London TPF meet ...

Squirt that one photo of the round building is so awsome, especially if you use the wheel on your mouse to scroll down, it pops out at you and looks like it is growing when you roll the wheel of your mouse slowly downward to see more!! Kind of like an optical illusion.
THese are some fantastic photos all! I really got a chuckle out of the photos and comments by you guys on the men all set up and shooting with their little p&s cameras. Too funny!
 
Right, I'm gonna add some text, now that I've got a bit of time on my hands!! :)

PlasticSpanner arrived in London first at about 9am. That last statement is very funny if you were with us. PS walked to Kings Cross to get a ThamesLink train down to Blackfriars (5min journey). We spoke on the phone for a bit (9.30am). Simon then phones and says he'll be arriving on time at 10.30. I hang round Blackfriars station, trying not to look too much like a you-know-what.

Ten thirty arrives and I meet up with Simon and Lensmeister, we give PS a ring. He's still waiting for a train. Lensmeister tells me there's train problems... I say to PS, maybe think about another mode of transport, there's no trains probably, we wait and wander around Blackfriars station area. We wait. We wander. I take my first picture, of the river - OXO tower, millennium wheel. I take a flower bed picture of a tulip.

Sure enough, 11am comes around - no trains. PS goes in search of a 63 bus, as the circle line is out. Every bus stop is too busy, so he starts walking. Eventually, he arrives to cheers of celebration - pretty much a three hour journey for 1.9 miles. Oh well. ;) We consider welcoming PS off the bus in a deluge of pap-style camera action, but in the end - it's the fifth bus we thought he might have been on, so we don't bother!! :)

We meet at the junction of Fleet Street and Queen Victoria Street and start walking west towards, well, the west end. Fleet Street is a great historical street which used to be where all the newspapers were based. I point out St Brides, the famous church upon which wedding cakes (in layers) are based. We walk up to the Royal Courts of Justice and Old Bailey and take some pictures of the street and the dragon in the middle of the road. Some of us take the pictures from the middle of the road.

After Fleet Street, Lensmeister leads the way round the back streets of Aldwich (where that funky building was) and we stop by the Old Curiosity Shop, of which, shamefully, I have never heard. Some backstreet trickery and good general navigation from Lensmeister, see us arrive in the thronging Covent Garden. There's always sights to see there, street performers are of a much higher standard than most towns, although that day it was mostly the "standing really still type". We snap a few of them, but generally, they're narky about it (presumably you should give them your money first!). The gold bloke is a veteran photo-mucker-up and manages to spoil most of the shots - a mere trifle to us - I think we all got a good one of him anyway. I think it was about this time, that the trademark TPF salute was invented... You must now all copy this over the globe at every meet-up ok?

We move on, as I reckoned it was pub time. We tried to get into the Punch and Judy, which overlooks.... the Punch and Judy show. They're closed for a private party.

We mooch round the backstreets of theatre land over to Leicester Square. A fire-engine makes a pretty damn impressive U-Turn in the no-U-Turn zone of Kingsway. It's about 1pm now (I think) and we're in need of both solid and liquid refreshment. After getting the wrong street a couple of times (can you tell I'm now navigating?) I finally hit a fave London pub - the Imperial Arms (3rd left off the top of the square). Here we get stuck into the first pint of the day, and order some typical pub grub. Lensmeister has Sausage and Mash and gravy, Simon (I think?) has Ham Eggs and Chips, I have Ham Egg and Chips.... so what do the Northerners have??? Yep, Pie, Chips, Peas and Gravy. Everyone is happy with their food and we lark about with the cameras, swapping a few lenses, bodies, and generally doing the meetup thing. It's too dark really in the pub to get many decent ones, but I borrow some of Tempra's short range L glass and manage a couple of vaguely respectable shots.

I should point out at this point that Lensmeister is a football fan of enormous proportion and gives us the benefit of his no-doubt excellent knowledge of the sport at length. ;) Fittingly enough - St George's Day upon us, and a traditional English pub encourage this support of our national game.

