>Fully understand commitments for this year, maybe 2003? Apart from an >opportunity to meet and exchange ideas whilst taking photographs, is there a >theme, or is this a discussion point along with a suitable central venue - I >suppose I am asking for knowledge of past events here.
My dear Malcolm, In the autumn of last year, I was envious of the annual gathering that is 'Grandfather Mountain', and expressed an interest in something in the UK, along similar lines. Several people emailed me showing interest, some from the USA, some from continental Europe. I semi-volunteered to co-ordinate a gathering for sometime this year. Due to work and family commitments I won't be able to put in the effort I wanted to, hence my earlier post. I mooted Grandmother London before the events of September 11th in New York, when attitudes regarding air travel were a little different. Interest expressed by US PDMLers who were contemplating travelling to Europe included those who would build in a Grandmother London excursion, and so firm dates would be essential so as not to frustrate those, and others, coming from abroad. I suspect that Sept 11th may have changed some attitudes slightly or greatly. Either way, it sort of put a damper on things. If UK members were just going to meet up somewhere for a drink, it might not be too inviting for those wishing to attend from abroad. But then again, is that necessarily a prerequisite? If it's a UK meet, should we not just have a UK meet at our convenience and if anyone from outside can make it, well and good? Or maybe a meet for a day at a zoo, which may (or may not) attract non-UK based PDMLers? Or maybe a cattery ;-) ? Or how about just going round and round on the London Eye - hire a bubble for the whole day with a great big banner saying PDML stuck on it, get on and off whenever you like! If I could spend the time, I would have organised a weekend of it: a meet and greet Saturday morning, lunch in a bistro, an afternoons shooting at a desired venue, hotel wash and brush up, followed by an evening strolling around a photo gallery, followed by restaurant meal with after dinner speaker from Pentax UK (wo)man wielding MZ-D prototypes for us to play with... That takes not a little organising, not to mention a lot of persuasion and time! So, I'm all for a drink in a pub followed by a photographic tour of Big Ben's gear housings, but unfortunately, I can't organise it. I had to get special dispensation from the SO just to sit writing THIS? (She's given up trying to interrupt me while I'm typing - sends slams written notes onto my desk instead. Let's see - the latest one says 'Can you get the cat box down for me - I can't do it'.) Off to get the cat box down (God only knows why), Cotty _______________________________________________________ Personal email traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] MacAds traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Check out the UK Macintosh ads http://www.macads.co.uk - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
