I met a fellow BDer!!

[Boromir88]

Oh please tell me in the kitty picture that is not a Romo jersey! I think I am going to be sick

[the phantom]

Originally Posted by Boro

Oh please tell me in the kitty picture that is not a Romo jersey! I think I am going to be sick

Heh heh.... Oh, I'm sure she was only wearing it because she was overseas. You know, with the Cowboys being "America's Team" and all, she was just trying to represent us properly. *snicker*

[Mirandir]

Oh yeah, that was it. Definitely has nothing to do with me being a die-hard Cowboys fan or anything like that.

[Boromir88]

Well I think tp was attempting to make me feel better...ugh, America's team my...It's ok though, I know there are defects in all of us, you can't help it that you're a Cowboys fan.

[Mirandir]

And I suppose your a fan of some really really good quality team like the Patriots, huh?

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Mirandir

And I suppose your a fan of some really really good quality team like the Patriots, huh?

haha, anything but that...umm, the Lions happen to be my team, I'm a lifer. I said we all have our defects.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

When I see new posts on this thread, I hope for news of new get-togethers of Downers. Please don't misuse that hope for idle chat - thanks!

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

When I see new posts on this thread, I hope for news of new get-togethers of Downers. Please don't misuse that hope for idle chat - thanks!

We'll tell you all about it once we send him home, I promise.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

for in the near future, The Adventures of Formendacil in New England shall be publicized!

In which:

• Fea makes [playful] suggestions about Formy's necktie
• Fea and Nienna force their over-indulgent slightly-older Canadian adopted brother to carry a humongous couch up dozens of steps for them
• A pie is made
• Customs makes [sinister] suggestions about Formy's necktie

and-

• Formendacil playes Nintendo for the FIRST TIME

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

[*]Customs makes [sinister] suggestions about Formy's necktie

What the-?

[Bêthberry]

Wait a minute! Formendacil visits New England and does he go through Toronto? Does he meet with any Downers in that navel of the Canadian gaze?

Like, even a phone call from Pearson Airport would be neat, Formy. Unless you flew direct to Boston. Or connected through Chicago. Or . . . um, well, it sounds like you had fun.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Wait a minute! Formendacil visits New England and does he go through Toronto? Does he meet with any Downers in that navel of the Canadian gaze?

Like, even a phone call from Pearson Airport would be neat, Formy. Unless you flew direct to Boston. Or connected through Chicago. Or . . . um, well, it sounds like you had fun.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

*strikes breast*

I did, indeed, fly thither through Toronto--but if I am so disgraced, I shall refrain from mentioning that phonecalls are every bit as easy--or difficult (no number...)--from Edmonton as from the airport.

And yes, there shall be a big, epic post up--probably tomorrow. For tonight, Formy has got residual jetlag, 15 hours of driving in the past 40 hours, and emotional instability to cope with. More anon.

[Morsul the Dark]

Boston and yet no short run down to RI?! I;m offended

[Brinniel]

Well, Formy went all the way to Boston and couldn't even be bothered to take a short trip to NYC...even when the bus ride would've only costed $15. Silly boy.

[Formendacil]

There is a prevailing belief that all Barrow-downer meetings must invariably be excellent, a belief that has no doubt been greatly assisted by the fact that, as yet, there has not been a meeting reported as a failure. There is, however, no property of the Barrow-downs, nor of Barrow-downers, that makes this a necessary condition of all BD meetings, and though so many visits thus far have been writ with the happy endings of comedy, nonetheless the material is there for a tragedy.

This philosophical caveat out of the way, let me recount the visit of myself, Formendacil, to Feanor of the Peredhil and Nienna, in Boston, which while not a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions, should still not be painted in the colours of too much joy.

The portents of woe began frightfully early in this particular tale. I almost didn't make onto the connecting plane in Toronto (yet again, my abject apologies, Bêthberry, but perhaps it is best, in the end, that you were not entangled in the Doom of the Noldor), for as I was going through U.S. customs to get onto my second flight I was cross-examined by a U.S. Customs agent wanting to know my business in the USA.

