Nottingham 4.0: Report

From: Supermouse <Supermouse@warnco.com>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: [F] Nottingham 4.0: afpmeet report. (Long)
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 00:22:44 +0100
Message-ID: <+dzd6DAEVrK1Iwzq@rat-cage.demon.co.uk>

No-one's doen one yet AFAICT, so I'm taking the plunge, despite the fact
that I can't remember who was there, what happened, to whom, and who had
the quotefile.

Anyone wanting to cc this to atm-d is welcome.

The meet was ably hosted by TFLA at the Victoria in Beeston on Saturday
4 April. The pub management have *not* banned us from going there again,
so the meet can definitely be termed a success, especially as the final
head count was at least twenty-seven.

Present, that I can remember[1][2]:
TFLA
Eelco
Loriba
MPK
George
Alex the Eternally Harassed
Jester
Gid
Suzi
Tap
Carol
Darrell
Nick
The Flying Hamster
Selina Locke
Simes
Muppet
Esmi
Coin
The Lady Kayla
Dawn
Vixen
FTony
Bjorn

Also present were a Silly Hat, several hand puppets, a stuffed cat and
more chocolate than the afpmeet could eat.
Chocolate covered items included sliced lemon and grapes. The candy lego
made a reappearance by popular request.

>From now on, I shall stick to what I can remember. Other afpmeeters can
fill in where necessary.

It was a dark and stormy night. The rain hammered down upon the tiled
roofs of Beeston as the glare of streetlights reflected harshly from the
dirty, rain-lashed puddles of the deserted roads.
A small, lonely pub huddled in a hidden backstreet, totally unaware of
the appalling prose happening only a short distance away. Inside, the
staff watched suspisciously as the small room filled with strangers.
Local regulars grouped closely together as they regarded the sudden
influx of the gang that they would all too soon know as 'them strange
people with all those puppets what was 'ere Saturday'.

Mostly what I remember is the noise. Noise and people. I was very
nervous: this was my first meet, so all these people were, to me,
strangers I had only met in text. I was worried that there would be a
lot of cliquiness going on from all the regulars who know each other
well, but no such thing happened and I quickly realised that this is a
group whose aim is to be friendly to people. I was made to feel very
much 'one of the gang'. No-one even objected to squatting on the floor
to talk to me on my level, which was nice, and certainly made it easier
to tell what was going on.

The locals could all be told from the afp-ers even before I had sorted
out the confusion of faces: the locals all had identical expressions of
worried bemusement. This was, for some reason, not diminished by TFLA
Handing Out Chocolate Unto the Multitude.

The whole atmosphere reminded me very much of roleplaying meets I have
been to, a feeling which was enhanced by overhearing someone saying 'I
think I've just frightened a mundane'.

Someone (I think it was Coin) performed Schroedinger's experiment upon
the cat. No radioactive poison could be found, but the experiment still
managed to end up on the box being opened and being found to be empty.
It was later found, Bloody Furious, on the floor, and had to be
comforted by sitting on a Silly Hat.

Photographs were taken, the flashes popping in the darkened room to the
sound of delighted cries of 'Your wife is a big hippo! My eyes!'.

George was presented with a box of CC'd lemon, which was tentatively
tried and found to be actually nice. In fact, many people were
forc^H^H^Hasked to try the lemons. All, without exception, said that
they were actually nice. Score one for CC experimentation.
Compared to the lemon, the individually-CC'd grapes seemed almost
mundane, but I feel that the provider should have extra points for
effort.

Food was bought by many, giving a raffle-like atmosphere as the pub
operates a number system for who's getting what.
 
The staff were fairly obviously not delighted with the sudden influx of
drinks-buyers. Someone squatting on the floor to talk to me was 'moved
on' by an irritated barkeep and the pub part of the meet was closed by a
member of staff wandering down the pub shouting something along the
lines of 'Will everybody go home now!', not something I've encountered
in any other pub. 
A point was made by TFLA of thanking them for their service afterwards
and large amounts of chocolate were left behind, so they should have
been mollified. Still, with an extra twenty-plus extra people to serve
in a pub that only usually has ten, I can see why they felt harassed.

After that, not wanting to wait an hour in the rain for a taxi, I picked
a person at random to follow home, which this time turned out to be Mike
Knell. Still, he didn't seem too put out, and showed Nick, Darell and I
an IP protocol manual, which was duly admired. Talk then moved on to
bodily injuries. After taking what was offered, I left and staggered
back home by 3am.

I had a brilliant evening, and will certainly be at the next meet I can
get to. I may have to wait a while though, as I am still recovering from
Saturday.

[1] If you were there, but are not on the list, please don't be
offended, I only have a brain the size of a pea, things fall out.
Those who saw me wandering around shouting 'Who are you?' at 
random will not be surprised. 
I admit to colusion on the list, and have only failed to name the two
whose name I asked the most often!
[2] I have stuck with nicks or short forms, because it's easier.

Cordially,
-- 
Supermouse
Oh! To be a Rodent!

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