Sydney Meet - September 30th, 1995
This section contains a number of reports from the Sydney meet held on the above date.
For your convenience, they are indexed:
From: Jim Richards
Subject: The Sydney Meet - part 1
Hi All,
I suppose I should send in my report of the Sydney Meet, so I'll
give all the details as best that I remember it ...
Prologue
--------
Well, my day started at 7:45am. Which is earlier then I usually get up for
work. I dressed in my Ace Rimmer T-Shirt, imported all the way from
England, and my Mr Doc Martin Boots ... said goodbye to my ever
understanding wife and said 'I'll be back' (which is a line I actually stole
from Arnie Swartzenneggar ...
I had to make a trip to my Estate Agent to resign my lease (in the
true vein on a Babylon 5 watcher, this is a clue for something that
happens later in the evening ...). I actually manager to get there by
8:30am as well, which surprised even me, especially since the door had a
closed sign on it, yet was open ... spooky ... anyway, to cut a long story
and all that, I signed thus committing myself to another year of that horrid
green/blue carpet. Oh, well ...
Then it was off to the airport to meet Chris. Which all I had to do to meet
him was find the 9:45am plane from New Zealand and a person wearing a
'Let's get out there and twat it' T-Shirt. Well, there were *no* planes for
9:45 arrival time. There was one at 8:15 and one at 9:15. I assumed it was
the 9:15 one from Auckland. I was right. It also made it easier since the
plane before him for that same exit gate was from Tipai. Which meant there
would be no silly accents and Red Dwarfers on that plane.
Anyway. We met, and after all that it was bleeding obvious who he was.
(Well, he was the *only* other person at the Airport wearing a Red Dwarf
T-Shirt ...)
Anyway, we drive to where he is staying ... have a look around, and then
drive to North Sydney to find a parking spot. A nice, easy to remember one,
right behind where I work ... easy ... (Another clue to a later joke)
I introduce Chris to the Muffin Bake Double Chocolate muffin, and the
ticketing system for NSW Rail ... We catch the train across to Town Hall.
Since we have about 2 1/2 days to kill, we wander around doing things like
calling people in Kiwiland (well, Chris did) and running into people we
used to work for (well, I did). Then we also went to the ABC store and
drooled at the videos and books ...
We wandered downstairs to get some food, and said hello to a strange girl
with black hair, leather jacket and sunnies. Wearing a tartan skirt, boots
and a *Red Dwarf* T-shirt. That was all of our strange interaction. Who was
she, would we ever meet again. Was the fact that this was the Red Dwarf
Sydney meet have something to do with it ...
Stay Tuned for part 2 ... The Beginning ...
From: Jim Richards
Subject: The Sydney Meet - part 2
Here it is, the continuing saga ...
Long, long ago in a galaxy far far away there was a man named George. And
George spake these words.
"Who stole my fluffy slippers?"
Anyway, enough of that nonsense
Part 1 - The Beginning
----------------------
It was 1pm. It was the Town Hall steps. And the third runway protesters were
there making more noise then a, more then, well something pretty bloody
noisy.
So, by 1:06pm the people that had turned up were ...
Jim "Did I mention that I had the Kryten model, 2 T-shirts and a
truck load of other stuff" Richards
Chris "Six, what are you talking about" Nielson
James "can I show you my incredibly large ... collection of Red
Dwarf stuff" Churchill
Ian "Ooo, a traffic cone" Harrison
Matt "I still have to drive to Wollongong, and I don't even know if
the parking station is open" Dawson
Van "what can I say?" Jones
Nadine "drool, drool, Chris Barrie, drool" Wallis
Alison "I always spell my name wrong" Campbell
Miffy "What did we do last night?"
And another ...
It should be mentioned that the distances people travelled to get there ...
Jim Richards 20K, but I had to go to the airport
Chris Nielson 3000K's 'cause he flew over from Kiwiland
James Churchill 200K's 'cause we thought he came from Armidale
Ian Harrison 25K's from Belrose
Matt Dawson, about 100K's I think, anyway from the Gong
Van Jones, not that far ...