"Visiting friends," I answered truthfully.

"How do you know these friends?" he asked, and my mind hit a blank. "We met on the Internet," did NOT seem an adequate response, so I said the first thing that came to my head. "We met in college." It was vague enough to cover a multiplicity of meaning, and eminently plausible, but--of course--mostly untrue. In
the case of Fea, we either met while we were both in High School, or else we had not yet met--and the met that had not yet happened would be, really, post-college, since we're now all allegedly Grad students. I suppose, in Nienna's case, it could be considered true that we met in college, but... really... not true.

Soiled by this falsehood, they let me on the plane, and to add to the deficiencies of the trip, I arrived in Boston a ridiculous mess. Now, this wasn't my first BDer meeting (I visited Brinn in Idaho last year), but I doubt that even after a dozen BDer meetings that I'll be any less anxious prior to first-time encounters--all the more so when, as was the case this time, I'm meeting someone I've become quite well acquainted with (albeit not in person). Fea, at least, has the
dubious distinction of being one of my favourite Downers, Nienna of being all-too-closely associated with her. So, basically, imagine the kind of giddiness that might precede TGEW meeting the editor of the The Barrow-Downer.

Fortunately, my plane wasn't late--meaning I had no extra time to course adrenaline through my veins--and somewhat dazed I followed the stream of passengers from the plane towards the baggage retrieval, only to find Fea and Nienna waiting there.

My first words were fairly clumsy, basically to the effect of "I really don't know how one goes about meeting someone they've already met," and Fea's response was, unhelpfully: "informally." It was perhaps awkward for a minute or two as my mind was more on the imminently arriving luggage, but soon enough we were on our way, with no apparent problem in each other's company. Conversation was much helped along by my mentioning that there had been snow that morning in Calgary (where I'd flown from), that my plane had been de-iced before I took off, and the ensuing outrage of the ladies at the inconsiderateness of Canadian weather.

As mentioned by Fea in her preview post, I did, indeed, have a tie on. I can't really say that I recall her saying anything about it beyond asking if I always wore one (I don't quite...), but perhaps, being a man, I missed out on all the delicacy of delicious denotation in her query. It would be consistent with the tone of the visit for her to have been insinuating I'd overdressed for the occasion, or that I might be weird (I am, but that's not the point).

I should digress and mention that Fea and Nienna no longer live in the mass-Downer location Brinn met them at over the winter, with Lariren Shadow and Mirandir, but they have now moved to Boston to pursue grad studies in their fields. It is also worth mentioning that this move had just been accomplished the day before I arrived. Not that I didn't already know this, for when I was looking with Fea at dates for travelling, we ended up with two more-or-less mutually compatible blocks of dates, and being the gentleman I am, I asked which they preferred. Naturally, they responded that they preferred having the extra manpower during the more laborious transition period at the beginning. Hence, I was to be put to work on my so-called holiday.

The most strenuous task, certainly, involved moving in a couch. Fea and Nienna, you see, did not bring a couch with them from their last residence, so there was a scouring of the thrift stores one morning to rectify this situation, followed that afternoon by the arrival of Nienna's father with his van--a necessary tool for the moving of a couch.

Now, the couch which the ladies selected is quite the specimen (See it with me here. Note the scowl on my face). Quite apart from aesthetic concerns like colour and pattern (which are of negligible concern to those doing the moving), they selected a couch that could, quite comfortably, seat five Feas (or Niennas, but probably only four Formendacils). I can hardly fail to note that these young BDers live on the fourth floor of an elevator-less building.

Of course, if you were to judge by those conditions, you might assume that the reason there was relatively little tourism on my part during the rest of the trip was because I took that long to recover from hauling the couch up the stairs. (Here we rest at the foot of the apartment building, on said couch. I apologize for not re-shooting to centre us more, but Nienna disappeared.) Instead, my weighty task was to be shared, as we had the good fortune to start blocking the stairs just as a couple of young men from the second floor had the back luck to enter the building and volunteered/got volun-told to assist. We didn't break the news though, until they were wedged in around one of the bends in the stairs, that the couch was going to the fourth floor...

