Colchester Meetup

karen07814 sent me a message inviting me to the Colchester meetup, we had met before at the Ipswich meetup. The Colchester meetup is once a month at the Purple Dog (I recommend the bangers and mash!). It was a nice surprise to see Pakasanelly, who also goes to Ipswich and had brought along her husband - hope we didn't freak him out too much! Seadbed was also there right from the start, and brought a possible newbie Carole. Last, but not least there was Sidbar. Unfortunately, a regular from Harwich wasn't there.

As with most bookcrossing meetups, we started with the bookswapping free for all - a great selection (see below). There were good book discussions - it seems that Brokeback Mountain got the thumbs down, which wasn't as good as The Shipping News (on my TBR pile). A few of us had read Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, very funny send up of the current political climate.

Although, as per usual, the conversation soon moved off topic - starting with farm shops and continueing with growing your own food. Then we talked about how you are, or how old people see you. I really think that you are as old as you feel (which, depending on the day, can oscillate between 15 and 40 for me!).
The talk then turned to outdoor wild releasing, something that I haven't done - due to the fear of the book getting wet or thrown away. Pakanasally has gone far to change my mind with her Christmas Tree story - she found a tree which had been decorated on a winter's walk, and decided to release a book there. The book was caught and journalled.
Cookery show, Jamie Oliver's new series, computer games, children's TV shows.
One of the most interesting twists and turns was our discussion on Sidbar's self defence classes which start soon. The liberating experience of eating by yourself, which sadly only seems to be allowed on the continent or in Italian restaurants.

The next meeting is on Friday 21st.

I took along a random selection, due to my wee brother's clearing out and my own:
The Seal Wife
The Siege
Surfacing
When the Wind Blows
Son of Soup
Bergdorf Blondes
In Pale Battalions (diff. cover)
Flood Tide (A Dirk Pitt Novel) which had been rejected from a bookbox
This Other Eden
Inconceivable
Food for the Fishes (Marcus Corvinus Roman Mysteries)

I was *fairly* restrained and only picked up 4 books.
Faintheart: An Englishman Ventures North of the Border Will be fun to see what the English think of us!
A House for Mr. Biswas - I really enjoy reading his books.
Roots of Stone: The Story of Those Who Came Before
Annie John