Been and went and done it

I spent the weekend in London and have a posts garnered from a rather wonderful weekend. Here’s the first one:

Friday evening, a pub in London, and a gathering of bloggers. What can I say, a great night in the company of smart, funny people.

I’ve been blogging for a while now, and over that time I’ve retained a central group of blogs that I always visit. They are my daily reads (at least they were, the advent of RSS means they are now the “read as soon as they’ve posted” reads) and their popularity is well deserved.

During the evening, at a point that is slightly hazy (not only are they nice people, they are very generous too, hic!), I suggested that us bloggers should be less self-effacing and be proud of what we do. Sitting around the table were people who have been published, people who write for magazines and newspapers, and all of whom share one thing. Quality.

Then there was little ole me… (yeah, I don’t handle praise all that well…).

Quite seriously I had to pause myself during several points of the evening to take in the slightly surreal gathering. To give a comparison, most people, when asked, could provide a list of people who’d they invite to a dinner party. You know, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Hitler.. that kind of thing.

Well Friday night was my equivalent. Although, with all respect to the people who turned up, not QUITE in the same league. I mean who would bother chatting to Gandhi if mike from Troubled Diva was there?! (for the record, mike couldn’t make it, and truth be told it would be a hard decision to decide between him and Gandhi…).

My “list of bloggers I want to meet” has suddenly shrunk, far further than I thought (I retained a fear of sitting alone in a pub in London, desperately hoping someone, anyone, would turn up, only to be turfed out at the end of the night, alone).

Anyway, I guess I’d better name and shame. To all of you, thank you for taking time to come and meet me (even if not everyone managed to remember which pub it was in, and left a panic-stricken message on my voicemail, no names though…).

A list of attendees then, in no particular order as I after the first few drinks I kinda lost track…

Phew. God, I hope I’ve not forgotten anyone.

I did take some photos as well, but I managed to capture everyone at their worst. So I’ll plead ‘privacy’ on those and they’ll remain hidden anyway (in reality I’m just scared that, if I were to post them, I’d be hunted down and forced to start up a MySpace page!).

Once again, thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. It really was a great evening, and I only wish I’d managed to get more time chatting to each of you. Of course that was just the FIRST time I’ve meet you, here’s to many more.

Comments

  1. a) I was drugged up to the eyeballs on painkillers so am excused from walking into that other pub filled with men in suits.

    b) No pictures! Thank fuck. Was. Very. Drunk. And. Not. Wanting. To. Be. Reminded. Of. That.

    c) It was so lovely to meet you finally, Gordon. Can’t believe it’s been so long! Next time I’m up north, I shall have to catch up with you again – this time I promise I won’t add any ice to my whisky. 😉

  2. Oh, that Ghandi. Nice enough fellow in his way, but all that earnestness can get wearing after a while, and he’s a right stingy bugger when it comes to getting the rounds in. (Also, if he must wear a loincloth, then he needs to learn to keep his knees together and stop fidgeting. Stuff like that can put a man off his savoury sundries.)

  3. You weren’t that drunk, were you? I mean it’s not like you spilled any drinks (err.. did you? someone did.. I think… maybe.. balls. Was it me??)

    mike – that’s precisely why you were missed (the lack of loincloth mainly.. although I mean that in the sense of ‘wears clothes’ not ‘completely naked’… )

  4. It was good to meet you Gordon. Sorry I couldn’t stay that long.

    (This is called ‘fucking with somebody’s mind’)

  5. ‘Twas but a pleasure. And gosh, you even got the other half to come out and play (and actually have a conversation). He’s secretly a big Il Divo fan, so I’m certain it was planned all along.

  6. It was Sevitz what spilled the beer (it was his) but I saved the day by mopping it up with my jeans.

    ‘Twas a good night, to be sure. Your face and repeated expression of "Oh my god! [insert well-known blogger’s name] is here!" was worth the train journey. It was great to meet up with a few old school bloggers again/for the first time.

  7. So very sorry I had to miss meeting you.

    It sounds like you all had a lovely time – while I was in bed sandwiched between Messrs. Paracetamol and Ibuprofen (yeah, kinky, right?)

    Hope there will be another chance soon.

  8. Ahh yes, it was Sevitz. Clumsy idiot.

    Bob – is THAT what those two were talking about, I did wonder..

    And I was completely outdone in the “Oh my god!” stakes by Anna (I’ll say no more than that for fear of embarassment and reprisals)

  9. Very much enjoyed it – thanks, Gordon, and good to see you again. I now have lots more blogs to read 🙂

  10. Such a great night. I loved the fact that my own “Oh my god” moments were matched by the numerous times I looked around me and was struck by just how effortlessly the conversations were flowing.

  11. Sorry I missed it – one of the joys of living out in the arse of beyond is the fun of getting to That There Lunnon.

    I’ll have to make up for it at some point, I know.

  12. Glad you had a good time, but very sorry I missed it…I was burried under packing boxes instead, which is definately less fun.

    Ah well…catch you next time!

  13. Had it in the back of my mind to turn up but wife was taking me out for a birthday dinner instead which seemed the more politik option.

  14. I’m just catching up with my Bloglines, so now’s the time for me to say it was really ace to meet you and everyone else

  15. Finally clearing my blog roll too. This is the last post to be marked as read.

    had a great blog meet and a great birthday party. I think.

    I mean I know I had a great blog meet. The birthday party seems somewhat murkey to me. Was I there. It’s all a bit hazy.

    Jokes aside, thanks for coming down for the ol sevitzdotcomparty. Was really good to meet you and put a face and a accent to the voice.

    Glad you had a good time.

    Next one up in Glasgow then?

  16. Oh yeah and you think that’s clumsy?

    No chance. One beer is a normal night. One beer spilled that is.

    You should see me when I’m being really clumsy.

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