Other, earlier, adventures included bodyguard duty as Nienna and I escorting Fea to the Prudential Centre Barnes and Noble for the submission of a job application. Now, according to Nienna, Fea and I were equally useless and going off in the wrong direction, but in my defence, I was just following Fea, until we got lost, after which I was fully committed to our being not-lost, while Nienna slowed down the process by phoning for directions. (This picture shows Fea in the foreground with us industriously moving forward on our side of the street, while Nienna stands opposite, pointing probably at the building next to the Prudential Centre.) We were totally on the cusp of going in not-the-absolutely-wrong direction. I also aver that, while it was raining while we were on the train, it was not when we arrived. Unless, of course, you were walking under trees with water on their leaves, going in the wrong direction.

I blame Fea.

Of course, that particular Barnes and Noble has nothing on the location alleged to exist at Chestnut Hill. I blame the completely absentLariren Shadow for that, since she actually phoned them (well, phoned someone who said they were them) and ascertained that they were hiring, and as it was on the way to Fea's grad school, she and I decided that while we were on a jaunt to see how far the campus was and what it looked like, we would check out the wisdom of that location.

Except... well... we couldn't find it. Not that we got there immediately. Fea, I maintain, got us lost on the hike down to the train--in the rain, but even after we'd been on our feet for probably an hour and a half, and should have just headed back towards the apartment, we ended up walking all around the location it was supposed to occupy, and determined that it was most definitely not there. We weren't lost then, though, as Google Maps confirmed upon our return. It was the bookstore, not us, that got lost, because we were definitely right where it should have been... but where it apparently should have been was a tennis club with high fences. Of course, on the way back, to save our aching legs, Fea decided to take a "short cut." Short cuts make long delays indeed... an extra five minutes for sure, at the end of a long hike, and then, remember, we had those four flights of stairs.

No account of this visit would be complete without mentioning that I made pie. In the midst of being ignored by my serious hosts, I unveiled both a desire for pie and the recipe to make it--an extraordinary gesture on my part, I'm sure you'll agree. Although I would have been content with just apple, and would have rested at that, nonetheless Fea definitely expressed an interest in strawberry-rhubarb pie, which I was gracious enough to indulge, for her own good (she was procrastinating on her first grad school deadline). Was this charity reciprocated? Not exactly... The other, apple, pie was shortly be used to mollify Nienna's father, who is quite fond of it, after they broke the news of the couch they bought--and so we're back to that point in the tale.

Fea thinks there's a story to be told about me playing Nintendo, but I would say that's the real story there is not that I played Nintendo, but that I was harassed into playing Nintendo. I distinctly remember being decidedly non-enthused about the Wii, which on their end simply would not do. However, when I begrudgingly didn't fall asleep, but began to humour them, I spent all of ten minutes on Wii Fit before the actual using of the Wii turned into Mii-making, which I think that was a Pyrrhic victory at best for the Nintendo evangelisers.

More details could be enumerated, but adventures such as these were the basic staple of the trip, which otherwise included incompatible diets, incompatible worldviews, incompatible sleep habits (I am, it seems, more of a morning person than I give myself credit), and incompatible notions of straight roads.

Which brings me back to the beginning of this post, where I mentioned that not everything about this visit was stellar. When I said that, I do not mean anything I've recounted yet was bad--even though true. Not even the couch moving. No, really, it wasn't until I had to leave that the visit was less than excellent.

You see, Fea and Nienna were so welcoming, and the visit was so excellent generally, and given that it was more an experience of coming to live in Boston than coming to visit Boston, that when time finally wound down and I had to leave... I didn't want to. I had to, of course. I had work on Monday (and money is an unfortunate necessity in the average life), and I had a friend's ordination to attend before that, so I couldn't exactly just forget my airfare and become an illegal immigrant. Besides all of which, I am quite fond indeed of western Canada and the people there, for all that it snows in June.

All the same, it was a very melancholy Formendacil that Fea left at the airport, one who has since been trapped between the certainty of having to go back and visit again and the clear verdict that travel upsets his routine and is dangerous to his mental equilibrium. Also a Formendacil who has had to go from having a social life around the corner in the next bedroom to scattered out and about and on the Internet--which is to say, that, all told, I felt like I got along quite well with Fea and Nienna.

