I met a fellow BDer!!

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

(And judging by Hook's photo Olighaunts_rule and Oddy are the same person with different hairstyles. You look so alike!)

There's only one logical explanation. Clones.

[Mithalwen]

Well since Bethberry has announced her intention or reporting on her visit here, I may as well follow perceived wisdom and get my retaliation in first!

Without boring you with too many details the Mini-moot of the Southfarthing was arranged when Bethberry, in her folly, expressed a wish to meet me again (strange but true) on her UK visit for ROTR. Now it happened that I wasn't planning on going to ROTR but Poison Ivy who is technically rather than actively a Downer but whom BB had met at an Oxonmoot, and who lives less than a mile from me, was, and that Bethberry and I were both investigating our family histories and had links to Gloucestershire villages less than a dozen miles apart, so after various possibilities had been considered it was arranged that Bethberry should stay with me from the Friday before ROTR, we would have a jaunt up to Gloucs and then Poison Ivy and Bethberry would travel together to ROTR.

Now these things seem so simple months in advance but car problems, illness, natural sloth and the fact that we were doing rather well at the Olympics (astonishing for a nation conditioned to thinking of itself as plucky losers or gallant runners up...and yes ok a lot of the medals were in "sitting down" sports but it still counts), and the planned programme of decluttering, decorating and gardening went by the by and milady Bethberry was due to arrive and the place looked like a low rent Satis House set in a jungle. But at least a guest room was habitable and mostly denuded of the handiwork of Shelob's little friends.

But though I was vaguely ready, the car had been sprung from the fettlers and even the worst case journey time between airport and my local station had elapsed there was no word from Bethberry and several attempts to call her cellphone resulted in being informed bilingually that she was not available, so I was beginning to worry. But then the phone rang and an unfamiliar voice asked for me and I had one of those awful moments when you expect to be told of accident or disaster but it was merely a nice man who had lent BB his phone.

So delaying only to put the roof down on the car (when I changed mine recently I yielded to the temptation to get an elderly rag top instead of something sensible on the grounds that Bethberry would expect it after her previous visit to an UK Downer), I went and got her. Having exchanged gifts (she brought me maple syrup in hugely indulgent quantity , I gave her a bubble sword that gave a blue glow lest there be orcs at ROTR), Bethberry discharged her duty as Shirriff and passed on a special Shirepost delivery. We then hit the Tolkien trail viewing the sites of Chris Wiseman's house and Tolkien's holiday cottage in the next village, then went for a meal and up to Lyndhurst to see the grave of Alice Liddell (Alice in Wonderland).

The next day started with another dead literary figure and a visit to the grave of Conan Doyle which happens to be in the same Forest village as Furzey Gardens, who won Gold at Chelsea - a particular achievment since the team included workers with learning disabilities. It was quite inspiring that the gardens were wonderful by any criteria. Also for the amusement of Tolkienistas were features designated as Elvish bowers and what just had to be Beorn's table.

Since one DLF is not enough for a day, we pressed on to Winchester and Jane Austen's tomb. It always amuses me that the actual floor slab makes much of what a wonderful sister and aunt she was but fails to mention the small detail of her books. Had I known then that Bethberry is not a fan I might have had to kill her or at least start a twelve step programme but she wisely concealed this information until the eve of her departure, and at least was able to experience the quintessential English experience of choral evensong. Not, since it was holidays, the cathedral choristers but a first rate guest choir.

The next day saw us meet up with Poison Ivy and we had lunch in Hobbits restaurant in Hythe. They are hobbity themed but haven't run foul of the Saul Zaentz company,apparently since they don't sell merchandise. Then we went to the New Forest wildlife park. We saw wild boar (unskewered by spear thrusts), wargs, the most adorable otters and a tame deer which ate my skirt, possibly in revenge for the Bambi burger I had eaten a few days previously. Bethberry was spared a DLF for a dead folk hero and we visited the grave of Brusher Mills, the Snake catcher, at the ancient church in Brockenhurst on the way back to Poison Ivy's hobbitly comfortable house for wine and the LOTR musical dvd (music and stills).

