart on Happy Hour drinking

Now theres some answers for an early morning

[Hovis Bread Eater]

Traditional Beer should be served at Room temperature,

Not like this "lager" stuff which is that cold you have no taste.

Pounds and pence for the currency, but being poor i only know about pence....

[The Windmill]

Mr Hovis, as you say beer should be served at room temperature. But I take issue with Lager having no taste. Have you tried any of the fine Czech,Belgian or German Lagers that are available. Examples being Budvar, Staropramen, Pilsner Urquell, Erdinger, Warsteiner, Grimbergen or Amstel. They all have a fine individual taste. I agree that the mass produced rubbish they serve in most UK pubs is tasteless. But seek out a quality lager and you will not be disappointed. Take a look at the beers of europe web site.....Enjoy

http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/acatalog/

[TheMoose]

Stick to Tea its the best drink and will keep the folds away.

[Hovis Bread Eater]

As a well travelled man,

I have sampled beers in many european countries and have been seen drinking in Holland with Harry and Fantasy for my sins.

[The Windmill]

Obviously if you were with those two, it was your round continuously.

[Hovis Bread Eater]

One did have extremly short arms and big pockets.

[Spongebob!]

One did have extremly short arms and big pockets.

mmm - that sounds familiar - one could peel an orange in his pocket!!! :snigger:

[HarryBelafonte]

Guy,been to vegas and to a brilliant place called sedona,was as impressive as the grand canyon,loved arizona and nevada,you will have to come to the north east, your in for a big shock if you do.. think you would like it tho..people are friendly as they are in arizona,not the same sense of space tho....ha ha...
guiness is my tipple,did not like it first time in ireland but it grows on you,although it would be 6 dollars a pint, bit cheaper in vegas..
:thumbsup:

[Guy]

Hello all
DaveR
Is the word vacation ever used instead of holiday. Holiday here in the U.S. is used to honor people or events. Thanksgiving is one Holiday in November we celebrate that was carried over from the early settlers. Back in their day it was called Harvest Fest.
Happy Hour is at just about every Bar, Lounge or Club (Most commonly used names)
and when Happy Hour first started here it was a nation of countless law suits in which the customers were suing the facilities because the bartender did not stop them from drinking in excess. The courts finally determined it’s the individuals responsibility to Know when to stop.

Hovis Bread Eater
Is there a meaning behind Hovis Bread Eater?
The beer issue I will take up with Windmill, but as far as the currency, how many pence to a pound. Do you use the term “bit” and/or how does it relate to a pence or pound? What is the weight of a stone?

The Windmill
Being a rum and coke drinker I will have a beer or two of chilled beer. I guess I’ve never developed a taste for beer, most beers taste bitter to me. Since you mentioned lagers I may have to seek out something to fit my fancy. How do you suggest larger be consumed, room temperature or chilled?

The Moose
Tea – Is it a true that there is a time set aside to have tea or is that something Hollywood wants Americans to believe.
What folds do you speak of?

Sbob
I Guess if you guys weren’t friends you wouldn’t speak so openly about each other.

Harry
Other gambling places that are interesting to visit would be Reno Nevada “The Biggest Little City in the World” and Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe, Nevada side for the gambling and the California side for the pleasure and beauty.
I agree with the Grand Canyon being impressive and Sedona brilliant. Other places of interest would be Jerome about 2 hours from Phoenix, used to be a mining town now a tourist attraction, about 1/2 hour away from Sedona. Prescott has a popular annual rodeo about 1 ½ +/- hours from Phoenix. I could go on but I don’t want to bore you.
Are there a lot of small town that are interesting to go to that tourist go to?

[DaveR]

Im still a major fan of the lovely City York..........great place with many many Americans visiting the place time after time, steeped in history and well worth a visit.

There are lots of places with historical attractions although York is one of my favourites. The picture below is a standard street in York.

http://tabletennistalk.co.uk/forum/table/york.JPG

ps loved the york open that was played there until a couple of years ago .............now in Halifax but not the same in my opinion.

[The Windmill]

Guy, Lager should only ever be drunk chilled. Been to the USA myself, New York, Boston, Washington DC, Florida and Cape Cod. I visited Busch Gardens an did the tour of the Budwiesser brewery.....plenty free samples at the end.....Not as good as Budvar in Czech Republic though. And yes myself, Spongey, Harry, Fantasy and Dave R are friends and as such are fair game when it comes to taking the mickey

[TheMoose]

The whole history thing is a must in the UK, although im from there it is a great place to visit if history is your boat.

[Guy]

Hello all
Thank you all for the info you are sharing.

I have read other topics on this site and my question today is "Could someone explain the leagues you refer to?

As I think of others things to ask I hope you will continue with answers.

[FantasyCheeseBasin]

Guy if you ever come to britian make a trip to hadrians wall........built around 122ad , large sections still exist with allsorts to see,beautifull part of britian..........:rocker:

ps hovis is the nickname we use for a mate in sheffield, its connected with hovis bread................:fcb:

[Firepower]

Hello all
Thank you all for the info you are sharing.

I have read other topics on this site and my question today is "Could someone explain the leagues you refer to?

As I think of others things to ask I hope you will continue with answers.