Nadine Wallis, a bit more then Ian at about 30K's
Alison and Miffy - 980K's from Melbourne ...
So it should be said that there were more non-Sydney people then Sydney
people. Not bad ...
Now the problem I had was that I didn't really get to know everyone. And
after checking Nadine's attendance list, there is a Van Jones and a Vanessa
Jones, and if these were the same 2, then who was the fifth?. But I'm sure
there were 10 people, 5 guys and 5 girls. Oh well. I'm sure someone will
correct me ...
During the wait time, we chatted, and talked and did all those things that
was expected like taking photos, and more photos ... anyway, Alison
mentioned that her and Miffy (what is that short for?) had come up from
Melbourne that Sunday before. Right bang into the biggest storm Sydney has
had for a few months. Well, as it happens I had a satellite picture of that
storm from Monday afternoon, which was promptly given over to Alison. Not
that I usually carry satellite printouts in my bag, but I just seemed to have
them ... odd, really.
Anyway, after waiting at Town Hall steps for 26 minutes, I was worried that
the 3 other people I invited hadn't turned up. So I make a dash for
the phones to give them a call. One was not answering (who I later found out
went up to Katoomba for the weekend) and the other had to play the organ for
Church that afternoon for a wedding. Oh, and the third I didn't have a
home contact for, so I gave up and resolved that the hordes of friends were
not going to arrive, and it was just Ian ... thanks Ian ...
Now, what happened next? We had some time to fill in before the movie, so
we went to that fine establishment of that Scottish purveyor of fresh food,
McDonald's ... Where we debated about eating at the restaurant or not.
Eventually we found a large table for 8, and Matt and um, one other, I
think Van, sat next to it ...
It was at this point things got weird. It appears that both Allison and I
attended a 21st in about July 1992, in Warrigal for a girl I met in
January 1991. Now Warrigal is a smallish country town in the Eastern part
of Victoria. Were talking about the likelihood of saying, "Hey I know
someone is Eastern Victoria called Sue Currie, perhaps you know her. Where
upon Alison replied "Yeah, I went to school with her." ... weird ...
Anyway, after eating at Happy Ron's we went upstairs to the cinema to watch
The Net. We queued for a bit, and then realised that by having 10 people we
could get the super saver tickets and it would cost $8 each. Now this may
sound sound exciting to you the reader, but I had to collect the money and
all that ... and I ended up with a profit of $2 ... anyway, before the movie
started some of us went to unfill. Yes, that's what I call it, unfilling.
All right, unfill, unfill, unfill. There, I've got it out of my system ...
(that, by the way was meant to be a bad pun ...)
The only thing about the movie I should really say here was that the golden
line in it was
"You're going to meet a guy called cyberbob, who you have never met before
and only talked to on the Internet?"
At which we all started laughing ...
Stay tuned for part three, where we all get to shoot randomly at various
objects and drive like lunatics ...
From: Jim Richards
Subject: The Sydney Meet - part 3
The Sydney Meete, Part the Third
--------------------------------
After the movie, we decided to have a caffeine fix. So over the road to a
coffee shop called something like the Brumby Bar, I don't know. It was
something horsey ... anyway, we had about 100 cappachino's and 1 decaf-long
black, which I had since I cannot have Lactose (milk) and don't do caffeine
any more. Yes, I should have just asked for dirty water. Oh, and I think
Van had an Earl Grey Tea ...
The most astounding thing about this place was that they didn't put the
prices on the bill. We were going to leave saying they hadn't billed us for
anything. But we didn't ...
After the caffeine fix we went down to the Video Game place, one of the many
that was along this bit of road in Sydney. Anyway, we looked around, and
eventually settled upon the air hockey. Well, we had many games, probably
too many to to remember. Well, I remember being a lot poorer at the end of
the night, and playing air hockey didn't help. One of the good things was
that they were newish tables, a better design then the ones I have played
before. Anyway, people played, and all I can remember was that the only person
who beat me was James. (And I beat him later after dinner, in air hockey that
is ... but more of that later.) So I suppose I could take the title of Jim
'Chinazo Bianco' Richards, Demon god of the air hockey tables ... but that
would be boasting wouldn't it ...
