End Game
And just to finish up the story...
The dead dog party was usually the best part of any convention, and it seems to be the same with the gatherings. Eventually, Rod, Scott, Gary and Kris trooped back up from the garden, and we all settled down for an evening of decompression and good company.
We began with yip-yap and listening to Gary and Scott play the guitar -- no, not both at once, they did pass it back and forth -- and half-assed watching news to see what had transpired in the larger world while we were busy (i.e., Gris wanted to know who won the race that day...). We smoked and drank wine and looked at pictures and chatted until we were all starving, then began to badger Gary about a dinner plan.
Gary decided that rather than have us troop out to find an amenable place to eat, he should get on his bike (which was stolen the next day -- apparently about the fourth bike he's lost there) and go fetch us something delectable. I wanted something resembling chicken satay, which was the first time in the entire weekend I'd actually known what I wanted to eat, so Gary went and fetched back an array of chicken dishes from the local Chinese take-away. He brought something veggie for Kris, which had bad bamboo shoots in it, but the chicken was wonderful. We sat on the floor and pigged out -- there's just no other word for how fast the food disappeared... Our excellent host also provided cheesecake of the finest quality, which we sat and watched thaw for awhile before devouring it just as quickly.
Our evening fare was to be what Kris assured us was the world's worst movie, and it probably was, but our altitude was such that -- well, suffice it to say that three of us stood in the kitchen and watched the water run into the sink and were apparently highly amused by that phenomenon, and hence, we all found the movie highly amusing, too. Rod made the connection between Manos, The Hands of Fate and The Rocky Horror Picture Show; most of us marveled at the true horrors of the cinematic quality; I eventually got into the Internet Movie Database and searched up the goofs and trivia, and learned that the movie was made on a bet. But we had a great time watching the Mystery Science Theater version of this tacky film, and Scott recommended another which I must now find: Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, which he claims is at least as bad as Manos.
We watched some Space Ghost Coast to Coast, so Rod could see zorak, and some Eddie Izzard, just because we like him, and around 2:00 am, Gary summoned a taxi, which was a comedy routine in and of itself. Since the Rolling Stones had had to cancel on Saturday night and actually performed on Sunday, by 2:00 am, taxis were hard to come by. Gary must have called about ten places before he actually talked to someone, and that guy was more pissed than we were...several calls later, Gary had actually talked to a reasonable human being and was pretty sure a cab was on the way.
We stayed up a bit longer, but the energy of the weekend and the day had pretty much left us all. I left Gris chatting online and, following Gary and Kris' lead, went off to bed...
We all woke up at our leisure on Monday, and I even laid in my room and read for awhile so I didn't wake anyone up too early. We were supposed to get together with Rod and Scott to film the devil duckie release, but as the day progressed, we began to see that that wasn't going to happen. Gris and I were going to hook up with Tom; instead of spending the night with him, we decided to stay in Teddington, and along around 2:30, she and I went wandering off toward the Anglers.
We found a nice window seat, where we could see the river and all the folks playing there, sipped on a large pitcher of Pimms and lemonade, and ate a bowl of olives and some really great bread while we considered what we were going to actually do for dinner. We called half a dozen people, sent a few text messages, finally decided on burgers, ate those at a leisurely pace -- just a darned lazy day all the way around. We finally hooked up with Tom, who came over and met us in Teddington. Gris misdirected him at the station, and I went down to collect him -- fortunately, I met up with him right across the street from the grocery, since all the little cigarette shops were closed for the holiday. Gary and Kris joined us there at the Anglers, where we drank more Pimms and yapped until around 9:00, when Gary and Kris went back to his flat. Gris and I spent a bit longer with Tom, finalizing my plans for the next day and visiting until he had to go and catch the train back to Clapham.
Gris and I walked back to Gary's, and the four of us spent a lovely evening chatting and playing on the computer. We had an encounter with Gary's stalker, then talked to Rod for a bit before we started thinking about plans for the next day. We passed the phone around and said our goodbyes, which got pretty silly before we got all done. After that, we watched TV and talked until we all got too tired to stay up any more.
