Giant Elephants and separated people at Trafalgar Square

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:13 pm

Spoke to Theia & Weeder and i swear Weeder has a tickling stick up her bum

she's in such high spirits! :-4 :wah:

pina · Post by **pina** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:14 pm

theia wrote: Now Im on Jackies computer down in Cornwall...... Id Love to go to Spain!!!!

Weeder....

Your quite welcome to come over, I have a spare room and I only live five minutes away from the airport.

Its not raining here, its lovely and hot, you will get a good tan down at the beach. :-6

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:20 pm

theia wrote: Now Im on Jackies computer down in Cornwall...... Id Love to go to Spain!!!!

Weeder....

I was really confused for a minute there...glad you're back safe and sound...enjoy lovely Cornwall and lovely Theias company.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:38 pm

Like musical chairs, only computers.....................

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:56 pm

chonsigirl wrote: Like musical chairs, only computers.....................

Just to really confuse me Chonsi, Theia 'Skyped' me and I wasn't plugged in .....panic stations for a moment but i have talked to Theia and Weeder and they are home safe thank goodness. Betty must be home too now.

Have you got Skype Chonsi...it's free and once you get the headphones with the little 'mic' on you can chat to anyone else who has SKYPE.It's so clear..better than a mobile

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:59 pm

chonsigirl wrote: Like musical chairs, only computers.....................

When we were at Ravens at the weekend, it was 'musical bodies' with everyone queuing at her computer to post.... she has 2 adorable cats and they were looking at us as if we were nuts...cats are so wise.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:02 pm

I shall have to look at the Skype, that would be cool to talk to everyone.

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:08 pm

chonsigirl wrote: I shall have to look at the Skype, that would be cool to talk to everyone.

It's fantastic...I spoke to weeder before she came over here...it was so clear... had to get used to the time delay though.

http://www.skype.com/download/

Post by **Betty Boop** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:16 pm

Betty Boop checking in on Bettys computer, well, I think it's mine! :wah:

Thank you Andy and Raven for putting us up, or is that thank you for putting up with us

:wah:

It was so good to meet you all! Can't wait for the next one :-6

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:24 pm

None of this is real. Your tricking us !

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:27 pm

Nomad wrote: None of this is real. Your tricking us !

Watch the video Nomad...it was so real...so cool...so fantastic...and I SO wish you could have been there.:-4

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:29 pm

Betty Boop wrote: Betty Boop checking in on Bettys computer, well, I think it's mine! :wah:

Thank you Andy and Raven for putting us up, or is that thank you for putting up with us :wah:

It was so good to meet you all! Can't wait for the next one :-6

Glad your back safe and sound Betty...:yh_hugs

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:32 pm

Bez wrote: Watch the video Nomad...it was so real...so cool...so fantastic...and I SO wish you could have been there.:-4

What video ? Where ? Send it to me please ?

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:36 pm

Nomad wrote: What video ? Where ? Send it to me please ?..... #45

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:45 pm

abbey wrote: ..... #45

what picture ?

Okay guys, here it is......the Forum Garden WildLife video!!

My son was given a camcorder by his grandmother for his birthday and this is the first time he's used it! He filmed a bit on the coach, a bit in the pub and some on the Eye. Hubby has cut out all the blur and the wavy bits and the ducks! Lol! And what we have left is a brief clip of the Londinium FGers!

I haven't added music (I'm not up to Sixes standard!) But if you turn up the sound you can hear us chattering and laughing, and maybe pick up on a couple of our accents, which is fun! I hope you like it!

Just Click on the Picture to play!!!

__________________

On May the 6th the rain came down

On Forum Gardeners in London Town

But they laughed and joked without a care

As the elephant sat in Trafalgar Square!

The UK welcomes MINKS and WEEDER

Friends

Local Time: 09:43 PM

Local Date: 05-08-2006

OpenMind · Post by **OpenMind** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:53 pm

Well, what a day. My adventure started by waking up nearly 10 minutes after the time I should have left. Straight from "realisation mode", I shaved, showered, dressed, brushed teeth, grabbed the last few bits (having packed most of what I needed the night before), and headed off. All in 20 minutes. Phew.