(This is an excellent point to note, then, that everything written above is, of course, subject to the caveat that an alternative account by either or both of the ladies may well contradict everything. I take no responsibility for that.)

Postscript

Coming back into Canada, I had to go through Customs again. For whatever reason (I'd be in the wild land of speculation if I were to guess), I got hauled out of the rubber stamp processing line and into the "search his luggage" room in the Ottawa airport.

The first question I got asked, entering the search room was:

"Do you always wear a tie?"

"Umm... well, not always. But often."

(At this point, I'm already grinning because this'll be a good story, but trying hard not to, lest I get strip-searched.)

"Do you have any sharp objects I should know about?" I replied in the negative, only to get asked sharply a couple minutes later why I hadn't mentioned the diabetic needles.

I tried to explain I had thought she was asking about weapons... knives, nailclippers, and whatnot, but whether she believed me, I can't say. Certainly, she seemed to lose interest when she'd exhausted my luggage and not found any contraband.

Having got through customs, I needed something to read on the plane. Not having a copy, I let myself splurge on a hardcover of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, telling myself nothing could be more appropriate to end a wholly un-epic, heavenly wonderful, BDer visit than an addition to my Tolkien collection.

As a sign of the barbarity of our times, I challenge you to find and purchase a pen and writing paper in an airport, especially past the security checkpoints. I managed it, but I was about ready to steal napkins.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

You couldn't possibly have posted more unflattering pictures if you'd tried.



That being said... You weren't supposed to tell anybody I got us totally lost en route to Chestnut Hill!!!!!!

Now nobody will ever believe in my competence.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I'd also like to point to the chips in that last photo there-

This picture was quite obviously taken before the ever so accommodating and pleasant, completely polite and gentlemanly, kind and courteous waiter stole them from us in an unsubtle attempt to get us to leave before dessert.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

The first question I got asked, entering the search room was:

"Do you always wear a tie?"

Now, now, Form, the nice Customs lady was only doing her job. How was she to know that you weren't planning to garrotte the pilot?

[Nienna]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

Other, earlier, adventures included bodyguard duty as Nienna and I escorting Fea to the Prudential Centre Barnes and Noble for the submission of a job application. Now, according to Nienna, Fea and I were equally useless and going off in the wrong direction, but in my defence, I was just following Fea, until we got lost, after which I was fully committed to our being not-lost, while Nienna slowed down the process by phoning for directions.

When we left the apartment I asked Fea and Formy if we knew how to get there and they said: "Yes." So I assume that since they were looking at internet maps and such that they did know how to get there.

After quite a bit of wandering and walking away from the road which is supposed to lead us to the building, I decided that maybe we should pause and figure out where we were going. I stopped walking and phoned a friend of mine. Fea and Formy kept walking and crossed the street leaving me alone on a street in Boston. I figured out where we needed to be and then pointed in the correct direction for the others.

I also maintain that the reason Fea and Formy got lost in Chestnut Hill was because I wasn't there to make sure they knew where they were going.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

The problem is figuring out which way you're facing when emerging from underground. Formy and I knew exactly which roads we were supposed to be on, however we were having trouble figuring out precisely which direction the roads we needed to be on were.

And Chestnut Hill was only problematic because the patch of land that B&N was supposedly on actually housed a tennis club. Dozens of courts, no books.

The location on Google Maps now is a building that has a pool in the backyard.

We logically concluded that Chestnut Hill is a void which ignores the laws of time and space.

[Mithalwen]

I am not sure that time and space work the same way with Downer meetings... *has traumatic memories*.

[Morsul the Dark]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

You couldn't possibly have posted more unflattering pictures if you'd tried.
.

I 'm fairly certain you don't have "unflattering" shots, you are a lovely young lady.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Now, now, Form, the nice Customs lady was only doing her job. How was she to know that you weren't planning to garrotte the pilot?

