What can I say? Amazing might begin cover it! I don't really have the words for just how it felt to finally get to meet Lisa after so many years of solely electronic communication but to those who suggest you can't actually know someone via the internet etc. one word comes to mind...codswallop! Lisa is Lisa, just like I knew she would be. :o)The weekend was fabulous, it began with a manically excited woman (er...that would be myself), who having caught sight of Lisa and Ian pulling into the car park three floors below, shot out of the door, took the six flights of stairs four at a time and raced across said car park 'whooping' loudly to greet them! Hey, I waited over four years for this moment, there was absolutely no chance of me waiting any longer! :o)
After lots of hugs all round and some effort on my part not to dissolve into tears we made our way (only slightly more sedately) indoors....where almost immediately Hammy disgraced herself by greeting Lisa's finger with a bite sufficient to require a ten minute effort at stopping the copious bleeding! Me and this hamster are going to have a little talk on the issue of 'appropriate greetings' later!
First aid and band-aid having been administered the weekend progressed in a blur of chattering, laughing, eating and drinking....believe me Lisa and Leffe make a very amusing combination, I don't think I have laughed so much in my life as we tried to prop one another up in our efforts get to the bathroom in various establishments.....and really, you just don't know how difficult it can be to work out how the hand dryer operates!
Now Lisa will tell you it was she that was a little worse for wear....but it was me who spent five whole minutes trying to get into the wrong flat when we eventually returned home and I was only persuaded it was actually the wrong one when the resident on the other side of the door became concerned and I actually looked at the door number!! Ok, ok, I got out of the lift one floor early!
We talked and laughed late into the night, it felt like we had always been together in 'real life' but I couldn't help but keep wanting to pinch myself to believe it was actually happening!
On Sunday morning Lisa made us all the long promised breakfast of American pancakes... which were to die for. I don't do breakfast but I could change the habit of a lifetime for those. If anyone ever tells you pancakes, bacon and maple syrup aren't a good combination they are very wrong!....and yes, 40 years of vegetarianism has begun to slip a little I will admit. I blame Fletch...I was tee total too until I met him, the man has a corrupting influence! ;o)We spent the afternoon wandering around Cambridge city center in true British fashion in the pouring rain and then all too soon it was time for them to leave. Where did the weekend go....surely that wasn't two days?? It couldn't possibly have been!
For logistical reasons we accompanied them to their next 'port of call' and then it was time to say goodbye :o( ....but not for long, we get to hook up again later in the week sometime :o)
Like I said at the start of this post...what can I say? Lisa is Lisa, my best friend, my 'sister', my confidante, the same person I have known for almost five years online...only better and it was just so special and so much fun to spend some time together and to meet Ian at last.
How do you say 'America is much too far away'?
We have to hatch a cunning plan.....
20 Comments:
awww... I had such a fab time! Thanks for the day in Cambridge. It was wonderful. Glad you liked the pancakes. Today, it was scrambled duck eggs, sharp cheese, onions and garlic with a side of back bacon. Yum.
There was no...err... hovering. lol
Hey..... ;o)
Breakfast sounds yummy...but not a patch on American pancakes!! :o) Lol @ 'and no hovering'! Heh ;o)
Ohhh Maple Syrup with Bacon :O)))))
Sounds like you had a marvellous time as expected. And yes, bacon and pancakes are the best. Try some sharp cheddar cheese on them next time. I turned up my nose too when I first heard of it but the combination of the cheese and the syrup... mmmmm!
Ah, you have been converted to the church of Aunt Jemima. Welcome to our world my dear, and if you do make it over here without stopping here in Rochester, I'll be quite put out! ;-)
I remember meeting my Scottish friend Steve for the first time, face-to-face, after 6 years of communicating first by letter, then e-mail. Steve and I were both paramedics, he with the Scottish Ambulance Service at the time, me in NYC. (We met via a mutual acquaintance, as we were both writers for our respective countries professional journals.) We finally met up in Scotland in 1999, and then a month later, he came to NYC on business and stayed with me.
Glad you had such a great time!
Oh, and I just noticed; you happen to be good friends with women who are blond and wear glasses. First Zoe, now Lisa...What gives? ;-)
Oh!
That means you won't like me then. :O(
I have brown hair and no longer wear glasses!
Glad you had a fab time though!!
Fletch: Awesome eh? ;o)
Tash: Lol...I love that phrase "turned up my nose" heh. I'll just have to get Lisa back now to make some with cheese too! ;o)
Mr Nighttime: Lol...count on it! NY is my #1 destination...we just have to convince Fletch now, who 'hates cities'! PPbbtt.
On the blonde hair and glasses...dang! you sussed my 'preference'! lol ;o)
Trac: heh...I don't think it's actually prerequisit...Mr N just likes to fantasise! ;o)
So pleased you had such a great time and hopefully there will be more reunions.
"heh...I don't think it's actually prerequisit...Mr N just likes to fantasise! ;o)"
Well the both of you ARE easy on he eyes... (slaps self in the face repeatedly.)
In that photo, you two look like you could really be sisters! It sounds like you had an awesome time.
Gosh Jane, You look like twins never mind sisters, glad you had a great time and hope it won't be long before another get together is planned. Cheers, Kate X.
Wow Gem, the excitement certainly comes across in that post! So glad you all had such a good time.
I'm so thrilled for the two of you and it's amazing that you two even look like sisters standing side by side like that.
From the sound of a phone call today (and the background noise), it appears that half of the UK was on the sauce, as it were.
Now that's cooler than cool! I'm sooo happy for you :o)
BD - That was later on. :)
Loved reading this!
So smashing!
It's nice to see you all. (y'all?) :o)
Sounds fantastic, Gem, and it's true - you do look alike. I'm going to try and get to Florida one day. When I'm rich - coz my lil sis lives there ;)
I'm so glad that you had a good time ;)
Zoe - You should try around Christmas.. flights are kind of low then.. and toward the first 3 months of the year, you'll see some cheaper fares flying about. Not that I'm addicted to checking airfares or anything.
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