Brrrrrrr....

Well I guess that Autumn is in full swing. So here's a picture of a very red looking Autumunal tree in Regent's Park to prove it. It was weird coming back from Peru (especially from the jungle) where everything was so green to land back and find most of the leaves fallen back in old blighty.

Plus it's f-ing freezing in London today.

When does Winter officially start(?), 'cause I think it's bloody well here now!

We're going to be lucky if the temperature makes double figures, so my woolly hat is well and truly required! Plus I got a haircut on Saturday, so that's not helping!

I've had a nice weekend. On Friday I went along to the inaugural LU bloggers meet. This is a bunch of people who either blog or comment on blogs linked in one way or another (tenuously, sometimes) to the London Underground or are just interested in seeing what a bunch of weirdos we are :)

Well, thankfully I can say that there weren't any weirdos (well no more weird than usual) at the meet up!

It was a bit strange though. I turned up at the pub where we had arranged to meet only knowing what two people looked like from pictures they had posted on their blog and the pub was packed! So, I walked around looking at groups of people thinking "is that them?", not really recognising anyone.

But hey, since I was in a pub, I thought I'd get a drink (not something I would normally do when on my own, mind) and decided that if I hadn't spotted anyone that I'd recognise by the time I had finished it, I would head off.

So I settled down in a good vantage point, wedged by the cigarette dispenser and leaning on the fruit machine.

Today was Rememberance Day in the UK and the pub being near where lots of the main government departments are based and just down from Horse Guards Parade and Trafalgar Square was packed with civil servants and military types doing their reunions (lots of singing!)

So this is how the dialogue in my head went as I scanned the pub:
"Hmmm, what about that group?", "No, too old", "and that one?", "No too dressed up", "Hmmm, they look about right over there but it's a huge group! I didn't think that we were expecting that many." :( "I wish that I'd got someone's mobile number!!!!"

And then, just as I was about to reach for the last gulp of beer. Ta dah! I spotted someone off in the distance to my right. "Yep, that's him. Seen his picture. Phew!"

Well, it all ended happily ever after, as the group of bloggers and their familiars :) was a good gathering and we had all sorts of things to chat about (helped on by liquid lubrication, no doubt.)
Just have to wait for the next gathering now. Blimey, I'll have to think of something new to talk about!

On Sunday afternoon I popped along to the flicks to see The Constant Gardener. It was an excellent film 9/10 and a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Interestingly, the film was completely subtitled, so must have been a showing for the hard of hearing! Didn't say that when I bought my tickets though. Oh well. You could ignore the subtitles after a while.

And finally, for those travelling, working or just interested in the origins of the London Underground, check out this book: The Subterranean Railway. It tells of how the Underground came to be and has some good reviews. I'll be popping along to the bookshop tonight to buy mine. It'll probably be an appropriate thing to read on the tube too!

PS: Spell checking, before I sent this, came up with "Brouhaha" in place of "Brrrrr." Does anyone actually use that word????

Also, rather bizarrely, "blog" is an unknown word in blogger.com's spell-checker. Duh!!!