Saturday 25-Jan-2003 was, to say the least, interesting. It was the day of the h2g2 Winter Party!

Arising at 5:45 am, I breakfasted on Bran Flakes, then waited the necessary few minutes while my Gaggia gushed out a glorious cup of coffee complete with crema. Invigorated by this, I set off to drive to the Airport along Dublin's orbital motorway, the M50, which is twice as good as London's, numerically, but only half as good geometricallly, given that it is semicircular in shape. Arriving at the car park, I turned on the little light inside the car for a last-minute check that I really did have my tickets. More of this later.

The flight to London was on time and uneventful, arriving in 'London' Stansted at about 9:45. This airport is far from London but a smooth fast train covers the miles to the capital in a mere 40 minutes. Fate was on my side (despite my denial of its existence in a recent Ask h2g2 thread). I stepped onto the train to London and 30 seconds later the door slid shut and the train departed. If I had stopped to think, I would have missed it and would have been condemned to trudge the cold platform for a further 30 minutes. The second injection of caffeine of the day now took place in the form of a very nice cup of real coffee, albeit in a cardboard cup.

The Stansted Express brings one to Liverpool Street station. It was far too early to think about assembling for the meet, so I indulged myself in a riot of spending in London's busy shopping area in Tottenham Court Road (that Mecca for electronics geeks) and Oxford Street, home of the magnificent HMV Classical Music shop. Let's gloss over the next hour or so. There was little involved other than more coffee, a quick lunch and a quick trip to my hotel to claim my room.

As 2pm approached Somerset House from the East, it was accompanied by intrepid researcher Gnomon, also approaching from the East, to find a gang of suspicious-looking individuals hanging around nervously. In a moment I recognised Abi and realised with relief I was at the right place at the right time. Abi invited us all into the courtyard, where we made or renewed each other's acquaintances.

Despite my online exhortations, many people had failed to make or forgotten to bring name badges. Nevertheless, I recognised a few from last summer's meet: Phil, Bossel, Zarquon's Singing Fish, KerrAvon. I bit the bullet and asked many others to identify themselves, being delighted to finally meet Njan, Nyssabird, Very Important Princess and Bob the Farmer, among others. Most striking was researcher Lifson Kofie, who I had not encountered before. She was wearing an amazing hat, if such thing could be so described!

As more people arrived, Abi and Mina started to give tickets out for the evening's entertainment. Always liking to be close to greatness, I was standing right next to Abi, so I was one of the first to receive my two Altairian Dollars (redeemable later on for non-Altairian beer) and my h2g2 pen, and to be relieved of my Ten Pounds Sterling payable to the bear on demand.

Time marches on in its accustomed fashion, and Saturday afternoon was no different. It was time to choose: to the pub for board games with Mina or to walk in the footsteps of Abi on her guided tour. I chose the tour, as did about twenty others.

Full marks to Abi for a fascinating tour. Not only had she researched each of the sights she brought us to, but she had also arranged for a delightful dry afternoon with sunshine breaking through the clouds to make for a pleasant walk.

We were led around the back lanes and thoroughfares of the Temple area, taking in such sights as the Temple Bar Memorial, the Courts of Justice, the now-defunct Aldwych tube station, the Whitefriars priory, the Art Deco masterpiece that was once the offices of the Daily Mail, St Bride's Church, Dr Johnson's House (complete with a monument to his cat) and Lincoln's Inn.

After this feast of culture and architecture, some or all of us were feeling parched, so we rapidly converged on a drinking emporium by the name of the Shakespeare's Head, where we rejoined the board-playing group and imbibed.

Here I made the acquaintance of such notables as Galaxy Babe, Captain Spankmunki and Dr Justin.

As the tolling of six bells marked the passing from afternoon to evening, all present Italics started to move us on to our final destination. A short walk along High Holborn (which I found to my surprise is pronounced hoe-bun) brought us to Penderel's Oak, a pleasant pub with a large function room in the depths of the basement. Here, our Altairian dollars were quickly exchanged for liquid refreshment. I settled down at a table with Zarquon's Singing Fish and Bossel.

There was plenty happening and plenty of people to meet. I was delighted to finally meet Whisky, Bumblebee, Dragonfly, Potholer and many others. Food arrived in great quantities (due perhaps to an overcalculation of the numbers due at the party). A disembodied voice then announced that the quiz was starting. Although the voice reading the questions sounded remarkably like Abi, I failed to discover where the lady herself was located, so I can only assume that she was in fact present physically. Nevertheless, the quiz was great fun, being mainly based on trivial information gleaned from that treasuretrove of facts useful and otherwise, the h2g2 Edited Guide. Our team, calling ourselves Gnats International (one Irish, two Norwegians, a German, an English living in France and another from England for balance), scored an amazing 19 points, earning us each a third place and a h2g2 mousemat. Second prize went to a team with 20 points; they received mugs. First prize, the team called Our Team, scraped home with 21 points, and earned themselves h2g2 tee-shirts.

Norwegian researcher Bumblebee won the prize for the best name badge with her simple bee on a flower motif.

Somewhere in the course of the evening, the horrific news emerged that Zak the Duck had been ducknapped. Despite much searching, our aquatic friend failed to turn up. [Days later a ransom note arrived from a duck-napping researcher]. A suspected sighting of Nighthoover also added suspense to an already interesting evening.

Eventually it was time to go. I slipped out and in doing so forgot my mousemat. Huffers is welcome to it! My subsequent return to my hotel and activities the next day were far from momentous. The British Museum is doing nicely with its new Great Court, and the new Hungerford footbridges provide a good view of the maintenance work on the Millennium Eye, which prevented me from experiencing that amazing 'flight'.

Arriving in Dublin at 10pm, there was only one loose end to be tidied up: that little light I had left on in my car. Yes, my battery was dead! Thankfully a very nice man in a breakdown van soon had me sorted out so I was home before midnight.

Definitely a meet-up not to be missed!

Gnomon

h2g2 Meetup Photo Archive: London January 2003

30.01.03 Front Page

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