Leagues are formed as part of local Table Tennis associations, for example you could have south essex or Yorkshire all having seperate leagues such as Yorkshire Table Tennis League. The divisions are then made or created within those leagues so local Table Tennis is then played inside it's own area, with Tournaments following such as the Northumberland Closed, which is only open to those players who are within that particular league. The open tournament would be open to all entries.

Leagues are formed for areas and divisions made within the leagues so standard is adjusted to divisions.

Hope this clears up some muddy water.

[Guy]

Firepower
Your explanation did add some clarity to my question, but I have additional questions. From what you said I am understanding that on the most part each town/city that has tt clubs, that league is named after that town/city i.e. South Essex, Yorkshire etc. If a city is large enough to have more then one club how is that handled?
Another question is "Other than tournaments, do players from one club play host to players of another club?" Similar to one school competing against another.

[DaveR]

Hi

The simple explanation would be to say that certain larger cities may have "South" or " North" for example South Yorkshire etc..............the answer to players or clubs hosting other players from near or relative clubs would be similar to what was formally known as regional play with local cities or towns playing regional competitions, although this has sadly lost momentum (jose mentioned this in a previous post) i would like to see the regional theme re-introduced in some form with local clubs playing again.

This is all possible but needs some activity within clubs and leagues to initiciate.

[Guy]

I would think to motivate or to get the momentum back someone could come up with a trophy of some sort in which during the course of the year the clubs would compete against each other with the winning club taking the trophy. Then the club holding the trophy would take on other clubs (challenge if you will) to see if the trophy stays or goes. Then at the end of a year, the club with the best record would be engraved on the trophy. This could be like the Davis Cup in Tennis.
Maybe you could even get Hexapong involved for a match of Team of Three just for fun.

[Kev]

Hey Guy,

Is the word vacation ever used instead of holiday.

Not really, unless people have been watching too much American TV. We all konw what it means though!

Thanksgiving is one holiday in November we celebrate that was carried over from the early settlers. Back in their day it was called Harvest Fest.

We still have a Harvest Festival here.


how many pence to a pound. Do you use the term “bit” and/or how does it relate to a pence or pound?

There are 100 pence in a pound. Noone uses the term bit I'm afraid.

Hope I've helped a little bit though!

Kev

[TheMoose]

Kev should be part of the team here, very helpful and also very informative.

[Hovis Bread Eater]

for instance

The City of Sheffield has many clubs and has 7 divisions within its league with 14 teams per division.

Many clubs in Sheffield were formed from factories and church halls etc.

So a lot of the venues are small one table venues.

[Guy]

So how many players do you suppose show up for a one table venue? How long is the facility open? How many night are they open? What would be the number of tables in the largest venue you know of? Are there clubs that are nothing but tt as there are clubs for racket ball or tennis? Here in the U.S. tt clubs are mostly facilities that house others sports also.

[Hovis Bread Eater]

Most of the venue in Sheffield are used during the week just for matches.
Starting at 7.15pm and finishing between930pm and 1130pm, 3 a side 10 matches in total.

There is only one venue in Sheffield which is linked to a Sporting Club and that has 3 tables, one is associated with a disabled sports club and that has 8 tables.

Our biggest venue in Sheffield is at the English Institute of Sport where on Mondays and Wednesdays there are 15 tables available for practice (Mon 5 taken for matches).

In comparision to USA the 4th largest City in England from the centre to the city boundary is only 14 miles, so it makes it much easier to have a city league.

[Guy]

Is there any place in the UK that has a facility that is exclusive for playing tt (a business if you will) that is open 7 days a week where the accomplished players and ping pong players can go to play?

[Jose]

Ormesby Table Tennis Club in Middlesbrough is one such facility. It could be open all day and evening seven days a week but because it is run by volunteers, it is actually only open for arranged session times, weekend tournaments or matches. See our website at www.ormesbytabletennisclub.org.uk (http://www.ormesbytabletennisclub.org.uk)

[SammyBoy]

The Ormesby set up is a good one, there was or still is a mylton keynes purpous built or am i wrong.

[Mr Wilko]

Ormesby Table Tennis Club in Middlesbrough is one such facility. It could be open all day and evening seven days a week but because it is run by volunteers, it is actually only open for arranged session times, weekend tournaments or matches. See our website at www.ormesbytabletennisclub.org.uk (http://www.ormesbytabletennisclub.org.uk)


how times have changed i remember playing british league in a hut at the bottom of Alan's dad's garden there were photos up of when ormesby won the european league in that hut!!!! it used to have the nickname of the chicken hut but would of seen some world class players playing there in there time ie Klampar, Jarvis & Des

[DaveR]

Andy it's a great place and well worth a visit, i'm dragging myself down there tonight if i can sort my business out early tonight.

Some would say i need the practice and who am i to disagree....................

I had a terrible loss to a guy called Wilko !

[Guy]

In the U.S. when people talk or use different words to describe the same thing we can more or less say that people are from a certain part of the U.S.

Examples:
A conveniance store/corner store here in Arizona is a conveniance store (most likely a Circle K) but in Michigan they are referred to as a party store.

Depending were you live the road that runs parallel to a Freeway or Highway would be called a frontage road or a access road.

People in Texas would say down yawnder instead of down there.

Is there anyone out there that would care to share?:fcb:

[Hovis Bread Eater]

South Yorkshire Sayings

down yonder = down there

Where tha bin = where have you been

beer off - off license / liquer store