December MiniMeet: a plan comes together
Nov. 7th, 2011 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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writercon_ukHi all. daiseechain has forsaken her secretarial duties and is somewhere deliciously not the UK right now (curse her name thrice). So she's asked me to let you know where we have got to with planning our minimeet at the British Museum on 10 December.
Meeting Up: where and when
We'll foregather at the Montague Place entrance of the BM at 13.30. AKA The Back of the Building, it is next to room 34 on this not wholly pellucid ground plan. Room 34 is our first port of call if you miss the meet up, anyway. This is way, way quieter than the main entrance, even on Saturdays, so should help us to foregather. I may make Daisee wave a WriterconUK sign just in case, though...
What are we doing?
We're going to process through the non-European galleries on the East Wing, taking in cultures Islamic, Far Eastern, African and American, before looking at the galleries devoted to the old BM (very much Giles territory), taking in a temporary display about Hokusai's Great Wave and then seeing how our feet and knees are doing.
Further options include me dragging you upstairs for a room of medieval European glories, orquinara dragging you somewhere >>>over there>>>> to look at unidentified classical fragments. There are about 5-6 core rooms before we review how everyone's feeling and whether we want to see more.
Of course, there's masses more to see at the BM if you don't know the collections well. We wanted to keep this light and low-key, rather than a route march across the breadth of a crowded Saturday museum, and to pick rooms with some meaning for at least the Buffyish among attendees to enjoy. I am magnificently ignorant of almost all these cultures, despite Daisee's confident assertion I'll be telling you stuff ("This is dead good, innit? Really.... big."), but I guarantee that we'll see some beautiful things. I also guarantee some thought-provoking questions for the group to discuss as we explore (Sample: "Which of the deities portrayed in this room would you least like to fight in a confined space?" and "You are the First Slayer. Find three weapons and tell us how you'll be using them."). You should feel free to ignore me and look at the stuff instead.
Okay, but what about food and drink?
Tbc, tbh. I would like to suggest Tas, a very nearby Turkish place which does yummy mezze nibbles that are appropriate to eating at random times in the afternoon/evening, as we'll probably want to sit down rather earlier than standard dinner (should help with the booking, which is handy). Sadly, their website's been down for a month, so I can't link. If anyone knows Turkish is out of the question for their diet (apart from people whose dietary issues we know), please shout, and we'll try to find an alternative. Around there, it's mostly Italian otherwise, but we know that's not good for some of you.
Lots of pubs locally, but none are my faves, so if you want to nominate a good place, please let us know too. Or teashops, if that's how it takes you. *g*
What do I do now?
Await instructions, grasshopper. If you haven't signed up yet, please do so we can book a sensible number of seats for food. Suggestions re food and drink very welcome. Lobbying for extra rooms to visit in the BM... tolerated. Otherwise, if this all sounds good, we'll see you in a month or so!
daiseechain has forsaken her secretarial duties and is somewhere deliciously not the UK right now (curse her name thrice). So she's asked me to let you know where we have got to with planning our minimeet at the British Museum on 10 December. Meeting Up: where and when
We'll foregather at the Montague Place entrance of the BM at 13.30. AKA The Back of the Building, it is next to room 34 on this not wholly pellucid ground plan. Room 34 is our first port of call if you miss the meet up, anyway. This is way, way quieter than the main entrance, even on Saturdays, so should help us to foregather. I may make Daisee wave a WriterconUK sign just in case, though...
What are we doing?
We're going to process through the non-European galleries on the East Wing, taking in cultures Islamic, Far Eastern, African and American, before looking at the galleries devoted to the old BM (very much Giles territory), taking in a temporary display about Hokusai's Great Wave and then seeing how our feet and knees are doing.
Further options include me dragging you upstairs for a room of medieval European glories, or
quinara dragging you somewhere >>>over there>>>> to look at unidentified classical fragments. There are about 5-6 core rooms before we review how everyone's feeling and whether we want to see more. Of course, there's masses more to see at the BM if you don't know the collections well. We wanted to keep this light and low-key, rather than a route march across the breadth of a crowded Saturday museum, and to pick rooms with some meaning for at least the Buffyish among attendees to enjoy. I am magnificently ignorant of almost all these cultures, despite Daisee's confident assertion I'll be telling you stuff ("This is dead good, innit? Really.... big."), but I guarantee that we'll see some beautiful things. I also guarantee some thought-provoking questions for the group to discuss as we explore (Sample: "Which of the deities portrayed in this room would you least like to fight in a confined space?" and "You are the First Slayer. Find three weapons and tell us how you'll be using them."). You should feel free to ignore me and look at the stuff instead.
Okay, but what about food and drink?
Tbc, tbh. I would like to suggest Tas, a very nearby Turkish place which does yummy mezze nibbles that are appropriate to eating at random times in the afternoon/evening, as we'll probably want to sit down rather earlier than standard dinner (should help with the booking, which is handy). Sadly, their website's been down for a month, so I can't link. If anyone knows Turkish is out of the question for their diet (apart from people whose dietary issues we know), please shout, and we'll try to find an alternative. Around there, it's mostly Italian otherwise, but we know that's not good for some of you.
Lots of pubs locally, but none are my faves, so if you want to nominate a good place, please let us know too. Or teashops, if that's how it takes you. *g*
What do I do now?
Await instructions, grasshopper. If you haven't signed up yet, please do so we can book a sensible number of seats for food. Suggestions re food and drink very welcome. Lobbying for extra rooms to visit in the BM... tolerated. Otherwise, if this all sounds good, we'll see you in a month or so!