Yes, but I'd just got OFF the plane! As far as she was concerned, I was going to walk out into Ottawa and never fly again--and if ties are dangerous, then our national capital is already in big trouble.

Originally Posted by Nienna

I also maintain that the reason Fea and Formy got lost in Chestnut Hill was because I wasn't there to make sure they knew where they were going.

We may have got lost prior to getting to the train to Chestnut Hill, and after the train coming back, but while we were there, we weren't lost in the slightest, though the Barnes and Noble definitely was.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark

I'm fairly certain you don't have "unflattering" shots, you are a lovely young lady.

Why thank you, sir.

Such a gentleman... Should you find yourself in my pretty city, such a compliment is certainly deserving of a visit over coffee, perhaps with scones involved...

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by The Ottawa Strangler

Yes, but I'd just got OFF the plane! As far as she was concerned, I was going to walk out into Ottawa and never fly again--and if ties are dangerous, then our national capital is already in big trouble.

Well, then, you were clearly about to go on a strangling rampage through the streets of Ottawa, just like all those other tie-wearing fiends!

[Morsul the Dark]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

Why thank you, sir.

Such a gentleman... Should you find yourself in my pretty city, such a compliment is certainly deserving of a visit over coffee, perhaps with scones involved...

Interestingly I'll be deep in political enemy territory on Wed. night.. in Cambridge at the Comedy Studio, but Boston is always a lovely place mt fiance and I try to viist at least a couple of times a year, there is a lovely little fantasy shop on Newbury St. the Owner has an Amazing LOTR poster with nearly all the cast's signatures!(Threw that last bit in to avoid the chat squirrels)

[Lariren Shadow]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

The portents of woe began frightfully early in this particular tale. I almost didn't make onto the connecting plane in Toronto (yet again, my abject apologies, Bêthberry, but perhaps it is best, in the end, that you were not entangled in the Doom of the Noldor), for as I was going through U.S. customs to get onto my second flight I was cross-examined by a U.S. Customs agent wanting to know my business in the USA.

I think that might be something new for Barrowdowners meeting. I was asked a bunch of question when I went to London. Though, to be honest, I was probably more suspicious because of the whole spur of the moment thing.

As mentioned by Fea in her preview post, I did, indeed, have a tie on. I can't really say that I recall her saying anything about it beyond asking if I always wore one (I don't quite...), but perhaps, being a man, I missed out on all the delicacy of delicious denotation in her query. It would be consistent with the tone of the visit for her to have been insinuating I'd overdressed for the occasion, or that I might be weird (I am, but that's not the point).

I know what Fea means about ties...

We were totally on the cusp of going in not-the-absolutely-wrong direction. I also aver that, while it was raining while we were on the train, it was not when we arrived. Unless, of course, you were walking under trees with water on their leaves, going in the wrong direction.

I blame Fea.

Things learned: Fea can't do directions. Also, probably when any of us(that would be Mira, Fea, Nienna, or I) are involved in a Barrowdowner meeting there will be the act of getting lost. It seems to be the welcome thing we bring to any occasion.

Of course, that particular Barnes and Noble has nothing on the location alleged to exist at Chestnut Hill. I blame the completely absentLariren Shadow for that, since she actually phoned them (well, phoned someone who said they were them) and ascertained that they were hiring, and as it was on the way to Fea's grad school, she and I decided that while we were on a jaunt to see how far the campus was and what it looked like, we would check out the wisdom of that location.

Hey! I did talk to someone! Its far from where you guys are! And they are hiring! They do exist they even had the annoying phone message when you called them that tells you the times the store is open! I would also like to know how I get blamed for something in Boston when I am in California.

On another note, I have never seen Barnes and Noble underlined. And I work there. I don't even think its underlined on the business cards...its not I just checked.

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

You couldn't possibly have posted more unflattering pictures if you'd tried.



That being said... You weren't supposed to tell anybody I got us totally lost en route to Chestnut Hill!!!!!!

Now nobody will ever believe in my competence.

Aw but it wouldn't be right if he didn't say so.

[Cailín]

Though neither of us ventures here often anymore, I still thought that the Downs and its population should know that another merry meeting happened because of the curious ability of this forum to bring people together.

