I thoroughly enjoyed myself Friday night. My worst fear was not being able to find people. Fortunately, as I walked in the pub, there was a man in the doorway making a phonecall, and he greeted me warmly. For a split second, my mind went entirely blank: Who is this person? Do I know them from somewhere? The next split second I realised it was Stuart, who told me people were downstairs. I went to the bar, he went to look for lost souls. As I was stood at the bar, a woman alongside me - Meg - greeted me with a warm smile. It was the first of quite a few pleasant-weird moments, a bit like meeting a celebrity, because you recognise them, and know something about them, but don't actually know them. I had a similar feeling with Cath, Owen, Mike and 'bel. Also with Tammy, even though I did the embarrassing "I know you from somewhere". I am annoyed at myself for not spending more time with Vaughan and I also met some very nice people who I haven't really read (regularly) before.
My other great fear had been that I would find that somebody whose blog I loved would turn out to be not a very nice person. But I was relieved and pleased that, if anything, people were without exception, warmer than how I read their blogs.
