[A Little Green]

I thought I was abominably late doing this. Then I checked a calendar and found out it has only been three weeks. (!!!) Anyhow, it is about time I recounted this summer's 'Downer adventures!

They began with a couple of days in Copenhagen with Rune. He received a proper shock when we arrived, as I had failed to inform him beforehand that we would be arriving with newly-shaved heads. He proved to be an excellent tour guide with an astonishing amount of knowledge about pretty much every building and statue (though sadly not the statue that resembled Senator Palpatine). Our stay in Copenhagen included late nights, live jazz, rider statues, red lights and beer. Rune was the same as ever - making fun of people all the time, but as soon as someone's in trouble he suddenly becomes the most caring person in the world.

Copenhagen was followed by a month of 'Downer-free travelling, at the end of which we found ourselves in a cottage filled with people who are certifiably insane. And lovely, of course.

There were two among that number whom I had not met before. Guinevere definitely has some elf in her. I was also very impressed by her and Esty's talent for recognising flowers and herbs and other plants. It's a pity I didn't get to talk to her more, but maybe next time?

Oliphaunts_Rule was another new acquaintance; calm, sensible and down-to-earth for most of the time compared to the insanity of the rest of us, she could surprise you with a sudden instance of absurd humour.

Esty was the darling I remembered from last year; I enjoyed sitting next to her on lectures as it turned out we get the same jokes. She is also an excellent cook and an invaluable friend, and a quote-machine of the highest order!

Squatter was even more of a darling than I remembered, he made us feel instantly at home at the cottage (where the rest of them had already spent a week). He served us mead and showed unexpected talents at various fields such as captioning photographs ("people" or "things" or "a castle" or "people in front of a castle"), not to mention simultaneously teaching Old English poetry and serving as a footrest!

Kath was lovely as always; always cheerful, always a sweetheart, and always ready to cuddle! I am especially grateful to her for keeping a Gollum warm during our masquerade, as you can imagine I was more or less freezing in those nylons!

Oddwen has the loveliest evil grin, and she impressed me with her extensive Finnish vocabulary which included, among other things, "I am a sociopath". She isn't, however, even though we mostly communicated with grunts and squeals and other animal noises.

What can I say that is enough about Hookbill? He was the life and soul of the Moot. Such a generous, kind, responsible person - and a complete nutter at the same time! We told him he should move to Finland. I hope he does. I remember a particularly cute moment when he was driving Pom and myself to a bus stop and Imagine started playing, and the three of us sang along and it didn't feel cheesy at all.

Then there were the ones I only met during my too-brief stay at Return of the Ring, namely Bêthberry and Faramir Jones. I had met Bêth two years ago, though equally briefly, and it was a joy to see her again. She is just such a good person, very warm and open and kind; I hope that someday we'll have time for a proper long talk about everything and nothing.

I was sorry that me and Pom's travel plans got screwed up in a way that prevented us from meeting Faramir already in Dublin, but fortunately we got to see him in RotR. He was very much a gentleman, calm and polite and easy to talk to. And I agree with Hookbill - the accent is cool. (And, given that I had only just spent a month in Ireland, it made me feel curiously at home! )

There was, of course, also the delegation of Finns and Quasi-Finns (aka Legate). Of them, suffice to say that
- It was probably appropriate that Pom and I should dress as two personas of the same character as that was more or less what we were after over a month of travelling together;
- Lommy's achievements of the week included filling the kitchen with smoke while frying bacon, and helping the Gollums dress (and laughing at them in the process);
- Agan, unsurprisingly, amused herself by biting people and, a bit more surprpsingly, was very easy to steal hats from; and
- Legate sang a Christmas carol with an impressive falsetto, and I spent almost half my time at RotR being geeky with him on religion- and spirituality-themed lectures.

To sum up - I love you, folks. Every one of you. And lastly and most importantly: where there's a whip, there's a way.