Hmm, also there was the car rally game. Now, I should defend myself here
and say that I chose to drive the manual. But there was no clutch at all,
so I was not actually sure what I was doing. Anyway, I drive a Datsun
Bluebird TRX, series I, 1893, sorry, 1983 ... this was a simulated rally
car going at a simulated 200Kms per hour. And it just went left, right,
left, right, left, right .. I had no idea what I was doing ... anyway, when
we played after dinner, I drove an Auto and it was much better.
After we put about $400 into the air hockey machine we decided we had
wasted enough time and we should have dinner. The choice was either Newtown
or Glebe. Glebe was closer and a 431 bus was coming along to take us there.
Perhaps it was just meant to be ...
Showing my true self, I rushed for the back seat and the others followed.
Not that they did any other time of the evening, but anyway ... I remember
that Alison sat next to me because we discussed he merits of the
philosophy of 20th century traffic poles and their eclectic connection to 7
dimension space ... well, okay that bit was a lie, but I cannot remember
what we really talked about ...
We eventually got to Glebe Point Road and disembarked (odd word that). We
decided to walk down one end of Glebe Pt Rd to the other having a look at
all the restaurants. This didn't really appeal to me because my Grandmother
lives about half way down, and if I saw her then I just knew I'd die from
embarrassment. And after having a look at all of them (Indian restaurants,
not my Grandmother's), we decided that the first one we looked at was the
best, for price and quality. Now this was a South Indian Curry place, we also
looked at a North Indian Curry place. The only difference I could tell was
that the South Indian once was about $2 cheaper for the mains, and didn't
have Korma Chicken or Coconut Banana. Oh well, I cannot get everything.
We also stopped by a bottle shop to get some lager. Now by this point most
of the others had noticed that when I cross a road somewhere other then a
crossing, I run. I don't know why, perhaps it is to reduce the incidence of
getting the "Watch that bus" "What bus?" splat, sort of event. I have never
been hit by a car or bus, but I have been driving a car that was hot by a
horse ... but that's another story, I think ...
Any way, I bought a six of Hahn Ice, only because I like it, and the others
bought something else ... beer that is ... Unfortunately wicked strength
lager was not available.
We then entered the eating establishment. Much the horror of the waiters
who had to do some rearranging of the place to seat us in. Why couldn't we
just use the room upstairs? Probably 'cause we didn't book.
Anyway, stay tuned for the next gripping episode of Days of our Vindaloo ...
From: Jim Richards
Subject: The Sydney Meet - part 4
Sydney Meeting of the
Committee for the Liberation and Integration of
Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation
Into Society
Part 4
It was dinner time, and the crew of the Red Dwarf sat down to a table that
was neither round nor square. It was a sort of odd shape really. More
existing in a plane of hyper-reality know as Hilbert Space. They had
decided that on their last meal together they would do it in style. It was
their last meal because the writers had decided that this was the end of
the show, and that reality had passed them by ...
Anyway, enough of that, we stared at the menu for a while and decided that
we should have the entrees and a lot of main, bucket loads of popadoms and Naan
Bread and whatever. We ended up with two vindaloo's, one lamb and one beef.
Now, I don't know about how the others went, but I asked for a really hot
Vindaloo, and didn't find it that bad ... for some reason I was given the
responsibility of ordering. I don't know why, I just was ...
Well, dinner went well. Nadine looked at alot of pictures of a naked Chris
Barrie. She also had a fish curry mind you. Alison told us something about
her Phd work, about how colon cancer and these proteins caused it to become
hereditary What happened what the when the DNA split in the growth of cells,
this protein went down and checked they they matched each other. If they
didn't it unzipped them and continued the process. Well, sometimes this
protein fails and causes cancer. It is the sort of this that takes years to
happen as it takes a bloody long time for these cells to replicate with the
dud gene. You see, if it is missed then the error gets replicated, ad the
protein doesn't know because it only check for correctness at split time,
not over a history of the colon and individual.