Arriving at Heathrow, terminal 3 arrivals, I noted that Weeder's plane had landed about 5 minutes ago. So I set myself up by the barrier and proudly held up my brightly coloured FG sign. About half an hour later, I heard someone behind me ask me if I was Robert. I looked around and said, simply, that I was not. Then after a brief pause, I said that I am Roger. Spot, relieved, introduced himself and we delightedly shook hands. I had now made the first contact with a FG member sharing this crazy mission, as was also the case for Spot. And, thanks, Spot, for that much-needed cup of coffee - my first that morning.

Spot had initially guessed it was I from the sign I was holding up. Another hour later, I was still holding the sign up in the air, and my arm was suffering from pins and needles, and my feet had begun to itch most annoyingly. So, Spot suggested that we put out a call over the PA for our beloved Weeder.

Shortly after, we spotted her with weeder sign about her neck. Somehow, Weeder had missed my bright sign and walked straight past us. But, the truth soon came out. She was really intent on getting started soliciting for work as a weeder. She had already received one enquiry and was busy chatting up a young man when we saw her just a few feet from us.

Before the day. I wondered what we were going to do between Weeder's arrival and Minks turning up. There wasn't a lot of point us going to the sundial where everyone else was congregating. But I needn't have worried. The time flashed by as the three of us talked, and talked, chatted, and then talked some more. God knows how we fitted in a breakfast while we were discussing the histories of the UK and the USA.

Before we knew it, we were being accosted by Jackie and Betty, and then the rest of the FG members. And it just snowballed from there.

I have come to the conclusion that we are simply blind. Despite a bright pink hat, Minks slipped past the lot of us. I couldn't believe it. How could we miss a bright pink cowboy hat that was bigger than its wearer!? But she was found and quickly brought over to the rest of us.

And there we all were. Despite the mass of bodies everywhere, people waiting for and meeting people off the planes, we were an impressive crowd. Minks, Weeder, Raven, Voodoo, Theia, BettyBoop, Bez, Rapunzel and family, Chris, Spot, ArnoldLayne, and, of course, myself.

Spot has already given a truly resplendent and very pictorial description of the day's events. There is nothing that I can add to this or improve on in any way, so I shall not try.

We lunched at the Cittie of Yorke, a 15th century pub in Holborn. Anyone who wants to learn more about this pub and see some pictures of it should look here: - http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=160 . You can also find a history of beer brewing on this site for those that are interested. Here, I pulled out a large bag of assorted sweets of the kind found in the 'pic'n'mix sweets section. A bag that I had filled the day before. I pulled it out and never saw it again. Gone, like a flash of lightning, it disappeared into the throng that was the FG ladies. Never mind, I don't have a sweet tooth anyway. But I wouldn't have minded at least one.

It was raining when we left the pub. But this was not going to dampen our spirits. Even losing each other never dampened our spirits. It all simply added to the atmosphere.

By the time we were on the Eye, I was feeling tired as I'd had little sleep the night before, and I reckoned that Minks and Weeder must be feeling the same way. Yet, they were both still laughing, chatting and taking photos. I was impressed.

What a wonderful day. It was worth every minute. This should be an annual event at least.

Parting came too soon. it didn't seem that long ago that, at 3:30am, I was setting out from my home. But now, it was time to go. I left the group along with ArnoldLayne and Rapunzel's family. This took about half an hour while everyone got hugged and said how good we all looked and how we're so glad it all happened. And, as the 6 of us set off home, we heard a loud cheer behind us. We turned to see our fellows waving and cheering loudly at us. Who'd have thought they are such genteel people.:-4 :yh_hugs

I spent the night on my friend's sofa and I got very little sleep Saturday night either. Hence, I was like a zombie on Sunday. But this Saturday, May 6th 2006, is now burnt into my memory as a day that I am glad that I never missed.:-6

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:57 pm

Oh, I am SO going to England next time!!!!:-4

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:02 pm

Nomad wrote: What video ? Where ? Send it to me please ?

And I'll PM it to you as well,,,

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a90/bo ... GARDEN.flv

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:11 pm

Lovely post OM... a wonderful Canadian lady has your sweeties (what was left of them) mmmm...jelly beans..luvum....

Everyone has arrived back in Sussex and Cornwall safely today and we all have such great memories of the weekend.

