Prime Gathering V

It's the Wednesday after the Tuesday before, it must be Gathering 
Report time!!!  So, slip the B5 CD into the midi system, boot up
the Amiga and start writing...


To be honest, I was more than a little bit concerned about the
weather.  Monday was abysmal, even by Newcastle standards (if my
sources are correct, we had the highest rainfall figure that day,
and I can well believe it, having gotten rather soaked on my way
home!)  However, after a bit of a drizzle in mid afternoon, the
weather seemed to clear up enough by early evening so that people
could leave the safety of their homes and wander down to that
watering hole they call the Head of Steam.

Well, arriving at just before 7pm, I was a bit shocked to see the
bar full of people.  "This isn't normal..." I think to myself, 
whilst looking round for any spare tables.  But of course, I
hadn't taken into account the activities of our advance scouting
party (Keith and Jeff), who had cunningly secured the table around
the corner.  Of course, it was such a brilliant location I managed
not to see them for the first ten minutes or so.  Oh well, at least
it gave my Guinness time to settle :-)

So, the three of us started the evening off with the usual
greetings and other social pleasantries, but just as we were about
to get onto more weightier matters, Mel appeared, closely followed
by Nick, Pam and Bob.  Wowzers, three new faces at one gathering,
a new record!  Shortly after this, or shortly before (and either
way it doesn't really make much difference), Ian arrived, taking
us up to our total for the evening.  In some respects this was
a bit disappointing, since for the first time we had fewer people
attending than for the previous meeting.  On the other hand, 
having three new recruits to initiate was a plus point, and I'm
sure the non-attending regulars had their reasons for being away.
(Like Sean - hope you're feeling better now!)

To further add to the completely bizarre atmosphere, the music
spewing out the jukebox was actually almost quite bearable.  
Considering that in previous meets we've been well and truly
ear blasted by the music, the really quite acceptable
tinklings coming from the speakers was a bit of a surprise.  I for
one hope it's more of the same next time, especially if they
play the "Huggy Bear" music again - get down and be funky :-)


So, onto matters of importance.

Err...

Just hang on a bit while I check my notes...



I'm sorry, I can't find anything to write about.


You know what it's like, there's no new episodes to discuss, so you
end up going back over the same old ground yet again, trying to
think of new things to say, but ending up in exactly the same
place as last time.  You might as well re-read the reports from
the previous gatherings.  Off you go then, I'll wait here until
you get back...




Oh yes, I remember now!  Half of the group started burbling on about
some brilliant Tunes advert based on Star Wars, whilst the other
half (me included, unfortunately) had no idea what they were on
about.  If this ad really is anything like as good as "they" made 
it out to be, I *really* need to see it, tape it and keep it for
posterity.

What else...  aaaaaahhhhhhh yeeeeeeessssssss (no Ian, I'm *NOT*
doing a Jeremy Paxman, no matter what you might think), the
Star Trek mob were in the pub once again.  This time, aided by the
quiet music and our close proximity to their table, we finally
managed to well and truly take the piss out of them!!!
Whilst Ian and Jeff began a live action version of a net troll,
the rest of us sat back, throwing the odd comment into the melting
pot, whilst monitoring the reactions of the Twekkies.  It didn't take
long before one of them started looking over at us with a quite
evil glare.  Success :-)  Next time, we go for the kill!!!

At some point Pam and Bob departed in order to catch a lift home.
Just as well really, because I've got a sneaky suspiscion that
Pam is an undercover Psi Cop - the signs were there... Psi Corps
badge, dark gloves....hmmmm.  On the plus side, if she is a
Psi Cop, we can use her in our final assault on the Trekkies :-)

Keith also wandered off in search of a metro home, but good kind
soul that he is (and you can pay me later...), he left the
rather large bag of peanuts he'd brought with him.  Though since
we'd already eaten half of them, and there was no way he was going
to get them home without a lot of hassle and mess, maybe he was
just being practical in leaving them there.  Surprisingly, we
managed to avoid the temptation of throwing them at the Trek table.
Perhaps the appearance of two real live policemen halfway through the
evening supressed our natural desire to cause mayhem and havoc, or
maybe we just realised we couldn't aim properly after all the
drink we'd drunk.


Gawd, I'm at the end of track 9, I think it's time to call the
exit function.


Thanks to those regulars who decided to brave the cold and come
out for yet another session of beer and B5.  Mucho thanks to
Pam, Bob and Nick for coming along to see what it's all about, and
hope to see you again at the next one.

Speaking of the next one, the rough plan is to do something a bit
special just before Chrimble.  Announcements will be made as soon
as things get arranged, so keep an eye on the newsgroups or the
Gatherings web page.  What the hell, keep an eye on them both
anyway!

Ooh, track 10 is at the good bit (about 2m40s in).  Definitely
time to stop writing so I can listen to Mr Frankes genius without
the clatter of the keyboard intruding into the aural volume.


Until Number Six (which will be a number, not a free man),
I bid you adieu.

Chris

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