Yesterday I finally had the pleasure of meeting the guy who be short in his natural environment. TGWBS is friendly, charming, goes around barefoot and occasionally bursts into song, and all in all is pretty much exactly like he used to come across here. He showed me around Oxford, managing to act very knowledgeable and touristy at the same time, taking photos of every sight he must have seen many times before. I learned about punting, the structure of different types of concrete and some nonsensical stories about an apparently tropical island called Iceland. If he does ever bother to check this thread, I would like to thank him again for a wonderful time and reassure him that indeed, Oxford is an amazingly pretty place. Hope to see the photos soon.

Also, maybe I should quietly mention that I will be in the south of England for another seven weeks and would love to meet some other people whom I know to frequent the area as well.

[Mirandir]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

That being said... You weren't supposed to tell anybody I got us totally lost en route to Chestnut Hill!!!!!!

Now nobody will ever believe in my competence.

WHAT competence, Fea?? After the airport fiasco it's just been one thing after another with you! Please note that when I come visit, I will be listening to Nienna's directions. Not yours. As much as I love you.

[Nogrod]

Just looking at the old posts here from last year...

Originally Posted by Kath

Is it me ... or does anyone else think that if you ever did plan to go to Finland and meet these nutters you'd have to lose your inhibitions pretty fast?!

Says one who is coming here in a month... Be prepared! Or well, be prepared to not be prepared...

[skip spence]

A few days back Lommy, Aganzir and their friend - let us call her Goldberry* for she was, much like other two, fair as the river’s daughter - came past my neck of the woods. I first met them at the train station and then, after leaving their luggage, we went on a prompt tour of the city. I’m not sure how many sights the girls actually saw, because most of the time we were walking, walking and talking about a dizzying amount of subjects, from Downs gossip to world affairs. Since Goldberry had developed a caffeine addiction after too many cool and refreshing ice-lattes in the Southern sun I then left them at a local coffee-shop – outside of which Lommy found time for a quick rant about Starbucks - for some personal time.

Later in the evening we took off to what I’d promised to be a “Shire-ish place”. The plan was to have a modest BBQ there, but unfortunately the actual planning was all too neglected from my part, so I showed up with some of the gear required but far from all. We had to make do though and after a walk, rather longer than I had though, we finally arrived at the site.

Shire-ish or no, the hazy evening sun was shimmering over the land as Aganzir and Goldberry to their delight discovered several horses running free. As they walked up to the shapely beasts grazing the tall grass I reached for my camera, but alas, the battery was dead (fortunately Lommy was a hand to make amends). I lit up the 3 Euro use-once grill we bought at the supermarket and started with some veggies and shrooms – Aganzir insisted that mushrooms were a must in Shire – but before even the veggies were done, and with all the rest of the food still uncooked, the crappy 3 Euro grill started to die down. “Blasted!”, I says, and at the brink of disaster it’s decided that we need to start a fire. We all scramble for dry twigs and any other flammables and at the last minute a small bon-fire is achieved. Some minutes later the heat is sufficient to cook the rest of our food, but now there’s an ominous grey tone to the over-cast sky, robbing us of a fair sunset. Just as we start enjoying the food the first cool drops of rain hit our faces, and by the time we finish the meal it’s pouring down, leaving us little choice but to scramble our stuff together and head back under the cover of trees.

All and all it had been a very enjoyable day though. The girls were, much as I suspected, very pleasant to be around, and I look forward to delving deeper into many of the various subjects we only too briefly came around to discuss.

*if there is a member called that, she's not the one I'm talking about

[Aganzir]

Yes, it happened pretty much as Skippy told it. I would've walked right past him at the railway station had he not come and greeted us with a wide smile on his face, for he looked much younger (and also thinner) than in the pictures.

We spent the first half of the day walking around (yes, we also managed to see some sights - the town was beautiful). Skippy took us to a nice botanical garden so we could learn plant names in Swedish (I learnt one but forgot it already), and after a little persuading ("Come on, that tree is just asking to be climbed! And if someone calls the police, you can at least speak the language!"), climbed a tree. Then we went to a playground and sat there discussing gay rights (okay we also talked about other things but I can't remember them). And we entertained Skippy by telling jokes about Swedes, and he entertained us by talking Swedish.