I kept running back and forth, packing and collecting stuff up and just dithering in general. Gary gave me an ashtray I'd admired -- it had been my assigned ashtray for the weekend, and I became rather attached to it. It's a cow skull rendered by a schoolchild, and I just loved it. So I brought it home, and it now sits between Jaye and I, its little horns hooked over the basket there, home to dead matches and butts of every variety... :) Thanks again, Gary!
On Tuesday morning, we got up and performed our usual rituals -- Gris and I made coffee and tea, got online and checked mail and posted at the Stone. I went and bathed a bit earlier than usual, as Gary and I were going to go make a little movie of the devil duckie release down by the river. Gary got up a bit later, and we wandered down to the river to release the duck. Poor Monty -- landed upside down, sat perfectly still for a few moments, then began bobbing downstream unsteadily -- as Gary said, "upside down, drunk and stoned." (Which really does pretty much sum up the state of an attendee of a Stone gathering in the UK... ;))
Gris and I gathered ourselves together, said our goodbyes to our wonderful host and taxied off to the train station. I got Tom to meet me at Clapham Junction, where he escorted me to his flat and showed me a bit of Clapham proper. It's not as posh as Teddington, but still wonderfully English and a delight to me. Tom's place is a very nice four-bedroom flat there, only a short walk from the Clapham North underground station. While I did get to meet one of his flatmates briefly, you'd have thought he lived there alone -- I never saw the other one at all.
We visited for a little while, then went off to eat at a place called Nando's. GREAT chicken and roast corn for lunch there -- I have to remember the name of this place for next time, as I just loved it. We then caught the tubes up into London, where Tom went to work for a few hours, and I went off sightseeing by myself -- only the second time I've done this, and the first time I wasn't joined by someone halfway along...
I wandered around near Marble Arch for awhile, then caught the tubes back up to Westminster and finally went to visit the Abbey. I got my first really close-up look at the Houses of Parliament while walking there -- and believe me, they're even more impressive up close in the daytime than they are all lit up at night. Big Ben is BIG! The Abbey is also spectacular, if you're the kind of morbid person (like me) who enjoys visiting tombs. I saw a number of famous graves and memorials, and spent a lovely afternoon there among history. I was just shopping in the gift shop afterwards -- and being attended to by a young lady from Louisiana -- when Red Fraggle called.
I met up with Red and Baggins and Pookie at some little wine bar just off Leicester Square, which was where Tom and I had agreed to meet later, because he had a social club meeting in Covent Garden later. Pookie and I ran down to the corner to watch the Swiss clock strike, and I was delighted to learn that it played both Greensleeves (which Pookie recognized) and the Beatles' Yesterday (which she didn't, but to her credit, she did know the Beatles). We sat around and drank wine and giggled about the gathering and our Stoner friends until Tom got there to collect me. I gave Red back her phone, which she has promised will be available to me when I come over again. :)
Tom and I went from there to his club meeting. I had a great time -- Tom has been promising me a night out in gay London since we met, and this was my first foray with him on that tour. We had a great time -- one of his friends insisted I couldn't go home, I told them what a great party they were missing this weekend, it was faboo all the way around. We spent a few hours there, then caught the tubes back to Clapham, stopped at a curry place and got dinner (which was delicious), went back to Tom's and watched Jackass until time for bed.
I slept quite well that last night, and said goodbye to Tom when he went off to work on Wednesday morning. I read for a little while, then gathered myself together for the trek to the airport...
Gary had discovered that he'd saved my express ticket back to Gatwick from Victoria Station, and since I'd missed shopping at the Lush the day before (bad Mary!), I went from Tom's to Victoria and availed myself of the Lush shop there. I used both my coupons this trip, the ones I thought I wasn't going to get to use, and brought home goodies for Sherry and Niesa and me...
Aside from the ankle-biting suitcase, the trip was uneventful. I got to the airport, made the plane, sat with some very funny kids (a theater/film/dance group who had just spent the last month in Edinburgh at the fringe festival there), got through customs with no problems, made my connecting flight and got home.
If I ever have to conjure a Patronus, this weekend held enough good memories to produce a fantastic one... :) That's it. Next stop: New York City...