Monday started with various alarums and excursions. Apart from the usual paranoia of "Have I locked doors?" etc (telling BB to assure me should I have "a moment" later along the way that I had checked the gas and immersion were off and had locked the back door, didn't stop me checking another five times) I managed to lose the car key and, in a last minute decision to get a bag for the maps, I managed to up turn a pot of paint in the half decorated kitchen. Unfortunately I didn't realise this until I had also spread it over the hall carpet and, as it transpired when I had cleared everything else up, myself. After a bit of a hunt I managed to find garments that hadn't been packed or eaten and we finally managed to head of on the expedition. Sadly the traditional English weather of heavy cloud and heavy rain had turned up but we ploughed on westwards, acquired a substitute camera for BB who had exhausted hers by photographing every bit of thatch in south Hampshire , thinking there would be time on her return I spared her the Shelley memorial in Christchurch Priory and we pressed on to the Miramar and then the site of Tolkien's bungalow in Branksome Chine. Then it seemed like a bright idea to bypass the horrors of driving in Poole on a wet lunchtime and take the Sandbanks ferry across the mouth of the harbour to the glorious Isle of Purbeck. Glorious that is if you can see it. By now there was very limited visibility and of the prettiest parts of the country poor Bethberry saw naught but a sea fret.

Being a considerate host I chucked my guest out of the car to photograph the ruins of Corfe castle whereupon it rained as if someone had chucked a bucket of water over her. Then a steam train emerged from the mist compounding the feeiling we had slipped back in time. Heading inland the weather improved and I couldn't resist taking the slow road north to introduce Bethberry to an old acquaintance. I told her he wouldn't say much but he would be very pleased to see her. The jest became clear when I followed the signs for the Cerne Giant - one of the chalk carvings in the area of a smiling man with a great big.... club.

We pressed on to Sherborne where I let Bethberry visit the Abbey alone being weary from hours at the wheel - and having spent many Sunday mornings there hushing my young charges in my incarnation as a boarding school matron, I didn't feel such a need to return. A bonus was seeing one of the post boxes painted gold in honour of a local Olympic champion - in this case the trap shooter Peter Wilson.

The next stage of the journey was the stressful bit.. the rolling English road was getting tiring and tiresome and I had a mini-meltdown caught up on the outskirts of Bristol (I have a history of getting horrifically lost there and arriving at best friends wedding in time for the signing of the register so the paranoia may have kicked in). Fortunately Bethberry was very calming and we arrived at the historic inn where we had booked rooms late but in one piece. I had chosen it mainly because the location was handy for the dead rellies but also because the Queen had stayed there when stranded by a blizzard. It was a fortuitous choice because they served good food til late and had extremely comfortable beds and served a truly epic breakfast.

No Nazgul disrupted our departure (though we hadn't met a ranger at supper either) and we went first to Bethberry's ancestral home. I thought she would just take a picture from the drive but by the time I had parked she seemed to have disappeared. Then there was such a hound music that I assumed the owners had set the dogs on her and discretion being the better part of valour I left her to it. As time wore on and I realised that I might have to explain to her family how I lost her, I grew more concerned but fortunately my guest reappeared having used her charm to wangle a guided tour. We then went to the church which was sadly but all too commonly in this godless age closed due to Vandals (not as it happens Bethberry and me) and Bethberry set off to look for graves. I parked my idle carcass on the nearest box tomb and basking in the sunshine noticed that the faded carven name was very familiar..... Photos taken we went on to the village where a few generations of my family had lived in the middle of the last century. No graves located here but I saw where they had had their shop and happily the church was open so I could be where they had been hatched, matched and dispatched. Best of all was the bench sited to best observe a view surely unchanged since their day and which represented to us much of the Shire that Frodo strived to save... little fields and hedges and hills...

Could have stayed all day but time was not our friend and we took a more sober road to Avebury by which time my feeble knee and possibly feebler appetite for history flagged and I appreciated much of it's attractions while drinking tea. It is a fascinating place which claims as so many do to have inspired Tolkien but certainly Silbury Hill could have had Edoras set on it.

