Utrecht 1.0: Report

From: roach@earthling.netz (Michael "The Roach" Janszen)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Utrech 1.0 (NL 3.0)
Date: Mon, 03 Mar 1997 06:31:25 GMT
Message-ID: <3319fc31.5469138@news.telebyte.nl>

On Saturday, March 1st, the long-dreaded time had come. It was time
for Utrecht 1.0
But first, my impressions of the day.

Work. Helping customers calling on the phone.
1255: What, another one? Well, if I get him done in five...
1315: Yes Sir, I will write that letter on Monday. Good day. Phew.
Now...
1330: What do I need for tomorrow? Shopping isn't easy when half of
Nijmegen is doing it simultaneously.
1400: OK. I wanna leave about 1500. Can I... dare I... well, just
check afp and email in five minutes...
1430: Sheesh! Let's get into the shower and dressed...
1500: OK, so far so good, now I need the address... what's this in my
e-mail?
1530: Gone at last.
1630: So this is Utrecht? Looks even more Merking than Nijmegen. How
do I get to the center and the station?... There's a map of the
city... figures, twop blocks straight ahead... now let me find a
parking lot...
1645: Let's turn left here, maybe a parking space... Oh no, some
german tourists, and they saw my license plate is Germ(an), too? Yes,
nice to meet you here. Yes, I'm German, too. See ya guys... Sometimes
I feel ashamed for being German
1655: So here's the inn where we should meet. Anyone in yet? No.
Doesn't look like any afp in there. a catholic priest, maybe, talking
to a guy in a black T-Shirt. No afp, though. Let's look at what is in
the neighbourhood...
1710: Still no change in the King Arthur. The guy in the black T-Shirt
is smoking a pipe. Well, maybe he can tell me...

It was TimT, and when he told me I finally saw the front of the
T-Shirt, "Murders you can hum to... Masquerade". 

Now for a slightly more formal way of relating events:


People there:

TimT
Alfonso (a friend of TimTs, the one I mistook for a priest...)
Jeroen Metselaar
Jos Dingjaan
Jeroen Burger
Marc Oldenhof
Leo Breebart
Cybercat
Jeremy Stark
The Roach (yours truly)

missing with excuses: Alan Conell and Ton de Mulder
AWOL: Noone we were aware of

As you can see, there was one thing positive and one thing negative
about the meet. The first time ever, a Dutch afpmeet had more Dutch
visitors than foreigners (positive). Negative: There was noone there
to flirt at :-(

Jeremy came in late, he had been watching (listening?) to the
France-England Rugby match before. For those interested: France won
23-20 or something. At that time conversation switched from Dutch to
English, much to the relief of a certain Roach who was fingered
(everyone pointed their fingers at me when the question came up:
Who'll do the report?) as reporter.

What did we talk about?

Guns, roundabouts and communism were discussed. Only the second topic
should recur on afp, it was generally agreed. Pterry was dicussed, as
was the 'what was your first book' and 'what else do you like to
rewad' threads. Advice for Newbies was handed out. Unfortunately,
there was no real Newbie available who'd get a clue ("Don't flame
ppint or you'll have the whole NG on your neck"). Engagements were
discussed. An RFD was proposed: no more RL engagements outside of afp
(which makes afp even more inbr^H^H^H^Hclose-knit). The lights in the
King Arthur's pub were marveled at (they tended to flicker more than
the candles on the table). Computer systems were discussed. So were
several posteres and ex-posters that were not there. A Dutch trip to
Bath was proposed. Finally, it was decided to go eat something, and in
completely un-afp-like fashion, the local McD and BK were disregarded
and a Chinese restaurant was chosen. Lots more information (custard at
the last DWCon, probable places for NL4.0...) was swapped, also
Muppets were discussed. Afdter that, the first people left for the
train, some went to 'George's', an Irish pub with decent Guinness and
not-so-decent music (especially with respect to volume) was visited.
On the way from there, I finally left the group.

2330: OK, I think my car is here somewhere...
2340: Hmm, maybe if I turn left here...
2350: Let's start this from the beginnning.
0003: How do I get out of Utrecht and onto the highway?


A few memorable quotes:

- Talking about the food: Anybody got anything against Chinese? Jos:
I'll murder for Chinese.

- We got the Chinese menus. "Ay vegetarians here?" - Leo (with a mad
gleam in his eye and a fitting pronunciation): Meat, Meat, Gimme Meat!

- the waitress showed up at the table while we were discussing quotes
for the report. TimT: Let's spread the responsibility. Ask the
waitress what her name is!

- All this talking in person makes me uneasy - Leo

- Six in the morning? Does that exist? I know 4 a.m. does exist... -
Jeremy

- Jos: Damerell of Borg. Jeremy: I refuse to assimilate you.

- What would really mess up afp would be TPerry writing a book with
the initials MMF or AFP - The roach (Hey, who put that one into my
notes?)

There surely were many more memorable quotes, but I didn't have the
hidden tape recorder working. Maybe next time.





Live long and prosper

Michael "The Roach" Janszen

The Official Michelena Riosa Testosterone Brigade
Chef In Continant

Spammer trap - when replying by e-mail, drop the last letter
of the address...

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