Saturday 6th September 2003

12:20 EV and Zagreb arrive, having been on the same train without realising it. Food required; search for bakery.

12:40 Search abandoned; supermaket chosen instead.

12:55 EV and Zagreb enter the pub. It smells of toilet.

13:05 Within a five minute spree, Munchkin, Toccata, Jamie and Peet arrive. Beer is drunk, plans are formed.

13:10 Old man with bible, bad dental hygiene and offensive t-shirt warns us: "Keep away from my sister." We do so.

13:30 Zagreb performs beer/urine comparison.

13:45 Zagreb performs British film industry rant.

14:45 Onwards to next pub - Archibald Simpson's. Luckily, nobody says "D'oh!"

15:10 The unthinkable happens: talking and drinking stop. This is due to arrival of food.

16:15 Peet tells world's worst Star Trek joke. After 3 hours' drinking, naturally we all laugh.

16:25 Discussion turns to Thingy Gould's Book Of Fish. Baffled.

16:55 Spillage! Toccata spills pint due to excitement of conversation concerning repeats of Dr Who on UK Gold. Pint is spilled over EV, who had bought said pint not five minutes earlier.

17:55 Essential nutrients discovered in suspicious looking stains on log.

18:20 Leave pub in search of more food. Italian too busy; Chinese too expensive; Indian too odd looking. Eventually we make the obvious choice and descend on Czech pub.

18:30 Jamie orders raspberry vodka. Hatches battened down.

18:57 Munchkin and Toccata play Scalextric in Czech pub.

19:00 So do EV and Zagreb.

19:40 Leave pub in disgust as England win football. Onto another pub where Welsh match is about to start.

20:10 Peet escorts Zagreb to train station. Zagreb's place is taken by Peet's Beardy Mate.

20:30 EV decides that checking into his hotel may now be a good idea. Peet's Beardy Mate escorts him. Others progress to the Prince Of Wales pub, where they drink more Dark Island¹.

20:52 EV and PBM return to stories of "Great Explosions We Have Known".

21:15 Toccata discusses gas bottles. "Your Mark 12's that high." (Accompanied by another of Toccata's now legendary wild gesticulations.)

21:53 Munchkin makes announcement: "I've got burns from being covered in mustard that I have to this day."

22:03 Munchkin advises soaking trousers in vinegar - "It kills everything off." Toccata to investigate.

22:07 Innocent members of public at next table inadvertantly dragged into conversation. They have heard of Douglas Adams and we are officially deemed "not mad", despite considerable evidence to the contrary.

22:17 Peet: "I'm frivolous, not stupid."

22:35 Peet recalls the time he found an exploded whale. "Oh no, not again."

22:45 PBM explains "grok" to visitors at next table. They look blank.

22:50 PBM bemoans the fact that large parts of the meet do not grok grokking. Large parts of meet look blank.

22:55 Peet leaves. The rest of us return to previous pub, which is still open. Visitors from next table almost, but not quite, accompany us.

00:40 EV, Jamie, Munchkin and Toccata eventually leave PBM and return to hotel.

Post-meet shenanigans: Sunday

10:00 EV, Jamie, Munchkin and Toccata congregate at hotel reception to compare hangovers.

10:15 Attempt to negotiate passage to Peet's flat. Jamie declares himself unfit to drive but does so anyway. EV navigates spectacularly.

10:30 Arrive at Peet's flat. It is discovered to be a veritable treasure trove of old computer equipment.

11:00 We install ourselves at a seafront café and order breakfast.

11:50 Breakfast arrives. Service deemed "disappointing."

12:20 After a bracing walk along the seafront, we go our separate ways. Peet goes to computer fair; Toccata and Munchkin drive home; Jamie drops EV at station before doing likewise. EV discovers to his horror that there is only one train out of Aberdeen every two hours.

Photographic evidence

EV's photos may be found here.