I told my only colon joke, which was:
"Do you remember when Ronald Reagan had about 1metre of Colon removed a few
years back. Well, at least you can't call him a total ass hole ..."
Well, I thought it was funny ...
We decided that we had enough to eat when we could even thing of desert ...
Then the bill arrived, and it was about $15 a head. Now, I was collecting
to money, and all that ... payed the bill ... and ended up with the left
over again ... wow, how did that happen. Anyway, I think I gave it as a tip
or something silly like that ...
Then we went for more coffee, buy now it was about 10pm, I think ...
But you'll have to wait until the next thrilling episode. Does Jim make his
fortune by collecting money for the rest of his life. Do they play more air
hockey? And does James Churchill discover that Nadine has drooled over the
picture of Chris Barrie so much that his Smegazine is ruined ...
From: Jim Richards
Subject: The Sydney Meet - part 5
The After Dinner Conversation - Part 5
--------------------------------------
Coffee, coffee, coffee, long-caf de-black and an Earl Grey Tea ... well, we
were starting to get tired ... 10 hours had passed since we had all met. We
wanted to do something silly, and it was statistics time. And me, being the
poor sod who had started the statistics thing, used the back of my newly
signed lease to write them all down. Yes Chris, I will get them out to you
and everyone else soon.
Anyway, buy now the Chris had brought out the Chocolate Fish. Which were
very nice indeed, and more photos were taken ... more coffee drunk, and
more people around us left the cafe. Most of the conversation is a blur
now, so I won't repeat it here. It was about things like the movie, The
Net, like "Gee, I wish I had instant access to web pages with sound and
animation" ... and I don't remember the rest. You see, I am a Cadbury's
drinker, a dynamo man ... and a 2 pot creamer. I get drunk on the sound of
alcohol. So I had had my fill of a glass and a half of full strength
beer.
Anyway, we left the coffee shop ... now, when it came to paying the bill,
this establishment also had not put the prices on the bill. Well, people
just started throwing money at me ... and I paid, and there was some left,
honestly ... and I gave them a tip, okay ...
After that we caught a bus back to play air hockey. Perhaps someone should
look at how addictive this game is. Anyway, we also did another stint on
the cars, where I did a bit better, only to be photographed by Alison. At
the air hockey, I remember beating Alison, Nadine, Ian and James. And
playing a few where, boyz against girls, when one lost a point the next
played. I played against Nadine in one of those. And although she only
remembers the one where the girls won, I didn't play that one. And I do
remember the boys beating the girls twice though ...
After this is was time for Happy Ron's again ...
Lemonade, coke and all that ... a floating balloon that seemed attracted to
Nadine's hair for some reason. More photos and me showing of my rubbery
face. I remember that Ian really wanted to get a Traffic Cone, so he raced
outside to get one, but was not able to obtain it. A shame rally it would
have capped to night off nicely ...
It was then time to go home, most of use were catching the Nightrider
bus (well, four of us I think). Chris caught a cab back to his Central
Station accommodation, James had to wait for a Beecroft bus and I cannot
remember about the rest. Hugs were had, and I noticed a Jackson Pollock on
the ground next to the bus.
Anyway, it was a good 13 hours by all. I think most of us resolved to go to
Melbourne for Mutiverse, a combined Dr Who, Red Dwarf and Babylon 5 fan
club meet ... Alison offered us her floor. I was hoping I might be able to
take it home with me too, I am sick of my blue green carpet you see ...
.. The Ned ... sorry, Het End, not yet ... um
TTTTTTTTTTTT
TTT
TTT
TTT
TTT
TTT he End ...
From: Jim Richards
Subject: The Sydney Meet - part 6
The Epilog - Part 6, The Undiscovered Country
---------------------------------------------
"Kirk to Enterprise, Kirk to Enterprise" Kirk said into his small
communicator. In fact it was so small, he wondered, perhaps the AA size
batteries had run out. It was not unusual.