We now headed south and in Salisbury Bethberry managed to catch the tail end of another evensong while I caught the Archers in the car ..sorry I was cultured out . The next day was sadly so wet that the hoped for trip to the Isle of Wight would have been masochistic but my guest took me for a meal at my favourite restaurant and eventually we got a wonderful view of it. We made a shopping foray before the day ended in Poison Ivy's summerhouse which she had turned into a LOTR shrine with Aragorn standing guard and provisioned with Elvish snacks. We played the LOTR trivial pursuit which was based on the film and proved a challenge to Bethberry and me who have only seen the films other than the fellowship once. I started a variant whereby I would try to guess beforehand and believe me no invention was more ludicrous than some of the reality. Anyway we contrived a Bethberry win as courtesy to our visitor and so ended the mini moot of the Southfarthing since the others were booked on an train straight after breakfast. And that is far more than anyone probably wanted to know. Ah well..

[Bêthberry]

Mithalwen, this is a superb remembrance. Reading it, I felt like I was still there trouping all over the south of England with you, and doing iconic Tolkienista things with Poison Ivy and you.

I had sent about four text messages and still have no idea why they didn't go through. Then, when the kind gentleman offered to call you, I was first relieved and then suspicious that he now has your cell number. (North American hangover) However, we did connect and I had pillows galore and Lush bath bombs galore and orc bubbles galore and a great many laughs. Who could have guessed that the Dead would enjoy meeting DLF so much and so often?

We had a great many good aventures (and anyone from RotR will remember what that means) together and I can only say thank you greatly for a wonderful time. There is always the reciprocal arrangement of you and Poison Ivy coming here, you know. Less chance of DLF but we could search out the only known Viking landfall in North America . . . .

This trip marks my meeting thirty Downers this year. Yes, thirty, in one year, and 11 for the first time. I don't think even Estelyn can top that! Must return later with my full reminiscences . . . .

[Mithalwen]

I am not entirely averse to kind gentleman having my cell number... but there have been no consequences for good or ill.

[Faramir Jones]

It was really great to have seen so many of my fellow-Downers at the convention!

Greenie and Pomegranate I was particularly interested to see. I had been discussing with them, or rather the first, about both possibly taking a trip to Ireland; so it was very nice to meet them in the flesh.

Hooky, your portrayal of Turin's death scene on the Saturday was very nice, and provoked me to ask two questions: 1) Would things have been different if Morwen had warned her son against listening to strange swords?; 2) If Gurthang had been used to cut the lovely cake we had that night, would it decompose, turn all the people who ate it evil, or cause the dragon and Bilbo on it to come to life?

In terms of what you said about me:

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.

Thanks to you and others for turning up. About my accent, it's the first time I've heard it called cool. Not that I'm complaining...

Mithalwen, a lovely and amusing account of what you, Bêthberry, and Poison Ivy got up to. If anyone else wants to put up what they were doing before the convention, please do. I'd certainly read it.

Galadriel55, you finally know now what I look like.

Bêthberry, your talk on Tolkien and Nonsense was also great. A big thanks from me, and I'm sure from all the others, for the photo of so many of us (including Brian).

Esty, that was a very memorable talk on the merits of the musical adaptations of the Walking Song. I agree with your conclusion.

narfforc, it was good to see you and talk with you again.

I'll be posting my view of the convention, and of what I was doing before it began.

[A Little Green]

I thought I was abominably late doing this. Then I checked a calendar and found out it has only been three weeks. (!!!) Anyhow, it is about time I recounted this summer's 'Downer adventures!

They began with a couple of days in Copenhagen with Rune. He received a proper shock when we arrived, as I had failed to inform him beforehand that we would be arriving with newly-shaved heads. He proved to be an excellent tour guide with an astonishing amount of knowledge about pretty much every building and statue (though sadly not the statue that resembled Senator Palpatine). Our stay in Copenhagen included late nights, live jazz, rider statues, red lights and beer. Rune was the same as ever - making fun of people all the time, but as soon as someone's in trouble he suddenly becomes the most caring person in the world.

Copenhagen was followed by a month of 'Downer-free travelling, at the end of which we found ourselves in a cottage filled with people who are certifiably insane. And lovely, of course.

There were two among that number whom I had not met before. Guinevere definitely has some elf in her. I was also very impressed by her and Esty's talent for recognising flowers and herbs and other plants. It's a pity I didn't get to talk to her more, but maybe next time?