Suitably refreshed, we orbit the Swiss Centre and return to Leicester Square and take pictures of the ever-present street portrait artists. A demonstration happens by - a small group of Chinese people making a large number of points, mostly human-rights based. I think we impressed the general croud and probably the demonstrators as we appeared at the same time as them, banged a few shots off and then left - looking like "pros" huh?

We then carry on West and make our way to Piccadilly where we all take the usual Eros and sign shots. That TDK stand must be one of the most photographed places in the world.


...continued....
 
...continued....


After Piccadilly, we move up through Soho to the Intrepid Fox. It's a fave of both myself and Lensmeister. You darksiders would love it. As it's Goth/Indie/Rock/Punk/Metal it is DARK inside and photography isn't really the done thing. I have my back to the room, but the guys manage to bang off a couple of subtle-ish shots before we get sat on by bikers. PS manages a quite frankly amazing shot, given he was using a PNS camera in bugger-all light.

We move off through the sex shops and back streets of Soho, remarking about the loss of Raymond's Revue bar. We are in need of some stimulation and I manage to lead the way, vaguely respectably (i.e. directly without getting lost!) to Bar Italia, where we all get double-espressos (thanks Simon!) and take them to Soho Square. The square is packed with totty and a couple of the guys do some bird-spotting. I shall let their wives/girlfriends beat the truth out of them if they're reading! ;)

We move past the finish of the London marathon, which was rather disappointing photographically - loads of clutter and no real opportunity to isolate the flags.

We then head for St James' Park, which is one of the (you-guessed-it) Royal parks in London. I have to admit to having never walked around it before. We do some bird-spotting, of both varieties. We walk all around the park, taking shots of each other (usually whilst giggling) and the ducks, squirrels, dead people etc. (he wasn't really dead, but he'll be sorry if he passed out drunk in the sun!). I am persuaded... very reluctantly... to make an arse of myself by doing the, now ledgendary, TPF camera salute in front of only about 5,000 witnesses. Luckily, I wasn't embarrased in the slightest and happily joined in straight away without protesting at all. Much.

We all manage some great shots of each other and the wildlife in the blazing sunshine. We then hang around outside Buckingham Palace for a bit, deciding what to do.... can you guess??? Yep, pub. We take a few shots of that funny (Japanese?) young man using a tiny PNS camera on a tripod in the full-sun. Perhaps he has shakey hands? Anyway, we move on.

We walk from the Queen's house down to Victoria station (and the pub), but via Westminster Cathedral. It's like a normal Catholic church, multiplied by ten. We walk around quietly, listening to the haunting sounds of the choir, trying to take pictures subtley as there's a service, but it's in a sub-bit - where LM's mum got married! There's near enough no light in the place, so photography is tricky. It's also echoey... very echoey... to the point where a zoom lens causes a racket. We keep things respectful and avoid getting too close to the people worshipping and we squeak and pad around as unobtrusively as possible. We manage to leave without a scene.... Except PS, who gets lost. Lost. In a church. A small ruckus later and PS has found us again, cunningly hidden outside the church. ;)

We proceed down Victoria Street to the lady's very own station. Oh, is that a pub we see? Simon has to bid us farewell and the remaining four of us climb the stairs to the not-so-glamourous, but effective, Weatherspoons pub in the station. It has an outside balcony, and the guys manage a couple of shots off. Lensmeister bids us farewell and the three of us have a couple more beers - only fair really. Tempra needs to get on a coach and bids us farewell (after a few beers).

It's only PS and me left in Victoria now, so we decide it's probably time to sort out a beer. I call Pete who kindly books him a hotel in the Sundridge Park Mansion. We catch a slow train to Beckenham Junction and head to my local. It's Tim's birthday, and although I've said I couldn't go due to the meet-up, we're there. We have a beer or three to celebrate. We decide it's time for some food, so I take us down to Mizo's Noodle Bar - it's cheap, cheerful and pretty much impossible to finish your plate. My friend Tom finished his plate. Even PS is impressed. He was more impressed when the doggy bag came out and Tom took our leftovers back to the pub and finished ours too. That boy can eat. We have a few beers. We have a few beers.

