Report by RobinC

After deciding on the date for the next meet, I came back to my web site to make a note, and realised I never got around to writing this one up, so from memory, here goes...

The meet was at RobinC's house (Swindon, UK) on Sunday 30th May...

First to turn up was Bifford, a whole day early. This fortunately was planned, so there were no surprises (except his tattoo!) We spent most of the day tidying, cleaning and eating. I'd go into it a bit more, but it gets unenduringly boring after a while, and that's just talking about it. On the plus side, the house actually looked half-way respectable by the time we went to bed. The computer room mainly thanks to Bifford, who went through nearly all my spares and sorted them out.

Early the next morning the cleaning continued, then the rest of us got up and started helping Bifford (if you didn't realise what a good house-husband he'd make girls, here's your chance!). Everybody started arriving one after another, I can't remember the exact order, but I think it may have been Asimov, then Vision, followed by Stom & Tammy. Then Dee, Bomber, Emma and Micky. More people were listed as possible's, but due to various commitments (and lack of transport) that was it.

As everyone had turned up shortly before lunch, we got on with chatting away for a while before the cooking. Fortunately it was a nice day, though a little breezy (more on that later), so we were able to sit outside. Some die-hard computer fans found it hard to leave the computers alone for that period of time, so most of them were turned on and played with over the entire weekend.

Lunchtime arrived - BBQ courtesy of the host, and everyone was well fed (hey, if I said how good it was I'd have trouble getting provisions for the next one ;-) then we went back to chatting, and showing off the various computer systems. Bifford showed people who hadn't seen it Tales of Tamar running on his pegasos (he didn't want to go for a whole three days without playing), and despite a few early teething problems relating to mail servers and access, we finally got it up and running so he didn't miss any turns.

After giving lunch a short while to digest, we decided to go out in convoy, and so three cars took the long and winding road to the White Horse at Uffington. Remember I said we'd get back to the slight breeze? Well, Bifford had bought his stunt kite, has power kite, and Micky had brought his kid's kite (equal opportunities meet here ;-). You'll have to look at the photos to get a rough idea of the next couple of hours, but it involved a lot of running around and laughing, quite a bit of dragging along the ground, and a small amount of falling over! As you weren't all there I won't say who did what... Just remember, when you're leaning back at a 70° angle, lying on your back loses you the grip from your shoes ;-P

After ice-creams (hey, it was a hot day) we decided to make our way back, just in time for supper, (if anyone gets the idea that food plays a big part in these meets... er... ;-) As usual, supper was fajita's, which turned out nicely (thanks in part to the official Cheese Grater - Vision). Not everyone was keen on them (well, ok, one person isn't into "foreign" foods, or salad, or cheese, or 99% of the stuff we had in - but even they tried it), but they were a lot more popular with the ppl who weren't keen on them the first time they'd tried them, and I even managed to cook the right amount this time, rather than eating them for the next three days, like last time ;-P

After supper, some people had to go, so we waved them off, and went back inside (and outside - despite getting late, it was past 9pm before it started getting dark enough for us to have to go indoors). Vision brought in his huge organs, which he'd left in the car. Despite a few squeals from various ppl, he got them setup ok. Now I have to say they are awkward, but he's actually pretty nifty with his fingers, and makes some good sounds come out. That's electric organs you dirty people!! Maybe next time I can get some samples on here for people to listen to - but take my word that he's a good keyboard player ;-)

By the time 10pm rolled around it was decided that Bifford, Asimov and Vision were too tired, or far away, from home to risk it Sunday night, so one sofa-bed, one camp-bed, and one air-bed, were set out in the living room (well, by the time they were set out it was past midnight iirc), and everyone went to bed.

Monday morning dawned bright and early I think - course it was well past dawn when we got up... 8am maybe ;-) The day turned into a copy of Sunday in that we just hung around and chatted, and played on the computers (at one point having three computers setup downstairs in addition to the five upstairs). Playing with the kites again was out due to the number of stiff muscles from the previous day's exercise. For the third time that weekend we had a BBQ for lunch, which managed to finish most of the perishable (ie, not frozen) food I'd bought in.

Eventually people decided to start leaving sometime between lunch and supper - Vision and Bifford both living not far from where there was an air show that weekend they wanted to miss all the traffic, Asimov being on holiday that weekend didn't have to rush back for a set time either.

So after three days, and something like 40 burgers, 20 sausages, an unknown quantity of chicken, salad, and cheese, the meet drew to a close. All in all, a great success.

RobinC