I met a fellow BDer!!

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

It's hard to do her justice with words. Her ability to speak or read several different languages is phenomenal (no matter how much she tried to play it down), and made me feel rather uncultured by comparison.

I have expirienced that exact reaction from many a brittish person. . . When I traveled South America Brittish people constantly complemented me and started to talk about what a shame it was that they did not know any languages. They felt Uncultured, even though they did not use that word.
And it is not only me who expirienced it, alot of my travel companions did as well. . .
I am starting to think, that you think to little about "forigners" english skills in general.

It may well be that Cailin realy is amazing at several languages, I have never met her so I don't know.

[Galadriel55]

Yet another smial moot - three Downers at once! Man, by next summer there'll be enough of us here to have a Torontomoot!

Bethberry, Jallanite, and myself were there (as well as Mith's envoy - thanks a million!). Bb has the pictures.

PS: with the three of us together and a banana in a place of honour, I think we've managed to convince some others to take a look at (and hopefully join) the Downs. (hint hint wink wink if you're reading this, Wellinghall Smial!)

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Yet another smial moot - three Downers at once! Man, by next summer there'll be enough of us here to have a Torontomoot!

Bethberry, Jallanite, and myself were there (as well as Mith's envoy - thanks a million!). Bb has the pictures.

PS: with the three of us together and a banana in a place of honour, I think we've managed to convince some others to take a look at (and hopefully join) the Downs. (hint hint wink wink if you're reading this, Wellinghall Smial!)

Yes, and if my new computer would accept direct downloads from my old camera and not force me to download to my old computer, and then to a memory stick, and then over to the new computer, I would have beaten Galadriel55 to the post.

Hoom, hum, though, let's not be hasty. Here's the evidence.



And, yes, that is Jallanite behind Gal. I'm behind the camera.

[Pomegranate]

A few weeks ago myself and Greenie started our Europe-tournee by visiting Rune at his place in Copenhagen. I was slightly afraid beforehand. I was right to be so.

Rune was big and blonde, one of the viking-like Danes. I think I started understanding him a wee bit eventually, after two days of slight confusion, and no, it was not the accent. Gladly we met various interesting friends of his, including his famous (?) flatmate, who all were absolutely adorable. Copenhagen was a very beautiful city and the house was grande. The Danish history is very full of Christians and Frederiks (and one Hans), and every single one has a rider statue and a big nose. Rune also knows everything about them. Some people have funny hobbies.

I should've done this a long time ago, it would've been a lot more witty and up-to-date back then. Oh well :P

[Kath]

This evening we finally got out full complement of Britmooters - and here we all are! We are having a fabulous time. Fresh bread is baking now courtesy of Esty, a Finnish lesson is occurring behind me and we have just written and read stories written by the lot of us in costume.

EDIT: The picture is really small due to the small bandwidth allowed on the site! For a larger picture look on FB in the near future.

[Galadriel55]

*eagerly and impatiently awaits more stories and pictures*

[Lotrelf]

Forget Downer, there's no Tolkien fan here. Though I really, really want to meet people here. That's possible only if someone visits India.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Lotrelf

Forget Downer, there's no Tolkien fan here. Though I really, really want to meet people here. That's possible only if someone visits India.

There certainly aren't as many downers in India as in the States, and they certainly aren't as close together as some in Finland, but there are a couple who live in India...

[Lotrelf]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

There certainly aren't as many downers in India as in the States, and they certainly aren't as close together as some in Finland, but there are a couple who live in India...

Yep! In that sense I'm as worried about my friends(and people of my country) as Frodo was about the Shire.

[Aganzir]

It was on 11-14 September at Lady Margaret Hall, and it was great fun!

The picture here features Squatter of Amon Rûdh, Poison Ivy, Kath, yours truly, Hookbill, Estelyn and Faramir Jones. Absent are Pervinca Took and Bungo, who also attended Oxonmoot.


Team Bingo Baggins (the bravest little hobbit of them all) - Esty, Kath, me and three other girls (who will hopefully join the Downs in the future) - came third in the Thursday night pub quiz. It was incredibly difficult and there were so many wonderfully knowledgeable Tolkien Society people that I'm quite frankly amazed!
Squatter and Faramir's team (which didn't score) was called Even Dimmer, which I think was great.

Friday, mostly spent with Esty and Hook (because responsible adult Kath was at work), was full of very interesting lectures, creative things and a lovely afternoon tea party. In the evening we had the reception and the banquet. We misbehaved. I finally managed to claim the Chairman's badge and carried it very proudly for hours before Kath stole it from me.