"Fascinating" Spock replied. "It appear were are trapped inside some sort of
2 dimensional hyper-reality, as though were are stuck in what appear to be
a table comprising of a Hilbert space"
"I just want to get out of here, do you understand me?" Kirk replied, sick
of hearing Spock say "Fascinating" all the time ...
"Fascinating" Spock replied.
Suddenly a been of energy left the small device, not unlike the
communicator, from Kirk right hand, to Spock. Spock groaned in pain as he
was turned into his component atoms.
"Oh, that's better ... I feel sooo good now ..." Kirk sighed ...
The bus trip home was odd, I know why I don't do it any more. Hordes of
gorgeous teenage teenie boppers and drunk 17 years old males oogling each
other, wondering who is going to spew first.
Two of the Dwarfers get off at Milsons point, never to be seen again, Ian,
Nadine and myself continue of the North Sydney. Now, I work in North Sydney
and I know North Sydney. But at 1:45am, and after 1 and a 1/2 beers, two
decaff's and a junior burger plus lots of Indian Curry, things get hazy.
We wandered around for a bit, then a bit more, turn left, right and every
which way until finally our luck was upon us. Ian found a traffic cone, and
so, Nadine takes a photo us Ian an me holding it. What a prize to behold.
We left it there though ...
We eventually found the car, and If I had remembered where I had left it in
the first place, we could have got their in half the time rather then taking
short cuts that ended in dead ends. Anyway, I drove ... and slept, well no,
but when I drive and am really tried I sort of doze mentally and keep the
reflexes driving. Bet you didn't want to hear that did you Nadine ...
Well, we got to Roseville ... said out fair wells and hugged. Well, I shook
Ian's hand and hugged Nadine. And then I went home. To a wife who had last
seen me at 8:20 that morning, just over 19 hours earlier ...
So that ends the tale of a fearless crew, who were shipwrecked on an island
together ... no wrong story, anyway ... so you all at Multiverse if I have
to sell my kidney's to get there ...
From: "Chris Nielsen"
Subject: The NZ Version of the Sydney meet
Hi all..
I thought it was about time I got off my bum and sent in the New
Zealand version of the Sydney meeting story. Here goes...
Saturday 30 September 1995:
My day started at 4:45am, as I got up for a quick shower before
leaving for the airport, arriving at 6:45am. Then time for a nice
leasurely (sp?) breakfast, McD's of course while I waited for the
boarding call..
Then at 8am onto Air New Zealand flight NZ101 for Sydney, getting off 3
hours later at 9:20. No, I'm not a time traveller, there's just a
difference in time zone.
After getting through Customs, I was on the lookout for a bloke in an
Ace Rimmer T-shirt, long hair and a flanny. He was extremely easy to
spot, being the only weird-looking person with long hair and a Red
Dwarf T-shirt anywhere near.
We introduced each other to each other (or something like that), and
we both found out that even though Australia and New Zealand are
really close, the Aussies still have strange accents.
Jim and I then wandered around the airport aimlessly trying to find
the Air NZ counter to reconfirm my flight home, knowing full well I
had to do it 72 hours before, so there wasn't a moment to lose.
We couldn't find the counter, so I told myself I absolutely had to do
it as soon as I found a phone.
We then went to his car, a Nissan sportscar. Actually, it's a 1983
Bluebird, but the fact that it's got a sticker with TR-X on it means
it's a sportscar to the insurance people. Tell me, Jim, why don't
you just rip the sticker off and call it a normal car?
After negotiating the hazards of airport traffic, we meandered up to
the city and mucked around for a bit. It was at that point that Jim
had the brainwave of going to North Sydney and parking his car in a
really obvious spot, right by work, so it'd be really easy to find
later. You know what came of that. So off we went, and blatted over
the bridge, and cruised into a carpark.
I then experienced first hand what happens when the brain tries, and
fails, at doing more than one thing at the same time. On the way
down the steps to the train, I decided to try and eat my double
chocolate muffin and walk down steps. Trust me, gravity works!
Byebye chocolate muffin....
