From: osmith@acorn.co.uk (Owen Smith)
Newsgroups: soc.bi
Subject: Re: Bi Edinburgh (was Re: Another newcomer...)
Date: 26 Jul 92 22:18:27 GMT
Organization: Acorn Computers Ltd, Cambridge, England

In article <39733@skye.dcs.ed.ac.uk> db@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry) writes:

(PS. Acorn is in Cambridge.)

>In Cambridge I shall have to deal with coming out to people at my new job,
>at the gay pub, and at any other groups that I join.  I plan to do this
>by wearing T-shirts and badges, and not putting up with any shit.  I'm
>willing to talk about it with people, but not to compromise.

I'm not at all convinced that there is a gay pub in Cambridge, and I'm even
less convinced about pink triangle badges being of any use, based on recent
evidence here at Acorn. One of the programmers has worn a pink triangle
badge occasionally, very occasionally in fact. I'm not sure if he wears it
on the third tuesday in every lunar month, something even more obscure, or
only on days he's got enough nerve to wear it :-). It might even be on "Gay
Solidarity" days or something similar, it's that rare. Anyway, I asked a
friend of mine who knows this guy better than I do whether the bloke is
actually gay or was wearing a pink triangle for some other reason. My friend
was most puzzled. It turned out that he a) hadn't noticed the pink triangle
badge and b) didn't know what they mean anyway! So I would suggest T-shirts
with logos in big letters, to counteract the dreaded Cambridge Apathy
Syndrome. (Most of the students don't vote in the Students Union elections
for instance.)

Another apathy alert was when a group of us were discussing the film "Fried
Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe". I said I was dissappointed at the
film makers for shying away from Idgie and Ruth's lesbian relationship.
Everyone else told me I was imagining things, and that the characters were
just good friends. Are these people blind, stupid or both?


Where's your new job by the way? Cambridge is a rather small and often dull
place. I seem to have friends or acquaintances at nearly half of the
computer companies around.

>One good thing about the move is that I'll be sharing a house with Alex.
>Having at least one good friend around will make everything else *much*
>easier.  And of course there are other people on soc.bi, and a Cambridge
>bisexual group, who I'm looking forward to meeting.  And I'll be nearer
>the Oxford and Coventry people, as well.  The bisexual movement is a
>wonderful thing.

Are you sure this is an all year round group? One of the big problems with
being remotely young in Cambridge is that the University scene dominates
everything, such that out of term time there is very little to do. Terms are
short at Cambridge too - about 8.5 weeks. Cambridge is actually quite a
small place - on size terms it certainly doesn't merit the title of City.
I'm currently trying to find non University orchestras and role playing
groups. No luck yet. I suspect you'll be disappointed with Cambridge after
Edinburgh. Oh yes, Oxford and Conventry may be physically nearer but the
roads going East are pretty poor, at least until they finish the A1-M1 link
road. Rail is not much better - you either travel slowly on branch lines or
go via London. The main rail routes are all North-South.

Sorry to be downbeat about the place you're moving to, but Cambridge has
been getting to me recently. I've been here for 3 years as a student and
then 5 years in employment, and the day this place gets any facilities I'll
celebrate. Cambridge has the only University in the country that doesn't
have it's own indoor sports facilities. Planning permission just got denied,
for the umpteenth (or so it seems) time. We were going to get a bowling
alley, but local residents objections about the noise of people leaving
squashed that one. New cinemas trying to start up are having similar
problems. Sometimes I wonder about our planning authority, I really do.

Whew! What a downer of a post! I hope you don't get depressed over it :-).

Owen (hetero and kinky)

The views expressed are my own and are not necessarily those of Acorn.
Newsgroups: soc.bi,soc.motss