As part of my trip to the other side of the world, I was interested in catching up with as many other TM's as I could.
I had a fairly packed schedule and wasn't exactly sure if the plan would work or fall flat.
The flight from NZ to Singapore was about 11 hrs, then we had to hang around for 6 hrs for the next leg to London.
This was another 14 or so hours, so after 31 hrs + it was pleasing to not have to decide how to escape Heathrow.
Obviously the first minion was Shabaz who graciously played chauffeur, tour guide and host.
Since I'd only had some naps he had wisely chose a very relaxed look around Windsor and Eton before helping me find a train.
I then went to Brussels where Frederick was kind enough to meet me in Brussels and guide me to his place.
To be honest I don't think I would have made it on my own.
After some tea and some very nice Belgium beers that didn't have a label, and required a secret knock on the monks door to purchase, it was time for bed after about 48 hours with little sleep.
On sunday we headed into Brussels and I and joined these two together.
Frederick and I were standing in the train station going " What does Jan look like? "
I think the bags were a clue ...
So we set off on a walk around Brussels that included stopping to sample the Ales.
After a very interesting walk around Brussels with a very capable and knowledgeable guide, it was time to photograph the three of us.
It's a trick used in the Lord of the Rings that Frederick is much larger ... perhaps we should have done it with the beers ...
Back to London on Eurostar which was a very interesting trip.
Luckily the illegal immigrants were trying to get on the freight trains not ours ...
On Monday night I managed to get two London based minions together.
Shabaz, Andy Clark and I headed to an English pub and had a beer and meal.
We convinced the waitress to take some pictures.
By now you can start to see a theme occurring ... minions and beer ??... NO three minions.
The next meeting was during the visit to Leeds.
Spanner met us and we had a tour of the Farnell/element14 distribution facility.
I managed to convince the security man that he could aim the camera and we would be safe.
The difficulty I have with this picture is ... is it three minions.??
Technically Spanner answers to our female master Nicole ...so maybe it is 3 minions.
I did get to meet Christopher Stanton, Dudley Nelson, Matt Collinge, Peter Earle and see the internal workings ...
I'm also waiting to see the other pictures that Spanner has of me after setting me up during the factory tour ...
The next minion meeting was with John Alexander who stayed and was an excellent navigator ( when he was awake ... ).
We took this one at Cambridge as he kicked my butt at Asteriods ....
On sunday Shabaz came up from London to meet at Bletchly Park.
This is an amazing place and if you get the opportunity I strongly suggest a visit along with the Computing Centre, which is in the same grounds but outside the Bletchy Museum area..
The statue is of Alan Turing and was made from slate.
We did get some strange looks standing outside the doors for this one .... I'm sure it was the bag ...
So all told I got to meet 6 other minions.
I did offer to meet with some others but sadly that wasn't possible for various reasons.
Unfortunately time was against me meeting with Iain Selsinork who was a TM some time back.
I'm also hoping to catch up with Christian DeFeo.
So I've finally got to put faces to the contacts I've made within the element14 community.
Thanks for your hospitality, help and putting up with a kiwi that is a long way from his natural habitat....
Mark
PS
Any chance element14 wants some tour pictures and product placement in USA/Canada as there are some more there to meet....