Grilling was lots of fun (from left to right: Lommy - notice also her new, reddish hair colour, Ms Goldberry - who, despite being a non-Downer, has probably met more Downers in person than most Downers, & Skipper), especially as none of us had done it yet this summer, and the food was very delicious, especially the mushrooms. Skip brought us some magazines and books so we could improve our Swedish, and Lommy managed to read a whole article. It was funny when she walked around the place with a years-old National Geographic in her hand and asked Skippy about words she didn't understand.

In spite of the weather being against us, we had a very good time with Skip. He's a great guy with a wonderful sense of humour, plus he never once lost his patience because of our silly jokes (now Lommy will probably come and say, "You mean your silly jokes, Agan?"). I look forward to meeting him again (which happens, incidentally, in about a week).

Unfortunately most of the pictures taken that day (including all the good ones) were on Lommy's camera which mystically disappeared on the last day of our trip, which leaves me with the duty to post a group photo of us. Don't ask me what Lommy is doing. I don't know.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Skip, I'd merely like say: I love your shirt.

Oh, and I'm jealous, of course. Very, very jealous.

[Boromir88]

I like the shades, very nice...where can I get them? I only happen to have a pair of sunglasses I got from going to the Cleveland Clinic, that was odd.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

I only happen to have a pair of sunglasses I got from going to the Cleveland Clinic, that was odd.

Man, that's were I got mine too! No, haha, I'd give you my shades if I could. I won't, however, send them.

Originally Posted by Fea

Skip, I'd merely like say: I love your shirt.

Why thank you, dear!

Originally Posted by Agan

It was funny when she walked around the place with a years-old National Geographic in her hand and asked Skippy about words she didn't understand.

That's a great pose by Lommy haha. And I'm sorry about the camera, hope it shows up as mysteriously as it disappeared!

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

I like the shades, very nice...where can I get them?

From Sweden of course... didn't you know the Swedes are the most hip nation in the world? (Notice the Finnish attitude towards Swedes...)

But it sure is great to have you Skip here in Finland for a "return visit" next week.


And yes, I met a Barrow-Downer yesterday as well!

I had two pints of beer in Helsinki last night with Legate to celebrate his moving in. It was nice to meet him again - and we will be meeting him pretty regularly in the future as he starts his year as an exchange-stipendiate in the University of Helsinki...

So in the future we might not report it every time we meet him...

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

What is the appropriate manner with which to meet another Barrow-Downer? Running and squealing and knocking them over doesn't seem like the best way to do it...

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

Running and squealing and knocking them over doesn't seem like the best way to do it...

When there are airports involved, my preferred method is to size the person up, make sure they're the right person, hesitantly move in their direction, and say something stunningly witty, like, "Hi."

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

What is the appropriate manner with which to meet another Barrow-Downer? Running and squealing and knocking them over doesn't seem like the best way to do it...

That might work well with us Finns - and maybe Rune - but I wouldn't recommend you to try that on anyone else...

But Fea has something right in there indeed methinks. Like with anyone you meet the first time it is always an interesting situation and surely the first minute can be a bit confusing. But at least with those 'Downers I have met the first time as 'Downers (so not talking about those I knew outside the 'Downs already), namely Brinn, Legate, Rune and Spawn, they have been just great and hearty persons with whom the "odd-feeling" of meeting them the first time has vanished in a minute actually. So at least I have only positive experiences of meeting other 'Downers - and it has been very easy to get comfortable with them in no time.

You're such fine bunch of people!

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

When there are airports involved, my preferred method is to size the person up, make sure they're the right person, hesitantly move in their direction, and say something stunningly witty, like, "Hi."

Oh, that sounds like a great idea!

Originally Posted by Nogrod

That might work well with us Finns - and maybe Rune - but I wouldn't recommend you to try that on anyone else...

Probably not. I will greet any Downer that I meet with another reaction...