The dead dog party was usually the best part of any convention, and it seems to be the same with the gatherings. Eventually, Rod, Scott, Gary and Kris trooped back up from the garden, and we all settled down for an evening of decompression and good company.
We began with yip-yap and listening to Gary and Scott play the guitar -- no, not both at once, they did pass it back and forth -- and half-assed watching news to see what had transpired in the larger world while we were busy (i.e., Gris wanted to know who won the race that day...). We smoked and drank wine and looked at pictures and chatted until we were all starving, then began to badger Gary about a dinner plan.
Gary decided that rather than have us troop out to find an amenable place to eat, he should get on his bike (which was stolen the next day -- apparently about the fourth bike he's lost there) and go fetch us something delectable. I wanted something resembling chicken satay, which was the first time in the entire weekend I'd actually known what I wanted to eat, so Gary went and fetched back an array of chicken dishes from the local Chinese take-away. He brought something veggie for Kris, which had bad bamboo shoots in it, but the chicken was wonderful. We sat on the floor and pigged out -- there's just no other word for how fast the food disappeared... Our excellent host also provided cheesecake of the finest quality, which we sat and watched thaw for awhile before devouring it just as quickly.
Our evening fare was to be what Kris assured us was the world's worst movie, and it probably was, but our altitude was such that -- well, suffice it to say that three of us stood in the kitchen and watched the water run into the sink and were apparently highly amused by that phenomenon, and hence, we all found the movie highly amusing, too. Rod made the connection between Manos, The Hands of Fate and The Rocky Horror Picture Show; most of us marveled at the true horrors of the cinematic quality; I eventually got into the Internet Movie Database and searched up the goofs and trivia, and learned that the movie was made on a bet. But we had a great time watching the Mystery Science Theater version of this tacky film, and Scott recommended another which I must now find: Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, which he claims is at least as bad as Manos.
We watched some Space Ghost Coast to Coast, so Rod could see zorak, and some Eddie Izzard, just because we like him, and around 2:00 am, Gary summoned a taxi, which was a comedy routine in and of itself. Since the Rolling Stones had had to cancel on Saturday night and actually performed on Sunday, by 2:00 am, taxis were hard to come by. Gary must have called about ten places before he actually talked to someone, and that guy was more pissed than we were...several calls later, Gary had actually talked to a reasonable human being and was pretty sure a cab was on the way.
We stayed up a bit longer, but the energy of the weekend and the day had pretty much left us all. I left Gris chatting online and, following Gary and Kris' lead, went off to bed...
We all woke up at our leisure on Monday, and I even laid in my room and read for awhile so I didn't wake anyone up too early. We were supposed to get together with Rod and Scott to film the devil duckie release, but as the day progressed, we began to see that that wasn't going to happen. Gris and I were going to hook up with Tom; instead of spending the night with him, we decided to stay in Teddington, and along around 2:30, she and I went wandering off toward the Anglers.
We found a nice window seat, where we could see the river and all the folks playing there, sipped on a large pitcher of Pimms and lemonade, and ate a bowl of olives and some really great bread while we considered what we were going to actually do for dinner. We called half a dozen people, sent a few text messages, finally decided on burgers, ate those at a leisurely pace -- just a darned lazy day all the way around. We finally hooked up with Tom, who came over and met us in Teddington. Gris misdirected him at the station, and I went down to collect him -- fortunately, I met up with him right across the street from the grocery, since all the little cigarette shops were closed for the holiday. Gary and Kris joined us there at the Anglers, where we drank more Pimms and yapped until around 9:00, when Gary and Kris went back to his flat. Gris and I spent a bit longer with Tom, finalizing my plans for the next day and visiting until he had to go and catch the train back to Clapham.
Gris and I walked back to Gary's, and the four of us spent a lovely evening chatting and playing on the computer. We had an encounter with Gary's stalker, then talked to Rod for a bit before we started thinking about plans for the next day. We passed the phone around and said our goodbyes, which got pretty silly before we got all done. After that, we watched TV and talked until we all got too tired to stay up any more.
