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

I had requested (and been given) permission to miss a class in my advanced ECDL course in order to come to Annie's Mustardland meet in Cambridge, and I am glad I came.

National Express does coaches direct to and from Cambridge, but the only one /from/ Cambridge leaves Drummer St. station at 4:35 pm. Annie had given me to understand that we could stay later, so plan B it was. This involves a change both going and returning, but gives me a choice of coaches and buses.

I packed lunch and drink-bottle in cool bag and that, camera etc. in shoulder bag (as that is easier to carry than the cool bag). I don't /think/ I met any Mustardlander en route, though a woman on the coach made me wonder when, on her mobile phone, she spoke in an Irish accent to someone called Catherine. No, I don't think it really was Eilis.

Newnham is a redbrick Victorian edifice whose frontage looks impressively big on the map. The Porter's Lodge, though, is a modest, more recent little building. Annie had put signs up: "ML in Cambridge" in big letters, and "dum di dum di dum di dum" in small letters at the bottom.

There were 27 of us: Amy Bridge, Annie, Auntie Prue, her OH Holtmariner, their daughter Happy Viking, her OH Andrew, Barefoot Devil, Bearhug, Drystane Dyke, Ell Kaye, Eryl (a friend of Annie who isn't a Mustardlander), Essex Girl, Fen Maiden, Fenland Yomper, Hebe, Horatianelsonsdottir, Jane, Marmalade Drizzle, Misty, Picnic Tsar, Rosie T, her OH Mike, Scheherezade, Sheena, Smee, Squirrel and me. 27 humans, that is; we were also joined by Professor Jeremy Bentham Bear! This is more than attended Hebden Bridge 3 (21, I think). Drystane Dyke was particularly welcome as she had to leave off tending to LI, who at the moment has one leg in a plaster cast.

Squirrel and Annie ensured that we were liberally supplied with and . After we ate our packed lunches ( or whatever), we were treated to a tour of the college garden. Annie led one tour, Happy Viking another.

It was good, in a way, that so many people came. The disadvantage of this, though, is that any one person didn't have enough time for a really good chat with very many people in the time available before people have to leave. It was great to meet in real life many people that I'd met only in Mustardland, but unfortunate that I didn't have the opportunity to chat to very many of them. One in particular: Marmalade Drizzle, who posted so often in the old Bull with glimpses of her family life. Perhaps we'll get an opportunity to meet again.

Some of us said our goodbyes, including Marmalade Drizzle, very huggable in her fur coat. The rest of us split up to explore the city. Annie had arranged another meet at 4:30 at the Arts Picture House cafe in St Andrews St., oposite Emmanuel College. I did the market (nothing there I wanted to buy); sought The Computer Shop, Unit 47, Lion Yard, but couldn't find it anywhere in Lion Yard, and just had time to do a quick scoot round a craft market before meeting Annie again.

I scanned the west side of St Andrews St. but couldn't see any Arts place. When I found I'd gone too far, I turned back and met Amy who was also lost. She had her mobile phone, so made a distress call which led us to a building prominently signed REGAL and WETHERSPOONS on the ground floor and Picture House (but not Arts!) further up; a building I'd passed as its name showed that it was not the right venue. Indeed the Wetherspoons was not, but Amy discovered a side door, leading, via a cinema, to our cafe venue. There were eight in our group there: Annie, Amy Bridge, Jane, Hebe, Bearhug, Sheena, Smee and me. The cafe was rather busy, and the crepe Sheena ordered took rather a long time to arrive. All their crepes have names that parody film titles; cue for a Mustardland thread?

By the time we broke up, about 6:30, it was so late that the coach and bus times were such that I might as well get dinner in Cambridge. One rather endearing aspect of Cambridge is its lack of fast food places. (The colleges own great chunks of the city centre and take a dim view of that sort of thing on their land, it seems.) I recalled rumours of one in King St., but if there is one there, I didn't find it. Fortunately I didn't have far to go to find a restaurant (Cambridge is generously supplied with these), and the sight of microwave ovens showed that I wouldn't be waiting long. Lamb shank and a rather poor selection of veg; student fare; it wasn't great, but it was good enough and cheap enough (£6) for me! I eventually got back by about 11 pm, leaving time for a bit of Mustardlanding before bed.

Sorry to disillusion you, WL, but Essex Girl and Horatia didn't make it! I had done name badges for them because they both expressed an interest early on, but Essex Girl then didn't mention the meet again, and although Horatia had said on the MB the previous day that she was planning to come, she didn't appear.

Ah, that explains why I counted 27 names when you said there were 25 people!