On Saturday after a short rest, we - Kath as Mr Dwalin and me as Fili Son of Dís - prepared for the Masquerade with Bungo's amazing daughters (Idril and Gimli). We had a brilliant hair dressing moment with Thranduil, and it's my favourite picture from the entire weekend. Gimli threw an apple at me, which wasn't nice at all because as you know, Fili hates apples, but we punished him by carrying him off the stage (after Idril had very kindly tripped him). However, we left a banana skin for Hookbill, who was the Fall of Arthur. Esty won the awards for the best costume and best performance with her hobbit lady, which wasn't very surprising. Esty is amazing.
We also had the privilege to see the fantastic Aratalindalë costumes that won the WorldCon masquerade!

After the Masquerade there was chilling out, pizza, Ceilidh, Telerin Circle, and a tea party. Sadly Kath and I had to move our room party elsewhere because the college had messed up the room plan, but it was fun to poison people with my self-made Finnish salty liquorice vodka anyway.

On Sunday, after even less sleep, we got up for the Enyalië at the grave. The TS chairman (who had got his badge back by now) read the Song of Eärendil which is one of my favourite poems in LOTR. Then us Downers headed to the Bird and Baby for lunch, and eventually, too soon, it was time for goodbyes.

I had a really good (if quite intoxicated) time, and it was especially lovely to see Esty again after two years.

Until next September! ♥
(or hopefully sooner)

[Kath]

Our third place in the quiz was only revealed to me when I got back on the Friday night for the banquet. I think I can safely say it was the most surprising thing about the entire event!

[Galadriel55]

Well, this was supposed to go up earlier, but I accidentally fell asleep for half a day.

This week I went on a little trip to England and met Mithalwen and Hookbill.

I met Mith first. We made the pilgrimage to the Bird and Baby, and she showed me around Oxford. She is in real life very much like on the Downs - very nice and supportive and claiming to be less than she is.

Hook has a great sense of humour and is fun to hang out with. He took me to a really nerdy bar, which was filled with memorabilia from all sorts of fantasy/scifi fandoms and made my geek heart melt a little. We had a mini adventure with my umbrella, from which random parts have fallen off and which is wibbly-wobbly enough to make the Doctor proud, but somehow still serves the purpose of keeping rainwater off your upper body and refuses to just die already.

I have to keep it brief here, because falling asleep in the middle of the day means I still have to at least do the prep for tomorrow's lectures. I just want to thank both Mith and Hook for making the effort and going out of their way to meet up with me. Seriously, you guys are awesome! Thanks for the mini-moots!

[Mithalwen]

It was my pleasure. I am sure I must have seemed a bit demented uttering such inanities as "and you are real!" in a delighted fashion and dragging you on a somewhat disappointing bus tour (open top in February)..in which the places of actual interest flashed by in nanoseconds - "look NOW and you will see Christ Church quad" while we got to view the many traffic lights of the city at our leisure and listen to an awful lot of Bach.

It wouldn't be a Downer meeting for me without some mixup (never my fault of course) and this occurred when we were trying to find each other after I had gone to retrieve my car - but lack of clarity over station (bus or train) was nothing compared to those which marked previous Downer meetings (which I regaled G with when we were reunited in the Lamb and Flag - the lucky girl). I had lulled myself into a false sense of security having had a clear run down to Oxford from my temporary smial in Warwickshire and the sense to use the park and ride which meant that I was in the right place at more or less the right time initially but it was, perhaps inevitable that something would go awry. I can't believe that Galadriel came all that way for such a short time and I hope to catch up with her again before she returns. I may even venture to the far Northern wastes.

[Faramir Jones]

Galadriel, it was lovely to read that your recent meeting with Mithalwen and Hookbill went so well.

[Galadriel55]

A short while ago I had the pleasure of meeting Faramir Jones. He is a real gentleman and a great pleasure to talk to. He was very kind to show me around his home city, and shared some really cool information about it that I wouldn't have otherwise known. Thank you very much for the pleasant and educational experience!

[Faramir Jones]

Thank you for your kind words, Galadriel! I'm glad that you enjoyed me showing you around parts of Dublin, which it was a pleasure to do. It was lovely to meet another Downer in the flesh, and to talk with her about other things, as well as about Tolkien. Good luck with your exams!