I have already put in my order for sunshine for our next gathering :-6 :-6 :-6

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:11 pm

Ok I got it but who is who ?

The pink hat is minks (very cute)

On the bus is that B Boop with the shoulder length hair ?

I know Bez what about the guy with the beard ? And wheres Chris ?

And Theia ? Which one is she ?

Post by **spot** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:23 pm

Right, OpenMind's taken the story forward to where I can add the next bit...

Q: What did the Tower of London have that the British Museum didn't?

A: Weeder (sob!), Bez (sob!), Theia (sob!) Betty (sob!) and a Rack for emphasizing selective points of view - a device that ForumGarden really should consider installing. They all left London walking taller than they arrived, which must be a good thing. I was impressed by how much the Beefeater stretched us during our tour... let's take events in order, though.

The Essex contingent tracked me down very efficiently on Tower Hill overlooking one of the standing sections of the Roman Wall that went up 1900 years ago. The White Tower's only half that age, and between the Wall going up and the Tower, London had been stone-built, abandoned, derelict, re-occupied by invading Anglo-Saxons and rebuilt mostly with wood. It's not surprising that the Normans ruled the roost once they'd stuck something as huge as the White Tower onto the corner of the old defensive Roman Wall, and nobody's taken the city by force since it was built.

Once we were in, we spent the best part of an hour as a guided tour with a resident Beefeater (or Yeoman Warder, meaning he's of good reputation and he guards things). The job's offered to selected retired British Army Sergeants, and if I followed the detail accurately there's been around 130 of them since the Duke of Wellington set up the current system around 1830.

He left us after showing us St Peter ad Vincula, the Chapel Royal of the Tower. I hope he impressed everyone else on the tour as much as he impressed me, he was good - it's too easy to talk down to a captive audience but he did no such thing, and the facts he selected to pass on were well worth listening to.

There's twenty small fortresses within the Tower of London - one way into each, hard to fight going inward, lots of defensive choke-points. About half of them are open to the public. We split up and went for the parts we were most interested in - Weeder and I went looking for Anne Boleyn's prison cell in Beauchamp's Tower and found lots of carved graffiti left by prisoners but none by her. She may have been there for a while, and in the Governor's House for the rest of her short stay like Lady Jane Grey after her. We saw where St Thomas More was held, the Bell Tower, and the battlements where the Tudor Princess Elizabeth was allowed to exercise while she was under arrest for treason before she became Queen.

The other large central building is the Waterloo Barracks where the Crown Jewels are housed in a huge walk-in safe. There's coronation robes, maces, ceremonial swords, scepters, orbs (not really much call for orbs if you're not queen, of course) and crowns going back centuries, even dinky little ones that Victoria wore perched on her bun. Diamonds figured prominently, and shiny colored stones as well. What I really wanted was a photo of all the FG party wearing a few items each and wielding their weapons at the camera, but the rules forbade it.

After sticky treats and a hot drink we all gathered again and slowly wandered under Tower Bridge to St Katherine's Dock, admiring yet another sundial on the way (and a girl on a dolphin). London's full of surprises like that.

If you reckon that you could go back to the Tower of London the following day and tour it seeing entirely different things then that's an indication of how much is to be seen. The choice is dwarfed by the British Museum, though. Today's outing - we're down to just Minks, Chris, Raven, Voodoo and me at this point - saw a portion of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Near Middle East, Hittite, Romano-Greek, Parthenon and... that mausoleum at Helicarnassus, but don't quote me on the spelling, by which time we were dazed. I think we glimpsed inside the old Reading Room just so we could say Wow, too. That's not even a tenth of the display rooms, and to be honest we could have walked through just one or two and spent just as long talking over fewer exhibits - there were single cases that would have made a visit to London worth doing in their own right. Besides, I've never been taken round a museum by anyone as excited and talkative as Raven was today, it was eye-opening.

I'd best post this to bring the thread up to date!

OpenMind · Post by **OpenMind** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:26 pm

Try these for starters.

http://spaces.msn.com/profrog199/Person ... 02_owner=1

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:28 pm

ArnoldLayne wrote: I think thats Open Mind with the beard.