That embarrasing experience behind me, I entrusted my safety to Jim
and we buggered off back to the City in a train. Not having very
good public transport in the part of NZ where I live, it was the
first train I'd been on for 10 years. Fun!
After filling in time ringing New Zealand to ask for my friend's
addresses to send postcards to and forgetting to send them postcards,
walking around aimlessly in Sydney, and bumping into other odd
RD-shirt wearing people, we ended up at the town hall steps at 1pm,
and were greeted by a motley collection of (obviously) psychotically
deranged people who were (mostly) in Red Dwarf gear.
>From this point on my memory gets a little hazy. I know we went to
see the movie "the Net", the most slack piece of budget crap I've
ever seen, with the possible exception of The Sound of Music and
Coronation Street. We *did* manage to annoy an entire movie theatre
full of people by laughing in the wrong places - "Cyberbob is 12
years old!!! Reminds you of Jim Wraith.. hehehehehehe"
I remember the night being punctuated with lots of air-hockey, and I
spent my entire budget for the 3 days in one night. I think in all
honesty we must have played at least 4 hours of air hockey.
I also remember eating something that resembled a vindaloo, and
performing the best catch of a falling glass of beer the world has
ever seen! Not only that, but I remember saying the following (after
a few beers):
"I'm out of beer!"
"Waiter, open these 4 bottles of Steinlager"
"Thanks. Now where's my glass"
"Oh there it is. And it's got beer in it"
I think we had more air-hockey, I can't really remember. I can
remember getting on a bus, but which bus and where to escapes me
right now. There was also something on a notice in the bus about not
spitting the bus, which amused us no end. I think someone (alison?)
should have photos.
At some point in the night I remember drinking several cappuchinos as
well, the only time I can be sure of was after the meal, and a funny
little man in a red hat served us. He reminded me of a leprechaun
(sp?). It was at this time I brought out my chocolate fish and was
almost twatted by Nadine. 24 chocolate fish later, we were suitably
fished out and decided to visit the decompression chamber (Jim's
version - unfill). Some sad individual (James I think) kept stats on
how many people went and decompressed among other things.
After all that, we decided to call it a night. Somehow I got from
the cafe to Timezone for more air hockey and seeing how badly we
could shoot (sorry, how badly we could miss) on the silly American
game they had there. Then somehow we got to McDonalds. Sorry, but
my memory stopped after the 1st beer.
After the meloncholy singing of the RD theme song, we all retired for
the night. They all buggered off in one direction, while I hailed
the taxi-driver from hell.
He drove more-or less around in circles, then dropped me near the
hotel, saying "it's just over the road, on the other side of the
bus-shelters there.".
Needless to say, it wasn't. He got the right part of town, sort of.
I ended up wandering around Sydney at 1:30am with a map that covered
everywhere but the street I was on, and finally found the hotel at
2am.
I then collapsed into bed at 2:15am, 4:15am NZ time, exactly 23 1/2
hours after getting up.
7:11am, Sunday, my eyes open. One hour later, I work out what time
it is, and that it's AM and not PM.
8:30am, Sunday. I realise I've not reconfirmed my return flight.
Mad dash for clothes ensues, 9:00 I'm downtown. Do you think there
is a phone directory anywhere? So I ring Directories. Then Air NZ.
Then they tell me I don't need to reconfirm my flight after all.
I crawl off to McDonalds for breakfast.
So ends the tale of a Kiwi in Australia for the RD meeting.
Chris
From: [email protected] (Nadine Wallis)
Subject: The Fish Oz meet report Epic!!!
At 1pm they came... from near and far.. well, from far and far really :)
Nervous introductions... Me saying things like "Alison... oohhhhh!
_Alison_, Alison" and "Matt, Matt... oh right, Matt!" The Town Hall Steps
were awash with people... and almost none of them had anything to do with
RD, except for 10 very strange people...
