You no longer have to live in Zurich or Basel to enjoy the social events that are organized through this forum, becuase we've now got something happening down in Lausanne! If you're living in Romandie (french-speaking Switzerland) then why not come out and meet some fellow forum members?

We'll be meeting at about 8:00pm on Wednesday, Jan 31st (2007) in the Pinte Besson bar, which is at Rue de l'Ale 4, in central Lausanne (see map). It's a very short walk from the Flon metro station, or the Bel Air or Riponne bus stops, and Riponne would probably be the most convenient car park.

Based on a discussion that we've been having on another thread (link to thread), it looks like several people are already planning to come. It would be nice to make this a regular or semi-regular event, but we'll obviously have to see how this one goes first.

The Pinte Besson bar should be ideal for meeting and having a chat because it is not too noisy and generally not very crowded. It has lots of character (I think that it must be the oldest bar in Lausanne), and has reasonable beer and wine prices (plus some pretty good Vaudoise food if you're hungry).

Although we've tried to organize something like this before in Lausanne with limited success (you can search the forum for "Lausanne drinks"), the growth in the number of people on this forum in the French-speaking part of the country, and particularly in Lausanne, who have shown interest in such an event over the past few months makes this instantiation look to be especially promising.

Obviously, EVERYONE is invited, they do not need to be members of this forum - please feel free to bring along partners, friends and colleagues.

Hi ChrisW,

Thanks again for doing all the leg work on this. Sounds good, I will be there with my other half and maybe 1/2 others from work.

Cheers, see you all then,

LoyalRoyal

Great timing!

I'm moving to Lausanne on Jan 30th, so I'll really try and come along for a few drinks if I can.

Sam.

yes im gonna try and make that ....hope to see you all soon

Hi Chris

Thanks for organising this.. definitely coming and probably bringing along a work colleague.

Lydia

Hi all,

Great to see some events in Lausanne, even though I'm new to the forum, that's great timing. I plan to come with a couple colleagues.

Dan

Hi all!

Looks like there's gonna be a nice bunch of us, colleague said she's definitely coming

Lydia

Thx mates, we have to make this happen in lausanne ! I will come, probably with a work mate.

Sounds great, Chris. I aim to be there, but no promises yet, as I have been made to look after a visitor who has been dominating my time this past week. The 31st will be his last day, so either I can get out or I will be stuck at EPFL longer than usual.

If I make it there I will be hungry, so it's good to see that food will be available.

Hope to see you all there. Oh, BTW, how will we know which group of people to join? Unless there's loud English discussion happening when each of us arrives or just a single group sitting around, do we need a gimmick somehow? Someone with a silly hat perhaps?

Good point!!! We'll likely be easy to find, but to be extra sure, I'll be there with Chris at 8:00 and I'll bring my trusty little avatar moose (Gordon) with me. He'll be sitting on the table in full view of everyone (he likes being the centre of attention.)

See you all on Wednesday!!

HeatherM (and Gordon the moose)

Hi everyone!!

Soooooooooooooooo are we still all keen about tomorrow night? I'm for sure going and my work colleague too and maybe Lizzette (who's also a member on this forum). Bringing Gordon the Moose is a great idea.. make sure he's in full view!

Really looking forward to meeting more people.

See you tomorrow

Lydia

Hi all, I'm looking forward to meeting you folks this evening and I'm very pleased that there's been so much interest. As HeatherM said, just look for Gordon the Moose (or listen out for the group of English-speakers) and you should find us easily.

We'll be trying to keep Gordon in line this time, because pictured below is what happened when he went to the EnglishForum christmas party near Zurich last month:

hi am also new to the forum just saw the drinking session thing today. can you tell me when you are arranging to meet again. got something on tonight but would like to meet up with some people who know how to drink and tell dirty jokes sorry i am irish and kinda of a bit ... well mad. . let me know when the next one is on the cards. thanks billy

How was the event?

I just wanted to thank to Chris and Heather for organising such a good event last night.

I sure everyone who made it will agree that a good time was had by all.

Looking forward to the next one in a couple of weeks ...

Yes me too, was good to meet people, much bigger turnout than I was expecting.

Good venue too. Hopefully it is the first of many more, thanks Heather/Chris/Gordon for organising it.

I appreciate the thanks guys, fortunately it was not particularly hard to organize due to the great response from all of you.

Based on the success of this event, there should certainly be more. As SamC mentioned, we're thinking of doing it again in a couple of weeks. Some people preferred the idea of making it monthly, but even if we do it bi-weekly then those folks can still come every other time if that is what they prefer.

A bi-weekly schedule would of course make the next event occur on Feb. 14th, so turnout might not be quite so good then because people may have other commitments. However, I don't think that this should prevent the rest of us from getting together for a good time.

Last night, we also briefly discussed the idea of changing the venue to the Captain Cook Pub for the next time. I've never been there myself, but I found this description by googling it, it sounds quite English.

What are other people's thoughts on frequency and location?

i am in lausanne on feb 8 + 9 just in case anyone wants to meet up for a drink. Especially as Feb 14 might not work for a lot of us.

Snoozeboy suggested in a PM to me that Feb 15th might be a better plan than the 14th, and that Captain Cook wasn't a very nice place. If we do move to Feb 15th, then so that we have at least some consistency, maybe we should keep the venue the same. Any objections to the Pinte Besson on the 15th?

I'd just like to send out some belated thank-yous to eveyone who came out on Wednesday evening. The final headcount was thirteen very boisterous individuals (plus one moose), and considering some forum members showed a serious statement of intent by arriving early, and we still ended up closing out the place, I think I'd definitely call the evening a success. (And it was educational, too. I mean, who knew that Tom Jones isn't Welsh.)

(As an aside, I think SamC deserves some special recognition for hitting the pub/social scence 24 hours after moving to the country!)

I like the idea of having our next one the 15th instead of the 14th. Anyone else been to the King Size Pub? The beer is a bit pricey, but it's a fair size, and reasonably central... Or does anyone from Vevey have any suggestions? We don't have to stay in Lausanne...

Have a good one

HeatherM