So little time, so much to talk about

I was beginning to think I'm an old hand at this blogmeet thing...but in fact I haven't done it on my own before! Neither have ever I actually made a plan and set off to do the meeting thing. Before, it was a jointly organised with me and Frangelita (such a cosy pair we are) and lovely Thursday nobly travelled all the way to meet us and we happened to be in Oxford when we met The (delightful) Beep, arriving all without warning at his stall!
Cheating really!
So as I set off after a brilliant morning in Kew Gardens, with sun and clouds and thunder and sheltering under trees from sudden downpouring rain, naturally the first thing I did was take a wrong turn and end up crossing Kew Bridge in two directions and HEAVY traffic which took up 20 minutes of the half hour I'd given myself to get there. Oh my god I thought, she'll be waiting perhaps in the cold and I'm going to be LATE (I've drafted a post recently on this very subject and it will now have to be drafted some more).
So then I arrived and no blog like person was in the warm cafe...it had to be the one outside in the freezing cold!!!
And it was so we went into the warm cafe and it's so odd to know so much about a person and yet so little about how the talking is going to go. But you get a feel, don't you, and I trust those feelings so I wasn't actually scared to meet her. Well you wouldn't arrange in the first place if you didn't feel fairly sure you'd get on.
We didn't have enough time! We could have talked much longer and been so much more relaxed...I'm afraid I chattered on too easily and didn't leave enough space for her. (not having my wise daughter to keep me in check). I wish I'd listened more but we did have that kind of talk where half of one sentence sparks off a dozen other topics and there seemed to be so much we could have talked about if we'd had more time. It seemed to me we had lots and lots in common. Starting with the fact that neither of us expected the way we looked in real life! (Neat! she said I looked neat! Wow. Nobody has ever said that about me before...I must look at me again in a new light)
On the other hand, the person I met was exactly the person I was hoping to meet, rather less anxious and uncertain than the blog persona but just as interesting and stimulating and imaginative. And tall, slim and blonde (not tiny and dark) with warm dark eyes (and an occasional look of slight astonishment)! A little bit fragile but a sweet and thoughtful person (lovely little gifts..Oh the heart shaped biscuits with glitter and a basket to pass on to Gorgeous Babe when I've eaten the chocs and the chutney And best of all, a tiny notebook :) And all I had, damm the printer, was some pretty bits from Kew).
And I got to see the pictures for her next book and the lovely printing, it's even more wonderful than on her blog.
And now I've got a face and a voice to put to the words...Oh I wish I could hear the band, then I could hear the lyrics in her voice...I imagine a very rangy voice, a bit bluesy but a some high sweet tones.
I do hope we'll have another time I:) I hope I didn't make you too dreadfully late to meet the children and I hope I didn't rattle on too much :) Oh and I hope you weren't chilled to the marrow...but I really did need to have a ciggie :)

Have to say the London Wetlands is fabulous...how wonderful to have two (in fact three, if you think of Richmond Park) such beautiful green-rich places nested in the curve of a river and in such a big city.

Well, it's made me think a bit. I'm sure a blog meet can simply be an extension of the blogging connection, I feel sure those big blog meets must be like that a bit. And that would actually scare me much much more than meeting one person. But the trust involved in meeting a single person or just two or three is much bigger. A first meeting is a lot about expressing that trust and isn't all about getting to know. In fact beyond thinking, "thank heavens it wasn't a mistake, I don't think I've broken anything imortant, I was right to feel sure we'd get on". It's a first step. Just like any other first meeting. Uncertainties remain but possibilites expand (that was rather succinctly put I feel :)
Oh whatever! I'm quite knackered.
I really do hope we can do it again I. thankyou for a delightful meeting and for the thoughtful gifts and for being so lovely :)


Before the storm


Shelter from the storm

Warm cafe
Cold, windy sunset
Goodnight :)