Attendees: (hope I remember everyone *grin*)
Nadine "hey, I wasn't looking at the smegazines for _that_ long
OK?" Wallis
Van "no, I'm not on the internet" Jones
Jim "don't you just turn the wheel left then right then left
then right then left then right then left then right?" Richards
Ian "traffic cone king" smeg, I have forgotten his surname, sorry :(
Alison "shag on a rock" Campbell
Miffy "Alison is _not_ going to spill the beans about me" smeg
again, I _knew_ I should have written everyone's names down.
Matt "air hockey warrior" Dawson
James "winner of rally car driving, but against Jim that doesn't
mean much" Churchill
Vanessa "yes, I am one of the librarians!" Jones
Chris "I have the chocolate fush" Neilson
From the Town Hall to McDonalds, only the best cuisine for smeggies :) Jim
and Alison played the "don't I know you from somewhere" game and discovered
a strange and cosmic link in Warrigal. McDonalds couldn't keep us
enthralled for long and off to the movies we went, The Net, of course. Now
here was film we could all relate to - speedy and word perfect typing,
instantaneous and non-busy connections to servers, a lonely gorgeous babe
in a bikini on a beach.. alone with her Mac - yes, I said a Mac, anything
else is inferior hee hee ... [oh hang on, that _is_ me :) ]. Surprisingly
no one else in the cinema threw anything at us (or did I just manage to
duck them all?). Ian also impressed us with his rendition of the Me2
Rimmer/Rimmer cinema scene, which Jim completely failed to pick up on and
participate in :)
The group then exploded forth after deliberated discussion to a cafe for
well, coffee :-) Jim's order of a long caf de-black or whatever it must
have been perhaps says something about Jim but I daren't say what.. Our
cappucinos seemed positively tame. Talk, talk, talk, what about is now lost
to the mysteries of time but I better move on the the other bits cos this
will have to become a fourteen part epic methinks.
From the cafe to... it wasn't Timezone but it was like it...not going too
well on names am I? :) After circumventing the place we discovered.. Air
Hockey!!!! how many games we played is also lost to wormholes of time but
let's face it, the girlies eventually won in a legendary match, creaming
the lads, 7 to 1. That is the only game I care to recall thank you very
much and the only truly important one :) Come 7.00. we thought it was time
to hit the Indian, well, when I say hit the Indian, we didn't walk up to a
bloke in Indian headress and whack him one... even with a trout, but I
guess you knew that :) A short bus trip to Glebe later...
Glebe Point Road, a street with many an Indian restaurant, and we looked at
them all. All of them, right up one end and down to the other, all of
them... and finally decided on the first one we saw, right down the other
end of the street where we began. A lovely night for a walk though...
particularly after lengthy discussion over the choice of lager to take (see
- we even used the RD term even though we call it beer, there's sad
dedication).
A startled Indian waiter re-arranges his entire restaurant upon our arrival
(anyone notice the other patrons looking strangely at us or was that just
me? :) and yet another discussion began as to the menu choice.. Jim was
appointed "Orderer-in chief" and yes, we got the vindaloo and just yummed
it up! Of course we did end up choosing a fish dish as well, luckily I was
not acquainted with the fish itself. My appreciation of the dinner was
greatly enhanced by the appearance of James' smegazines which I glanced
through for just a couple of moments and didn't linger on any certain
pictures of any one particular handsome one at all :) This is all true
actually, and don't believe what anyone else tries to tell you. RD quotes,
questions and theories darted around the table... as did the curries, rice
and poppadums. Chris tried to pour his drink over me several times - don't
try denying it Chris, you say it was accidental but it just happened to be
in my direction right? After a sumptious and IMHO rather enormous feast,
the troop staggered out into the cool night air and into yet another
cafe...
Another major table re-arranging session and a more lively hysteria began
as we learnt about shags on rocks (and how Alison took photos!), the
adventures of Miffy, which we have yet to get to the bottom of (or was that
a really bad pun?!?), the mass consumption of chocolate fish took place,
and the clearing of the cafe which I am sure had nothing to do with us
whatsoever, particularly after the fish appeared :) In the post-consumption
caffeine high which ensued, although in Jim's case it was the decaf-high,
another challenge was set for air hockey, the game of champions.
