Switching on my mobile phone just now and reading a message there: they must have started heavy drinking quite early, c.i., so I doubt, Alka Seltzer will be help enough
Am I the first to emerge?
WE HAD A GREAT TIME!
And a special surprise....Greetings from all over the world, including Stockport.
To our astonishment, The Bombay Brasserie handed a greetings card to Ros - for us all- , a really nice touch from McTag and and FionaB. Thank you so much you two it was most appreciated.
And as promised we drank a toast to Margo and all our Southern Hemishpere friends, whereupon Gautam got a text message from Margo in Australia. This conclusively proves that alchoholic thoughts and best wishes are the most efficient way of sending a message. And cheaper than texting, or would be apart from the Campari and sodas/cognac/Kingfisher beer/scotch on the rocks. (Cant remember what the others had
)
NO HANGOVER!
Not here anyway. I had the Goan fish curry which was the best Indian meal I have had. (No one said the magic words, goan, betcha can't eat it all, so I said it myself and I did). Ros and I really enjoyed outselves, and we were delighted to meet Mr and Mrs Piffka. (Just off the overnight sleeper train from Scotland!)
More details later. Special thanks to Gautam for organising it...
Walter we were thinking/drinking of you and Ulla. We thought you deserve the title A2K champion 2003!
ps I see you have a new avatar, have you bought a Ferrari?
Steve (as 41oo) wrote:Walter we were thinking/drinking of you and Ulla.
ps I see you have a new avatar, have you bought a Ferrari?
a) Prosit!
b) No. I became patriotic: it's the old Westphalian (Dukedom and [much later] province) coat of arms. (Unfortunately we were occupied by Prussia and had to become a "hyphen state" with the NorthRhinelaenders [=Northrhine-Westphalia].)
c) I've a little bit a passion for jealousy - but the 90th birthday with all the young lasies was marvellous as well.
d) Have a great weekend all!
N.B.: That was really nice of MacTag (he's Scottish!) and FionaB. And a nice thought by Margo as well. (I'm not so used to this modern stuff, just read Gautum's/your message by pure chance.)
Just thinking, if there's every time, when A2K gatherings are hold in London, now an Iraq protest march as well? (Our meeting in August was more the kind of "unofficial", although we protested directly in the Foreign Office :wink: ).
Yes, stories and pictures, please!
What stories ? Everone was at their impeccable behaviour
So no "gossipy" stories I am afraid (unless someone who was much more sober than me can tell them
)
It was fab - I will send in more details later, but a special thanks to
Mrs and Mr P - what a delightful couple !
Mrs and Mr Steve - it was great to see you again and Ros as well. It was just like old times
McTag and FionaB - What a lovely gesture. I am very seldom lost for words - when the card was handed over to us, it was one of those rare occassions when I could not think of anything to say !
Margo - WOW !! Just when we were thinking of the antipodeans, my phone buzzed and there was a msg from you - talk abt ESP !! (Though I had to ask Steve how to spell antipodeans)
Grand Duke - Sent a very nice message asking how the meet went. But since it reached me (or I saw it) after we had left, I could not share it with everyone !!
It was a great evening.
I'm glad a good time was had by all, and very much looking forward to being at the next one!
tap tap tap
we want MORE details!
what was everyone wearing?
what did you order?
who got there first?
how did you find each other?
did you recognize the people you didn't know?
tell tell tell
Another successful London Gathering. Proud of all of ya. It's so satisfying to finally meet with people we communicate with on A2K; what rewards of life!
What a dearth of details. G'morning, everybody!
It WAS a great time! At least for me. Yes, sigh, we were late. There was none of this 1700 sharpish, for which I will again apologize. The problem being that Gautam came to our hotel room to see how ridiculously huge it was for London (Wot's that? Another room?) and he & Mr.P began drinking a new (to them) whisky found during the Scottish sojourn. It was determined after a couple of rounds that the whisky was not up to snuff... a strange and deservedly unknown Islay malt which the man in Oban should definitely NOT have recommended. Who would have thought it? I, myself, was trying valiantly to finish a liter of cognac which my d. had bought at the duty-free and then realized she couldn't take it with her as she is underage for drinking in the states. So, we were fully involved in trying to finish all this alcohol off, then took a black cab to arrive just fifteen minutes late.
The restaurant was amazing. I had a wonderful time, so did Mr. P. We both loved Gautam, who was a magnificent host and lots of fun. Steve and Ros were wonderful companions, wish we could have spent more time together and hope... hope... that they'll decide to visit us here in the upper left hand corner. Smart, scintillating conversation abounded, I'm sure, though, hmmmm, can't remember exactly what it was all about. We did drink to McTag and Fiona & the nice touch of a special card delivered to our group. (A million thanks - it is home with me now.) We drank a toast to Walter, whom we all agreed was encyclopedic, brain-wise, and the best that I know of Germany. We drank another toast to Margo, whose text message couldn't have been more timely. Nearly brought a tear to my eye... connected by friendship but so far apart in miles. We also drank to a2k and to the others who couldn't be with us.
Gautam was dressed in a dark charcoal suit with impecccable white shirt (how on earth does he manage to look neat all the day long?). I looked, but did not notice any embroidered initials, but there were some fine cufflinks. Steve was in a blue shirt that matched his eyes, Ros was wearing a stylish taupe suit with a jungle-print scarf, Mr. P wore a navy blue sweater over a shirt and I was wearing blue, as well.
All of us (but Steve, who had a fish dish) had the Thala (thalia?) meal ... anyway, the combination plate. G and I had vegetarian, the others had ... meat, I guess. It was incredibly exotic to me and quite delicious. Lots of little bits to try. Oh, YUM, it was good. We all played with how much hot sauce could we eat. Gautam said that it was all very authentically Northern Indian style and, oboy, they know their way around food. Deelish.
Photos were taken, I'm sure. Mr. P took some, I think. He usually does. Gee. He enjoyed himself so much that you may begin to see him on a2k! We nearly called Gautam again on Sunday night because we were going back to the restaurant with our son... then realized it was too late to call anybody -- we were on weird hours most of the time.
Thank you Gautam! and Steve! and Ros! I hope you enjoyed the dinner as much as we did. It was one of the three high points of our visit to the UK. It was over too soon. <sigh>
Hi, Piffka, and thanks for the great description! What a neat group...
Now that's more like it!
Thanks, piffka. You are the bomb!
Yup?
Well, I think Gautam is the bomb... <snort>... oh, it rhymes!
A nice reading for you, Piffka, to see what you have missed in London ... if you had been there 100 years ago :wink:
'A looker-on in London'
Well, we enjoyed reading the reports by Steve, Gautam & Piffka.
We are glad y'all managed to find each other (Gautam taking no chances, and going to the hotel!) and that you all had a nice time.
We were kind of sad in the end that we didn't go, but it did seem a VERY long way to go for a curry, even such a superior meal in such scintillating and exalted company.
So, I sent a little cardboard emissary instead. I'm glad it found you in such good spirits.
There is something about an ad-hoc arrangement in a holiday setting, such as this, which is extra nice. Ships that party in the night, or something.
Next time hopefully we can link up with Gautam and other cockney sparrers and whoever makes the next meet.
(Info for Piff and others: we, that is FionaB and I, have been in London with A2K meetings twice this year already! So we're not complete duffers; are we?)
Ciao for nao McT & FB
