Okay, let's do this!!
You may have seen pictures, you may have heard the rumours, you may even have been there in person; but none of that could be enough. If I were you, I'd prepare my internal organs for
HOOKBILL'S BARROW DOWNS BRITAIN MOOT REPORT 2012 WOW! Or HBDBMRTW for short.
Top: Guinevere, Oliphaunts_Rule, Aganzir, Pomegranate, A Little Green, Thinlómien
Middle: Oddwen, Hookbill the Goomba, Estelyn Telcontar, Legate of Amon Lanc
Bottom: Kath, The Squatter of Amon Rûdh
So let's talk people. For no other reason than convenience, I'll discuss in the order they appear in the image above.
Guinevere
I'd met her once or twice before, at Oxonmoot I think, and it's always a pleasure. Softly spoken and polite, very much a respectable gentle-hobbit! While quiet, her contributions were always valuable and she had new perspectives on Tolkien and the Barrow Downs that were always neat to hear. I particularly recall her method of dealing with Palantir of Fortune by carrying the notes around in her bag!
Oliphaunts_Rule
I'd never met her before, but it was still a grand meeting. She and Oddwen seemed to have a bottomless well of inside jokes (NOT THE JELLY!!) but we soon added to her numbers. I loved her idea of dressing up a Spock for our Tolkien costume party; it reflected ideas I'd had to dress as Tom Baker for an Oxonmoot one year. She's a mean Apples to Apples player and managed to hunt down the best Wi-Fi spots in the cottage LIKE A BOSS.
Aganzir
WARNING: THIS ONE BITES. DO NOT FEED. I've met Agan a few times and every time things get a little sillier and stranger! When not trying to cannibalise her fellow Downers, she's sweet and thoughtful and has an impressive beard.
There was a noted lack of Jon Snow attacks from me this year, which is probably why we got on a little better... *whistles innocently*
Pomegranate
Honestly, I'd never even seen her on the Downs! I felt bad and after meeting her I decided to expand my horizons out of Mirth for a while. She had a thousand stories and songs to sing! Well, one song about a Rover who was Seldom Sober that was sung repeatedly anyway. We had a good few conversations about life the universe and everything and it was cool!
A Little Green
NASTY LITTLE HOBBITSES! Greenie has the best Gollum impression in the world! I'm sure this has been said before but it bears repeating. Moreover, she's a brave soul of impeccable ambition, and I could not help being impressed with her tales of adventure and excitement from her globe trotting. I think we interacted more this year than last year and it was all to the good. She has excellent perspectives and is a joy to talk to, but she will probably bite your finger off if you steal her precious!
Thinlómien
Lommy is far more than just another penguin! Excitable and engaging and other alliterative words all jumble together when trying to give her a description. We've met a few times and interacted on the Downs and elsewhere enough for conversation to be understandable when done mostly with jokes. Just don't let her make bacon near the smoke alarms!
Oddwen
She earned her place as the Downer Newspaper's resident odd expert. So many inside jokes that not even I could keep track of them all! We met before, of course, and we'd talked on Skype and elsewhere, too, so we were able to settle into a stream of conciousness type conversation easily. We both faced horrible troubles thanks to transport issues, so I think we gained a lot of mutual respect for that.
Hookbill the Goomba
I hate this guy! I'm glad he's dead!
Estelyn Telcontar
Oh moderator our moderator! Although, she did not seem too eager to jump into moderating us rapscallions, she needed a holiday! Esty is another wonderfully Hobbitish, kind-hearted dear, and she cooks better than she cooks! She could work seamlessly from the silliest conversations right into deep discussions of some obscure reference in a Tolkien letter. I got a copy of her book (Music in Middle Earth) and she signed it, which I was very grateful for. Her pink wizard costume(s) had us all in stitches and it went down a storm at Return of the Ring!
Legate of Amon Lanc
A man of many talents! Legate has a sharp humour and seems to share my love of silly voices and over exaggeration. I wish he'd been around for longer, but in the short time we had, I think we managed to confuse and delight one another enough to be acceptable. Also he gave me booze.
Kath
Don't let her primary school teacher persona fool you! She has a dark and dangerous mind of doom!
Kath was invaluable throughout the moot, while I was collapsing under the weight of my own ineptitude she seemed to pick up the broken pieces and put everyone together. Even when we were asking deep, philosophical questions, like "What am I? Why am I this shape?" She's sweet, sharp, and has a brain the size of a fricking planet.
The Squatter of Amon Rûdh
The man is a mind-machine. He seems to have all the
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien memorised as well as large sections of
The History of Middle Earth. He's brilliantly silly and laughed at my jokes, which is always a plus in my books. Though my eyes may have glazed over when he talked about his sports car, I don't think he held it against me. He knew his stuff, and his stuff was Tolkien! He needs to be more active on the Downs!
Now, there were other people we met along the way who did not join us at the cottage. Let us take a journey through time and space to see these strange and wonderful people, shall we? Well, you have no choice because I'm the one writing this.
Lalwendë
We'd met once before, but this time we were in the open air, with other Downers, and a tree. Lal has a wonderfully cutting humour and does not pull her punches, taking pride in her northerness and making sure everyone knows it! She helped make the moot, even if she was only with us for a day, her planning and idea pitching gave us all brilliant times, so we thank her for it!
(
Le childe was also a handful, who was for some reason convinced that I was 'Doctor Who', and made me chase aliens around a tree...)
Bêthberry
I'm so glad I managed to meet Bêth again! I was so deep in money troubles that I thought I wouldn't be able to go to the Return of the Ring, but thanks to her and the rest of the mooters, I was able to! Bêthberry is a sweety and manages to light up the company whatever the mood. Her Mrs Maggot costume was adorable and I wish I'd had more time to talk to her properly.
Faramir Jones
We met briefly and I went to his lecture on Law and Hobbits. It was great and I really respect the time and effort Jones puts in. He's always got a neat view on the issues that I hadn't thought of before and is always a pleasure to hear out. And having a cool accent doesn't hurt, either.
Poison Ivy
I met her a few times while at Return of the Ring! She is always very kind and supportive and seemed to like my costume. Her Ivy Bush Inn was inspired, and a little crazy. And we on the Downs think crazy is always a good thing.
narfforc
I spotted him walking around but didn't interact beyond a polite 'hello'. Many things were going on.
Brian Sibley
He still counts, right? Our own celebrity! We got a chance to talk to him about the Lord of the Rings BBC radio drama and it was delightful. It's obvious he's as much a geek as the rest of us, he just gets paid to do it, lucky guy! No hard feelings, though.
Right, that just about wraps things up, here. Let's all make a toast to the bread makers! To the Barrow Downs! To the Professor!
Next year in Deutschland?