Oliphaunts_Rule was another new acquaintance; calm, sensible and down-to-earth for most of the time compared to the insanity of the rest of us, she could surprise you with a sudden instance of absurd humour.

Esty was the darling I remembered from last year; I enjoyed sitting next to her on lectures as it turned out we get the same jokes. She is also an excellent cook and an invaluable friend, and a quote-machine of the highest order!

Squatter was even more of a darling than I remembered, he made us feel instantly at home at the cottage (where the rest of them had already spent a week). He served us mead and showed unexpected talents at various fields such as captioning photographs ("people" or "things" or "a castle" or "people in front of a castle"), not to mention simultaneously teaching Old English poetry and serving as a footrest!

Kath was lovely as always; always cheerful, always a sweetheart, and always ready to cuddle! I am especially grateful to her for keeping a Gollum warm during our masquerade, as you can imagine I was more or less freezing in those nylons!

Oddwen has the loveliest evil grin, and she impressed me with her extensive Finnish vocabulary which included, among other things, "I am a sociopath". She isn't, however, even though we mostly communicated with grunts and squeals and other animal noises.

What can I say that is enough about Hookbill? He was the life and soul of the Moot. Such a generous, kind, responsible person - and a complete nutter at the same time! We told him he should move to Finland. I hope he does. I remember a particularly cute moment when he was driving Pom and myself to a bus stop and Imagine started playing, and the three of us sang along and it didn't feel cheesy at all.

Then there were the ones I only met during my too-brief stay at Return of the Ring, namely Bêthberry and Faramir Jones. I had met Bêth two years ago, though equally briefly, and it was a joy to see her again. She is just such a good person, very warm and open and kind; I hope that someday we'll have time for a proper long talk about everything and nothing.

I was sorry that me and Pom's travel plans got screwed up in a way that prevented us from meeting Faramir already in Dublin, but fortunately we got to see him in RotR. He was very much a gentleman, calm and polite and easy to talk to. And I agree with Hookbill - the accent is cool. (And, given that I had only just spent a month in Ireland, it made me feel curiously at home! )

There was, of course, also the delegation of Finns and Quasi-Finns (aka Legate). Of them, suffice to say that
- It was probably appropriate that Pom and I should dress as two personas of the same character as that was more or less what we were after over a month of travelling together;
- Lommy's achievements of the week included filling the kitchen with smoke while frying bacon, and helping the Gollums dress (and laughing at them in the process);
- Agan, unsurprisingly, amused herself by biting people and, a bit more surprpsingly, was very easy to steal hats from; and
- Legate sang a Christmas carol with an impressive falsetto, and I spent almost half my time at RotR being geeky with him on religion- and spirituality-themed lectures.

To sum up - I love you, folks. Every one of you. And lastly and most importantly: where there's a whip, there's a way.

[Lalaith]

Well yesterday was a red-letter day for me as not only did I go to my first ever Tolkien event, but I also had my first-ever RL meet-up with a Downer.
Mith kindly offered me a spare ticket to the 75th anniversary Hobbit talk at the British Library.
We met up early so that we could first see the Writing Britain exhibition, also the BL. It was amazing. My only complaint was that we only had an hour and I would have liked to have spent at least twice that time there. Some highlights for me were (of course) Tolkien's watercolour of Hobbiton, a beautiful manuscript of the Canterbury Tales, Jane Austen's notebooks and the A4 notepad on which JK Rowling wrote the Philosopher's Stone.
The event was excellent. Brian Sibley (much to Mith's delight) also Alan Roberts, who was a really engaging speaker - he talked about the two versions of the Hobbit (and prefers the first) - plus Jane Johnson and David Brawn.
There was also chap from the Inner Magic Circle who did a very dramatic reading of Gandalf's rescue of Bilbo and the dwarves from the Great Goblin. I did hope, childishly, that he would do some wizardry for us as well, but the magic was purely of a literary nature. It was interesting to see too what a mixed crowd made up the audience, shows what a wide demographic Tolkien reaches.

We then had something to eat on the South Bank before Mith set off back to the south coast - unfortunately it was a journey of tortuous diversions and delays (which she may share with you). As I said to her, I hoped it hasn't put her off visiting the metropolis again. It was really lovely to spend an actual face-to-face evening with someone I've spent so long cyberchatting to over the years.