Bez posted a couple of photos from the London eye (early in the thread) thats me, Bez and Chris, looking folornly into the horizon

http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/showp ... stcount=44

Om is the first person in the video..and he's also far left on the POD photo.

Betty is wearing the purple coat and yes she has shoulder length dark hair and shows her back several times in the vid.

Chris is on the far right of the Pod photo with Raven in the background and Arny is 'Mr Cool in the soggy denim jacket...poor Arny he was soaked....i tell you what...he should enter the next london marathon ...can he stride out ...us gals had to run to keep up !!:)

Rapunzel is the lovely blonde lady and it was her son that took the vid....

pina · Post by **pina** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:32 pm

I can't get access, it won't let me sign in. :-1

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:34 pm

I haven't seen Theia in any of the pics so far. She didn't come on the EYE...she stayed on Terra Firma with Weeder and Spot....be patient she'll turn up eventually...

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:34 pm

Spot, you write an excellent story. I can't wait to read more of your experiences in London. Very vivid, and detailed...you should write professionally. This is too exciting.

I wonder how Tombstone and anastrophe feel about all this, knowing that none of it would have been possible if it weren't for FG in the first place?

Great stuff, Spot, keep it coming. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:50 pm

Spot's 'spot on'...sorry ! London is full of surprises and I guess you would need a months holiday to see most of it.

Heres what the tower of London looks like. It is amazing to stand where Anne Boleyn was beheaded and so many others...to touch walls that have stood for 700 or more years, and in the case of the roman wall...thousands of years.

Go for a 'Virtual tour'...walk where Henry V111 walked and the famous 'Forum Grdeners':)

http://www.toweroflondontour.com/

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:54 pm

BabyRider wrote: Spot, you write an excellent story. I can't wait to read more of your experiences in London. Very vivid, and detailed...you should write professionally. This is too exciting.

I wonder how Tombstone and anastrophe feel about all this, knowing that none of it would have been possible if it weren't for FG in the first place?

Great stuff, Spot, keep it coming. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Hi BR...wait till you see the other photos that have been taken...it was the BEST time I've had in ages.

Tombstone and Anastrophe should be proud that they created a place where so many friendships have been nurtured. It will be fantastic if you get your US gathering .

Spot is the most knowledgeable person guys...a veritable walking encylopedia.

minks · Post by **minks** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:09 pm

We saw mummies today, yes real actual mummies. That museum has NO!!! replicas. Oh boy Spot is bang on about the museum being a perfect reason to come to London. Absolutely facinating. The history is beyond my comprehension I can't even begin to tell you what it was like. We are hoping in the next couple of days to get you some more pics of the goings on. I am glad you all have enjoyed hearing about our travels.

Raven, Andy, Chris and I were famished after our day in the museum so we went to a little street side cafe, the name just called out to us to come in and have a snack, it was called...........are you ready for this.........The Forum Cafe, yep our namesake we just had to go, it sported a green street canapy and gold letters. Yes yes we have pics of it as proof. We hade loaded baked potatoes that were delicious. Very fortifying before out long train ride back to Ravens house.

Cheers gang I am going to let Raven take over now.

Raven · Post by **Raven** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:46 pm

It's been one of the most memorable weekends of my life. It was a bittersweet day today, as Betty Boop, Theia and Weeder left for home. But we all know another walkabout is in the the works. Once is just not enough for friends.:-4

Tomorrow is Westminster abbey and the jack the ripper tour. Ghosts of Whitechapel and Cheapside beckon! (Chris is really going to like this bit!)

(Betty and Theia, it's really quiet here without ya!):wah:

Maxi_Uno · Post by **Maxi_Uno** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:53 pm

:-3 Where are all the Pictures?

I have been so patient and everything

Raven · Post by **Raven** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:56 pm

We're going out first thing in the morning to get them put on disk so we can load 'em up for you all to enjoy! Promise!

Maxi_Uno · Post by **Maxi_Uno** » Mon May 08, 2006 4:02 pm

Raven wrote: We're going out first thing in the morning to get them put on disk so we can load 'em up for you all to enjoy! Promise!

OK I shall wait.

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Mon May 08, 2006 4:18 pm

BabyRider wrote: Spot, you write an excellent story. I can't wait to read more of your experiences in London. Very vivid, and detailed...you should write professionally. This is too exciting.

