Birthday
I had my birthday drinks yesterday (birthday's actually today).
Went to the Railway, Kew Gardens (pub suggested by inkognitoh). Then on to Kew Gardens itself for their late night Christmas opening evening.
Apologies to everyone for public transport hell, and thanks for coming. Old friends, newer friends, London Renegades, Peter and Ben from the Loan Wolves - not a bad turnout. bexfiles made it along, as it luckily coincided with her weekend in London to see copperbird and the rest of her family. Not sure if I thought to introduce other members of my flist Inkognitoh and silverjet_allie to her, thinking about it. The pub had Bombardier from the cask, and I'd grabbed a decent-sized table for us.
I picked up some smashing goodies, quite a few of them pirate-themed. Also, a bit of Airfix generation nostalgia from wascally_weasel and Bryony. And a really brilliant home-made card from Pete with the "It's worse than that...she's a librarian!" bit from It's a Wonderful Life. And I had two cakes! Rich, gorgeous home-made cake from Bryony, and a birthday cake with candles from Carole.
I'd noticed that my BookCrossing release total was 729, so I brought 21 books to release at the pub and in Kew Gardens. Only one journalled so far (thanks, Inkoh!).
The Gardens looked lovely. Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures at any point yesterday. We were given promotional litre cartons of fruit smoothies, did some present shopping, strolled through the illuminated trees (reminded me of Walsall Arboretum back home). We wanted to join in the carol singing, but there was some dreadful mix up and the gospel choir who kicked things off were good but impossible to sing along to, and we gave up at that point. The Renegade contingent down the front persevered, though, and stayed to sing. Well done, guys!
Went to the Railway, Kew Gardens (pub suggested by inkognitoh). Then on to Kew Gardens itself for their late night Christmas opening evening.
Apologies to everyone for public transport hell, and thanks for coming. Old friends, newer friends, London Renegades, Peter and Ben from the Loan Wolves - not a bad turnout. bexfiles made it along, as it luckily coincided with her weekend in London to see copperbird and the rest of her family. Not sure if I thought to introduce other members of my flist Inkognitoh and silverjet_allie to her, thinking about it. The pub had Bombardier from the cask, and I'd grabbed a decent-sized table for us.
I picked up some smashing goodies, quite a few of them pirate-themed. Also, a bit of Airfix generation nostalgia from wascally_weasel and Bryony. And a really brilliant home-made card from Pete with the "It's worse than that...she's a librarian!" bit from It's a Wonderful Life. And I had two cakes! Rich, gorgeous home-made cake from Bryony, and a birthday cake with candles from Carole.
I'd noticed that my BookCrossing release total was 729, so I brought 21 books to release at the pub and in Kew Gardens. Only one journalled so far (thanks, Inkoh!).
The Gardens looked lovely. Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures at any point yesterday. We were given promotional litre cartons of fruit smoothies, did some present shopping, strolled through the illuminated trees (reminded me of Walsall Arboretum back home). We wanted to join in the carol singing, but there was some dreadful mix up and the gospel choir who kicked things off were good but impossible to sing along to, and we gave up at that point. The Renegade contingent down the front persevered, though, and stayed to sing. Well done, guys!