Blogmeet: the Bond View

Just echoing thoughts of other ScotBloggers about the blogmeet yesterday which are starting to appear on the web here [with list of attenders], here [with photos, the first to blog], here [with so far nonfunctioning video clip] and here. To complete the set, you can see our photos here. Hope you approve of them all. We've only deleted a couple. I particularly like the stray hand pointing at the toilet sign. With that much beer being consumed, we were regular users of said facility.

It was a very interesting experience. We stayed much longer and consumed far more alchohol than we expected/planned, and this set me to thinking why that might be so. One blogger, like ourselves, a virgin at such an event, described it as a "blind date", and I must admit I was a little nervous when we arrived at the pub and just had to go up to the likeliest looking table and ask the people "are you the bloggers...". [There were no really obvious clues like a laptop on the table, or someone with a wireless router embedded in their skull. Interestingly enough what gave the group away to me was the mix of ages and the diversity of the group.] Of course, we were made welcome in the conventional way. But usually when you meet people for the first time at a dinner party, for example, you stick well away from all the usual dodgy topics such as politics, religion and so on, and you stay on safe ground discussing work, families, and loft conversions. The fun of it was going straight to the heart of the matter, and having no holds barred conversations in the areas which are usually no go areas, and coming away thinking you have learnt something. Actually, I probably learnt more than I can remember, but have forgotten a fair amount as that was far, far more beer than I have consumed in a long time.