h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

On my way to w*rk this morning, I remembered something I was going to talk about the day before yesterday, since it was talked about at the evening portion of the meet, and 'twas something I paraphrased the entire rest of the trip... As it does (I'm assuming, since I've not been to many meets...) the topic of h2g2 names vs. real names came up. Of course, it's simple to keep my names straight, as my h2g2 name (well, the bit before the aka...) matches the name on my passport. Then spimcoot made a very good point--h2g2 names *are* real names! (Though he did concede my point that "real name" is much faster to say than "the name your parent(s) gave you" ) Now, I'd been using both h2g2 names and the other kind interchangeably for most folks--after all, the vast majority of the folks I met on this trip, and certainly everyone that joined in the planning, are also on FB under non-h2g2 names. I did, however, consistently call Pastey, Z, Dr E Vibenstein, and spimcoot by their h2g2 names, because they all share the same first name outside. And I actually remembered to use the British pronunciation of Z--I hadn't known until about 6 years ago that Brits say "zed" instead of "zee", and I've known Z since the Baby Doctor days when I was pregnant with PaperKid!

Not that any of that has anything to do with July 24th.

Agapanthus and I awoke and got ready to head out--she to work, and me to meet MMF at Kew Gardens. Ag and I would be starting out at the same Tube station, but would be taking different lines from there, so I had my transfers written down. My UK phone was now working (amazing what putting the SIM card in correctly will do), which turned out to be a very, *very* good thing. Y'see, I got to "enjoy" another aspect of London I realy could've done without--massive delays on the tube. If I recall correctly, some engineering work on the line ran over a bit. Ag's line wasn't delayed, and she had to start her work commute, so I promised to let her know when I got onto each leg of my journey. Once I eventually got a seat on the Tube ('twas either the first stop on the line, or fairly close to it) I texted MMF to let him know of the delay, and Ag to let her know that I was finally getting underway. I texted them both again when I got on the second Tube (I'm still amazed that I was able to squeeze out of the first--it filled rapidly, being rush hour and delayed an hour or 2...), and again when arriving at my last Tube station--a text to MMF to tell him I'd arrived (original plan had been to meet him at Kew, but the delay meant that he chose to meet me at the Tube station, where he could watch the arrivals board--though that turned out to be rather useless, due to scrambled signals--according to the board, I wouldn't be arriving for another 2 hours while I was standing there looking at it) and a text to Ag to let her know that I'd been met. Then it was off to catch the bus to Kew! And I learned that mobility scooters go jut a little faster than my usual walking speed, but not uncomfortably so.

We had lost a bit of time because of the delays, so I only got to see a teeny corner of the gardens, though Kew is large enough that a teeny corner is still a good amount! I saw the Palm House, the Waterlily House, The Princess of Wales Conservatory, where I saw a couple of the Georges, and got to tell MMF that I've seen Darlingtonia in the wild, and they get yeah big, the Hive, and many other things. After a quick lunch (at the Orangery, I think), we made our way towards Hampton Court Palace.

My second castle was much larger than my first, which, given that it had been Henry VIII's main royal residence, is not surprising (later monarchs also ruled from there--William and Mary come to mind). We toured the rooms in a bit different order than normal, as we got to take the hidden lit (retrofitted, obviously) up. When we arrived at the Great Hall, there was a reenactment with Henry and Anne Boleyn--though I suppose I must burst everyone's bubble now and admit that I didn't actually spot their majesties this time--the other actors and the rest of the tourists blocked them from my view. So I suppose I have just killed the running joke Due to the time, again, we had to pick and choose what to see, so we stuck with the Tudor portions of the castle. We did see a bit of the gardens, and I did get to see the (nearly) 250-year-old Great Vine.

If I ever get to go back to London, I want to devote a day each to Kew and to Hampton Court--a couple hours at each does neither justice, though MMF did his darndest to show me as much of each as humanly possible.

After closing out Hampton Court, it was time to head back to where I was going to meet Ag when she got off of work. I said my goodbyes to MMF 'til the morrow, as he was going to meet me for the morning bit of my adventure.

By the time Ag and I met up, she had had a chance to swing by the store so I could tick another item off of my food list--a Melton Mowbry (which I quite liked--actually, I liked everything I ate over there, and there was only 1 softdrink I didn't like, so you can take it as given that things were yummy unless I say otherwise). We decided to watch the other movie I'd been interested in the previous night--Big Hero 6 (I'd seen bits and pieces before, as he class I'm an aide in had watched it before--I hadn't seen the whole thing because I had copies to make. I *had* already seen the big reveal, though...)