It was actually at this point that the girls proved their worth with the
humiliating victory of 7-1 (not that I am competitive or anything) .. not
earlier, though we were of course pretty marvy back then too :) Alison
proved her prowess at the Baywatch pinball machine - just like the show
only silicon free :) and Matt proved he could shoot and Alison can't - if
they ever have a duel, remember to put your money on Matt.
1am, 12 hours after we first met... and back to McDonalds to finish the
evening, sing a rather sad round of the RD theme and say our farewells... I
am sure everyone has their own tale of their adventure home and it just
wouldn't be right if I didn't share mine...
Ian offers to give me a lift home and Jim offers to give Ian a lift to his
car so off to North Sydney we head in a bus. All fine and dandy... North
Sydney.. quite a large suburb really, with one lone car somewhere in the
midst...we begin walking... "look, it must be up here.." "oh no, I
remember driving up here though.." "oh yes, I turned here..." We keep
walking... "oh right, it must be down here..." "oh hang on, did I turn
here?" The real bonus of the night, which proved it's worth, was the
procurement of the all necessary traffic cone... "It's not a good night
unless you get a traffic cone" So Ian achieved his dream and Jim even found
his car.. eventually :) Thanks for the lift dudes.
So all in all a brutal day/night, despite the fact I didn't manage to twat
anyone once with a trout :) Apologies must go out to Daniel and anyone
else who was unaware of the time change to 1pm. So sorry to Dan, thanks to
everyone who did show and rasberries to those who didn't... except for
Neily of course :)
Next meet: Multiverse, Gazpacho Soup Day Nov 25th Melbourne...
Nadine Sardine Fishy Wishy Boaty Woaty Watey Watey Wallis
From: Mr Grumpy
Subject: Sydney meet stats
Finally, finally here are the statistics for the Sydney Meet ...
Number of cappachino's drunk 13
Number of panadol taken 4
Number of males 5
Number of females 5
Number of computer people 5 (all male)
humanities 4 (female)
a weirdo 1 (female)
Number of Vindaloo's eaten 2 (lamb and beef)
Number of 23 year old's 4
Average age 21.6
Number of people wearing hats 2 (maybe 3)
Number of Red Dwarf Shirts 4
- Lets get out there and twat it
- Better smeg then dead
- Ace Rimmer SMAKIBBFB
- RD V, Mr Flibble is very angry
Number of games of air hockey too many
- highest loosing score 7-2 (boys won against girls)
Number of people with similar names 2 and 2
Number of people with similar login's 2 and 2
Number of fish 1
Number of cats 1
Number of people who laughed at the wrong times during 'The Net'
10
Distances travelled (in Kilometres)
Matt from the Gong 99.9
Alison and Miffy 890
Nadine 20
Van 20
Ian 30
Chris from Kiwiland 2500+150 drive (and 2:45am wakeup)
James 25-30
Jim 20+Airport trip
Speed at which Jim, Alison and Miffy should not be allowed to drive over
200Kms/hour
Number of photos taken at Town Hall steps
10
Number of Jim's friends that didn't turn up
3
Number of Indian fish curries 1
Number of females in love with Lister 2
Cat 2
Chris Barrie
1 (Nadine of course)
Number of chocolate fush consumed 24
Number of attendees contemplating trips to Fuchal at some time
10
Official Photographer Van
Number of pictures taken TOO MANY
Number of times Chris (the Kiwi) got sex and six mixed up
4
Number of times Jim dropped subtle comments about his new Kryten model
2
Number of bottles of Lager drunk 16
Official cost of first lot of coffee $0.00
Number of hints dropped by Alison about the previous night
2,000,000
Number of buses spat ???
Number of leather jackets worn 2
Number of satellite pictures carried 2
Number of people who thought 'The Net' was a 'get Bill Gates' movie
10
Number of people who find huntsmen in microwaves jokes offensive
4
Number of Indian Restaurants considered 4
Number of drinking stories by Alison that were true in the week
she was in Sydney 3