I wonder how Tombstone and anastrophe feel about all this, knowing that none of it would have been possible if it weren't for FG in the first place?

Great stuff, Spot, keep it coming. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I wondered that about Tombstone & Anastrophe also. It must be bitter-sweet, seeing the joy you have created but not being able to be a part of it! Huge kudos to them though, for all they've done in creating FG!

Nomad, I'm SO sorry you couldn't see the video for a while. It's not great, kinda blurry really, but my son did it and he's chuffed to bits with it! He did a lot of playing with all the function buttons and so there were lots of swirly bits which had to be cut out. I wish Mr Rapunzel had taken it for 5 mins as he would have filmed everyone clearly, but unfortunately we didn't think about that at the time!

Bez, I'm glad you saw it and don't know why it asked for a password!?

I'm sorry for the probs guys as it played well on my screen. I can only think that perhaps your screens won't accept this type of download, in the same way I can never get those Quickload clips to play (they start with a blue 'Q')! I'm very sorry and hope you were all able to see it in the end! :-2

Spot & OM, you're descriptions were marvellous! What else have you guys got planned for this week? Hope the weather improves for you!

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Mon May 08, 2006 6:04 pm

Bez wrote: Hi BR...wait till you see the other photos that have been taken...it was the BEST time I've had in ages.

Tombstone and Anastrophe should be proud that they created a place where so many friendships have been nurtured. It will be fantastic if you get your US gathering .

Spot is the most knowledgeable person guys...a veritable walking encylopedia.
Looking forward to those pics, Bez.

I am hoping we can arrange the US gathering, too. There's so many I want to meet face-to-face. It sounds like this 1st official FG gathering is going so well, we just HAVE to have one here.

And spot? Sheesh, you can tell by the way he writes and debates and discusses that he's extremely well-read and educated. Half the time, I don't understand what he's saying!!

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon May 08, 2006 6:43 pm

OpenMind wrote: Try these for starters.

http://spaces.msn.com/profrog199/Person ... 02_owner=1
Oh, I can't see the pics!:-1

Maxi_Uno · Post by **Maxi_Uno** » Mon May 08, 2006 6:49 pm

chonsigirl wrote: Oh, I can't see the pics!:-1
I can't either. Did you request to see them on that MSN page? Did Snooze?

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:04 pm

How do you request them?

Maxi_Uno · Post by **Maxi_Uno** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:12 pm

chonsigirl wrote: How do you request them?

I don't know.:-3

When I clicked on that link it took me to an MSN thing where you check in....I did that.....then it told me to request what I wanted, I requested the pictures.....I guess I have to wait.....did you get that page Chonsigirl?

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:25 pm

No, I didn't get the page.

:-1

Maxi_Uno · Post by **Maxi_Uno** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:34 pm

chonsigirl wrote: No, I didn't get the page.

:-1
hmmm, I wonder what is going on......I never got conformation or anything. So how you doing?:)

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:35 pm

I'm fine Maxi!

I want to ride a giant elephant now!

And ride the ferris wheel!

And go to Vegas!

And see the pics!

*I'm a greedy girl tonight*:)

devist8me · Post by **devist8me** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:41 pm

Maxi_Uno wrote: I don't know.:-3

When I clicked on that link it took me to an MSN thing where you check in....I did that.....then it told me to request what I wanted, I requested the pictures.....I guess I have to wait.....did you get that page Chonsigirl?

I got the same thing and went through signing in to request to see the page. Still waiting to hear something that I'm guessing will come to me in an email.

Maxi_Uno · Post by **Maxi_Uno** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:44 pm

devist8me wrote: I got the same thing and went through signing in to request to see the page. Still waiting to hear something that I'm guessing will come to me in an email.

I dont know.

Maxi_Uno · Post by **Maxi_Uno** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:45 pm

chonsigirl wrote: I'm fine Maxi!

I want to ride a giant elephant now!

And ride the ferris wheel!

And go to Vegas!

And see the pics!

*I'm a greedy girl tonight*:)

We have been waiting patiently thats why;)

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:47 pm

Everyones stories are just to cool for words. What a fun event for you all, the video is cool. Couldn't see OM pictures...

Looking forward to more pictures..