We manage to get one of the youngsters to give us a lift back to mine and Pete drops PS down to the mansion. The drive way is over a mile long, and cab drivers drop people at the front gate for a laugh. No such treatment with BMW cabs! :) We make it to the building and there's some kind of massive wedding party and it's a state. However, we manage to get PS's room sorted and I depart. Without a drink... really.

Sunday sees an okish morning, but not great. I pick PS up as agreed and we slink down the driveway. As nobody managed Sunday, we decide to drive to Greenwich. Our slightly hung-over brains don't add "London Marathon" to "Starts in Greenwich", so we promptly get stuck in road closures and traffic. We tour some of the less salubrious areas of London and return via my old school to Bromley. We post some pictures, edit some pictures, and hang round... then... guess..? Yep, pub. We have a very quick drink in the Slug and Lettuce in Bromley before I say goodbye to Chris at about 6pm. He may... just may... have made it to Victoria by now. I'm pretty confident he won't have made it to Euston though!! :) Prove me wrong mate!

Anyway, I shall stop boring you now. I make no apology for chronological, or even chronic innaccuracy - I was having a beer at the time.

TPF meetups are great, and YOU, yes YOU reading this.... YOU are coming to the next one - no excuses.

Thanks for reading!

Rob
 
Aaw...thanks for the write up Rob!

Sounds like you guys had a blast! Seriously...I need to win the lottery so Ican just travel around to all themeetups all the times.
 
Think thats about it Rob - and here's your lunch again :D

tpfl3.jpg
 
Simon said:
Nice one Rob!

It doesnt look like I'm putting my back pack on :er:

Great shots, that's an amazing lens you have!

29.jpg


Thanks for organizing the day, I learnt a lot form it, plus it was good fun!!
Click to expand...


Is Simon doing a Ricksby out of Rising Damp ?

OR does no one remember that ?
 
Lensmeister said:
Is Simon doing a Ricksby out of Rising Damp ?

OR does no one remember that ?
Click to expand...

Well, I get it anyway! :lmao: Don't tease... oh hang on, I already have myself! :lol:

It was great to meet both you guys IRL for the first time! I do hope September is in your diaries already!

Rob
 
Right, it's getting late and I have to go to bed soon! However, I need to add a few things:

Firstly, thanks to all the chaps who made it for making the day enjoyable. A big well done to Simon, as he really didn't know what he was getting himself into, yet still made the plunge and came and saw a bunch of strangers.

Secondly, great photography guys. Not only me, but a couple of friends have commented that it's not very easy to tell who's pictures are who's. This I take as a reflection on the general high standard.

Thirdly, beer. We all need another one.

Fourthly, if I'm going to make an idiot of myself, I at least demand that people from far-flung places make a similar effort - meet up with your fellow TPFers in obscure places and take a picture of yourself, with camera raised in the TPF salute. In fact, go out now and do it.

Fifthly, vote London for the next meetup.

Thanks to those who came, and those who have bothered to get this far in the thread!!!! :)

Rob
 
Great write up Rob! :thumbup:

I did actually consider walkiong from Euston to Blackfriars since I calculated it to be about 4.5 km, but wanted to "have a go" on the trains/underground! (Yeah, why??????)

Unfortunately, someone dropped a wire (damaged cables!) and all the southbound trains went down the pan! Rob found out about this 10 minutes before I did! :lol:

I managed to work out I wanted a number 63 bus, as did about a hundred other miffed travellers! :lol: I decided to walk it by now and 20 minutes later a 63 buss passed me almost empty so I elected to get one at the next stop.

So that was why I was late getting to the start! :lol:
 
Then I got locked in Westminster Cathedral! :lol:

Well, not really! The entrance is kinda through a side door that isn't that visible from inside, and the big doors inside were closed and had a barrier in front of them!

I thought someone had closed them and locked me inside. Trapped for a 2 hour church service! :shock:

Panic set in and a second tour of the entrance area revealed the hidden exit! :lol:
 
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