The UK-based Automatticians got together last night for an ugly jumper Christmas dinner in York. Last year we went to Keswick which was really nice. This year we went to one of my favourite cities, York.

Dinner was at the Guy Fawkes Inn which is very old and characterful and supposedly the birth place of Guido Fawkes in 1570. The food was great and the atmosphere perfect. Here’s a group photo:

Before dinner we stopped at Trembling Madness which is also an intriguing place and well worth visiting if you go to York. I think I read that it’s the oldest, or one of the oldest, beer halls in York.

You can order and drink a yard of ale which looks like this:

A sign on the wall says the record for downing a yard of ale is less than 5 seconds (I think it was 4.8s but I can’t remember exactly). However I can’t see how that’s possible? A yard of ale is two and a half pints and there’s no way anyone could drink that in 5 seconds or less.

The River Ouse is flooded again:

Clifford’s Tower:

There’s a good view of the flooded river from the top of the tower in the next photo. The trees in the photo are underwater and they shouldn’t be. That’s where the bike path is that I used to cycle along:

I’m typing this on the train back to Aberdeen. It was great to go back to York and I also got to catch up with a couple of friends I haven’t seen since I was last in York in 2013. It was also great to have a Christmas dinner for all the UK-matticians and to see everyone again. I love working from home but I also really value meeting up with people in person.