I kept running back and forth, packing and collecting stuff up and just dithering in general. Gary gave me an ashtray I'd admired -- it had been my assigned ashtray for the weekend, and I became rather attached to it. It's a cow skull rendered by a schoolchild, and I just loved it. So I brought it home, and it now sits between Jaye and I, its little horns hooked over the basket there, home to dead matches and butts of every variety... :) Thanks again, Gary!
On Tuesday morning, we got up and performed our usual rituals -- Gris and I made coffee and tea, got online and checked mail and posted at the Stone. I went and bathed a bit earlier than usual, as Gary and I were going to go make a little movie of the devil duckie release down by the river. Gary got up a bit later, and we wandered down to the river to release the duck. Poor Monty -- landed upside down, sat perfectly still for a few moments, then began bobbing downstream unsteadily -- as Gary said, "upside down, drunk and stoned." (Which really does pretty much sum up the state of an attendee of a Stone gathering in the UK... ;))
Gris and I gathered ourselves together, said our goodbyes to our wonderful host and taxied off to the train station. I got Tom to meet me at Clapham Junction, where he escorted me to his flat and showed me a bit of Clapham proper. It's not as posh as Teddington, but still wonderfully English and a delight to me. Tom's place is a very nice four-bedroom flat there, only a short walk from the Clapham North underground station. While I did get to meet one of his flatmates briefly, you'd have thought he lived there alone -- I never saw the other one at all.
We visited for a little while, then went off to eat at a place called Nando's. GREAT chicken and roast corn for lunch there -- I have to remember the name of this place for next time, as I just loved it. We then caught the tubes up into London, where Tom went to work for a few hours, and I went off sightseeing by myself -- only the second time I've done this, and the first time I wasn't joined by someone halfway along...
I wandered around near Marble Arch for awhile, then caught the tubes back up to Westminster and finally went to visit the Abbey. I got my first really close-up look at the Houses of Parliament while walking there -- and believe me, they're even more impressive up close in the daytime than they are all lit up at night. Big Ben is BIG! The Abbey is also spectacular, if you're the kind of morbid person (like me) who enjoys visiting tombs. I saw a number of famous graves and memorials, and spent a lovely afternoon there among history. I was just shopping in the gift shop afterwards -- and being attended to by a young lady from Louisiana -- when Red Fraggle called.
I met up with Red and Baggins and Pookie at some little wine bar just off Leicester Square, which was where Tom and I had agreed to meet later, because he had a social club meeting in Covent Garden later. Pookie and I ran down to the corner to watch the Swiss clock strike, and I was delighted to learn that it played both Greensleeves (which Pookie recognized) and the Beatles' Yesterday (which she didn't, but to her credit, she did know the Beatles). We sat around and drank wine and giggled about the gathering and our Stoner friends until Tom got there to collect me. I gave Red back her phone, which she has promised will be available to me when I come over again. :)
Tom and I went from there to his club meeting. I had a great time -- Tom has been promising me a night out in gay London since we met, and this was my first foray with him on that tour. We had a great time -- one of his friends insisted I couldn't go home, I told them what a great party they were missing this weekend, it was faboo all the way around. We spent a few hours there, then caught the tubes back to Clapham, stopped at a curry place and got dinner (which was delicious), went back to Tom's and watched Jackass until time for bed.
I slept quite well that last night, and said goodbye to Tom when he went off to work on Wednesday morning. I read for a little while, then gathered myself together for the trek to the airport...
Gary had discovered that he'd saved my express ticket back to Gatwick from Victoria Station, and since I'd missed shopping at the Lush the day before (bad Mary!), I went from Tom's to Victoria and availed myself of the Lush shop there. I used both my coupons this trip, the ones I thought I wasn't going to get to use, and brought home goodies for Sherry and Niesa and me...
Aside from the ankle-biting suitcase, the trip was uneventful. I got to the airport, made the plane, sat with some very funny kids (a theater/film/dance group who had just spent the last month in Edinburgh at the fringe festival there), got through customs with no problems, made my connecting flight and got home.
If I ever have to conjure a Patronus, this weekend held enough good memories to produce a fantastic one... :) That's it. Next stop: New York City...