I'm hopefully meeting E.L.F. on the train, arriving at Liverpool Street around 12ish. I had originally planned to spend a short while in Covent Garden, but the Borough Market sounds like a posible plan.
Looking forward to meeting you all.
Josh the cat "ice wouldn't melt, you'd think ....."
Posted - 09/03/2010 : 20:38:18
Looking forward to tomorrow, is there a dress code in any of the places we may go tomorrow would hate to be in shorts when the venue demands full lenght trousers or t-shirt where long shirt is required etc.
Little did I think that I would be the first to have chance to report back on yesterday's gathering. Most of the rest of them are probably still comparing scars (I had to dash for a train at 6.15pm and thus was back in Shropshire by 9.20, even on the slow train).
We had a pretty full turnout, though not everyone could be there at the same time: a couple had had to go before Mampers arrived. But the following made it: Animal Mutha Beanmimo Benj & Lisa Biggerboat Chris C E.L.F. Josh the Cat Mampers [matt] Rovark Wippersnapper
I don't think I've missed anyone but kick me if I have.
Chris, Elf and I met at a cafe just next to Borough Market (and such is our generosity that two of us tried to pay for the coffee, confusing the management no end). A Pearly person was spotted nearby, in case you're interested. Chris insisted on buying me a slice of heavenly German cheesecake from the market, and as Elf had bought the coffee I felt pampered.
After hesitating at the National Theatre (readin' not our strong suit), we made it to the National Film Institute, where benj and Rovark were already knocking back the Italian lager like there was no tomorrow.
I won't try to paint pen pictures of all concerned. Suffice it to say that Josh kept us royally entertained throughout and it was a great opportunity to meet some for the first time and catch up with others. Benj kindly signed all our books, and then we got carried away - there was an orgy of autography as well as enough photography to fill a gallery.
Ben missed the first plane so he joined us just as we finished our pizzas at a place near the river - so hats off to him for his perseverance (and willingness to shell out an additional large sum of money to transfer on to another flight).
I'll leave it to others to fill in the gaps - and tell me what happened as day turned into night and mischievous spirits emerged from the Thames etc etc.
Yesterday I mentioned a website worth checking out and some recommendations for people to follow on Twitter. These are as follows:
http://thewildernessdowntown.com/ is the website that asks for the address of the place where you grew up and then plays a song with video and weaves in Google Streetview of your old home. Very clever and entertaining.
KOLI�S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TWEETERS TO FOLLOW
Spoofs
@DianaInHeaven - (supposedly Princess Diana) acerbic, funny and very offensive
@chilean_miner - ostensibly one of the 33 trapped underground; funny and mildly offensive
@CatBinLady - inspired by the incident in Coventry when a woman popped a kitten into a wheelie bin for safekeeping; follow her before the joke wears thin
@SirFrankButcher - spoof of a character in GB soap Eastenders; often very funny
@VizTopTips - daft suggestions; they retweet ideas sent in by others; funny and sharp - and kind enough to reply to one of my tweets
@palinsvagina - self-explanatory?
@CherylKerl - written phonetically in geordie; difficult to understand sometimes even if you�re British
Comedians
@SarahKSilverman - funny US Jewish comedian
@JoCaulfield27 - frequently posts funny stuff
@SarahMillican75 - frequently posts funny stuff
@serafinowicz - Peter Serafinowicz - ditto
@jupitusphillip - Phil Jupitus - funny and sharp - and kind enough to reply to one of my tweets
Probably not professional comedians but still funny
@reallybanderson - Brett Anderson, lead singer with Suede; bitchy but funny
@Kimi_Kobayashi - no idea who she is; very offensive but funny
@KathyLette - warmly funny - and she replied to one of my tweets - yahey!
@shitmydadsays - can�t remember where in N America he�s located; it�s based on the funny things his dad allegedly says: plain-speaking chap with very definite views on a variety of subjects
Times Columnists - great collection of writers
@VictoriaPeckham - (Janice Turner) funny and sharp - and kind enough to reply to one of my tweets
@caitlinmoran - my favourite Times columnist; funny and sharp
@Sathnam (Sathnam Sanghera) - funny and insightful - and kind enough to reply to one of my tweets
@victoriacoren - funny and sharp - and kind enough to reply to one of my tweets
If you want the whole list of comedians just visit my page on Twitter (Koli10) and borrow the list. Note that some of them don't post jokes so much as observations or even fairly mundane stuff about what they're doing that day. Stephen Fry is a prime example.
PS - Just tidied up my lists. Some of them are now fairly comprehensive. Feel free to follow those of interest.
What a day out. Thanks to everyone for making it such a good time, and it was great to meet new faces and catch up with old friends. The sun shone, beer was consumed, the world was put to rights and Benj was told what we want to see in the new iteration of the site.
I rolled in the front door at about 11.30 after a session at Doggetts Coat and Badge Pub and a trip back from Liverpol Street with the ever delightful E.L.F.
I think Koli has summarised the day well. All I can say is that photos will appear on Facebook (and possibly elsewhere for you non-Facebook types) in the very near future.
So jealous.. sounds like a brilliant time. Next time count me in please folks...
Sorry if you didn't get a direct invitation Demonic. It was posted here back in July though.
But don't you get carried away thinking we had a good time. The beer at the first place was �4 for a small bottle, so by the time we got to the pizza restaurant we were on water. And when I say water, to save money we had it drawn directly from the Thames. To be honest, once you'd removed the biggest wriggly things and foreign objects it wasn't too bad, but not quite as good as lager.
Hi everyone I just wanted to say that I had a fantastic time meeting everyone at the confourance on the 4th Sept. As you guys know at the time of the confourance I was awaiting the results of my BSc, WELL (drum roll please)I did it I passed so I now have a BSc hons in cardiac nursingI am very happy but still in shock!!! So the MSc commences in January...... hopefully (fingers crossed).
Josh how is the training for the triathlon going? When is it taking place again???
Hi everyone I just wanted to say that I had a fantastic time meeting everyone at the confourance on the 4th Sept.
Hi there again mrs benj! Tell benj that when you've made your first few million from the book that he'll have to buy me a ticket for the next UK confourence!
Josh the cat "ice wouldn't melt, you'd think ....."
Posted - 09/24/2010 : 09:09:26
quote:Originally posted by mrs benj
Hi everyone I just wanted to say that I had a fantastic time meeting everyone at the confourance on the 4th Sept. As you guys know at the time of the confourance I was awaiting the results of my BSc, WELL (drum roll please)I did it I passed so I now have a BSc hons in cardiac nursingI am very happy but still in shock!!! So the MSc commences in January...... hopefully (fingers crossed).
Josh how is the training for the triathlon going? When is it taking place again???
I hope everyone is well and ta ta for now
Congratulations on your Degree fanbloomingtastic!
The training is going well I have done the distance in the gym a good number of times but, obviously there's a but, dental issues are possibly stopping the event for me it should be next weekend. I may just do it in the gym and then get ready for doing the real event at the first attempt next year. This is the last one this season so we'll see.
I should have posted something detailed here but I thought I would let people better than I give a synopsis of the day.
just let it be said that actually I had a great day and put 4lb over the weekend and it is only this week that I am back to where I was before the confourence. But it was all worth it.
Hope you are all well I'm still suffereing from the shock of meeting such nice folk off the internet.