Britain, beware. This Dutchman is coming to you this March.
I'm having a "getting-away-from-all-the-crap-in-my-life" moment put into an early vacation. From the 11th of March until the 22th 4th of March until the 18th of March I will be cruising through Great Britain. Only have one set appointment on the 17th with a boat taking me to the Ross Revenge, home of Radio Caroline, who then have a live broadcast from the ship.
It's been 28 years since I've last been on board, so that's going to be interesting.

In any case, if any of you want to meet up with me for a prod & poke, that's possible.
I know Richard and Annie want to meet me, but if any of you are interested as well... I'll be traveling with my own car, so aside from London City I should be able to go anywhere.

If you want to meet, PM me. Or post here.
Let me know your general area and when you're available.

And else I'll just travel to some places for a look-see and such. Wouldn't mind having a traveling companion though.

All righty then. I've got my ferry crossings booked, and the first week is full. Well, if the good people who offered me a place to stay over don't get sick of my face within a day. :)
The middle weekend is also full, with my visit to the Ross Revenge centerpiece.
Leaves the second week, 18-21 March (I travel back the 22nd, have to be in port at 7am). If you know what I can do, aside from meet Annie, then let me know.
Richard already opted for me to find a central place to stay over so y'all can travel there and visit me. That way I don't have to drive hither and thither.

So go ahead, tell me. Yeah, it's my vacation, I don't want to do much. :)

Not to mention meet up with each other!

Will this be involved?

Hic ;-)

That appears to be a yes, party on.

I guess the first round's on me, but then I'm skint. And I don't join in on drinking it either. Haven't touched the stuff in 11.5 years, aren't gonna start now.

Still trying to get a lady-friend to come along with me. She's thinking.

I guess the first round's on me, but then I'm skint. And I don't join in on drinking it either. Haven't touched the stuff in 11.5 years, aren't gonna start now.

Still trying to get a lady-friend to come along with me. She's thinking.

Is that what made you to become a mod?

How middle would Coventry be?

How middle would Coventry be?

I suggested Stratford (not yours) or Warwick, so we're thinking the same ball park.

Tamworth or Lichfield.

I remember Lichfield (just). Handover point between parents and grandparents, between Manchester and Oxford. Age probably about 9 or 10.

Is that what made you to become a mod?

I was a moderator on here before I quit drinking. I even was the first volunteer moderator at Seti, as Rom at the time would deputize me and did it on the wrong forums. :)
I quit drinking because of a comment someone made, which registered and made me see if I could do without the stuff. First a week, then 2, then 4, then 3 months, then half a year and then just figured better never to touch the stuff again. It's useful when going to town and the person I'm with drinks: they always have a driver back home. I don't mind, I have fun without alcohol. Even dare to talk to women now without having to drink myself into a stupor first.

Richard already opted for me to find a central place to stay over so y'all can travel there and visit me. That way I don't have to drive hither and thither.

I've been following this conversation with some interest :-).

There were quite a few posts between the one I'm responding to and the very first. They've disappeared. Any particular reason for that?

I like the concept of a central place. I hope something along those lines eventuates. More time for reminiscing as a group, less wasted travel time going to separate locations.

I'm reminded a bit about what happened at the Einstein Open Day in July 2011. The chance to put faces (and face to face conversation) to what were just (mostly) 'handles' and 'walls of text' was a quite enjoyable and uplifting experience :-). In many ways you are organising a 'better' deal because at events like an Open Day, you're supposed to be paying attention to what the organisers want you to focus on :-). With your arrangement you can set your own agenda. If I were in the UK at that time (it's a bit too soon for me), I'd come and meet you (and any others) for sure. I met Richard in 2011 but didn't get enough time to really 'chew the fat.'

I've been thinking for a while to suggest to Bruce that a 15th anniversary 'EAH celebration' in 2020 might be a good idea. It also occurs to me that many projects have a core of volunteers that support the BOINC concept and have done so for many years. These people (I imagine) tend to be 'oldies' who are using their supporting of various projects as a means of stimulating their remaining mental faculties :-) whilst making contributions to what they deem as worthwhile scientific endeavour. If I'm honest, this is what I'm doing and maybe others are too :-).

I'm wondering if others may be interested in some sort of (sufficiently into the) future 'reunion' that is not project, or even BOINC, oriented. Would there be any interest in picking a geographic location (probably either Europe or the US) where a group of interested participants could assemble for a short period (one to a few days perhaps) and get to know each other and share experiences before heading off to do other activities, sightseeing, etc. I'd certainly be interested in hosting something in Brisbane, Australia, but I imagine that might be too far away for some people to cope with.

I took my wife to the Open Day in 2011 and combined it with a 7 week European tour. We arrived a week before the Open Day and stayed in Hanover for a further week afterwards. We also visited Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, where we spent a week with a family who had hosted our eldest daughter as a one year exchange student some 20+ years earlier. The final week was spent in the UK before returning home. We certainly didn't realise at the time that this was going to be a very important time together.

Within a year or so after that, she was diagnosed with an initial round of breast cancer. In all, she had 3 separate occurrences, with a bilateral mastectomy after the third round and all were diagnosed and dealt with very quickly when they occurred. The medical advice at the time was that we should be OK as the diagnoses were quite early each time. However that wasn't to be as she then developed a non-operable lung cancer (triggered by the third breast cancer) that was very aggressive. She passed away 2 years ago, just five months after the lung cancer was detected. I'm forever grateful that we were able to do that trip together before all the sh*t happened. We had planned to do a lot more travel in what we thought were going to be the many years remaining. It's a sobering reminder that you just don't ever know what is around the corner.

So, Jord, I hope you have a very enjoyable holiday in the UK and get to meet lots of other BOINCers. I'd certainly enjoy meeting you and having a good yarn one of these days :-).

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Cheers,
Gary.

There were quite a few posts between the one I'm responding to and the very first. They've disappeared. Any particular reason for that?

I think you're confusing this thread with the initial post I made in the Seti is down thread. I made this thread to separate it out, make that others interested see my travel itineraries without having to go into that thread. Between the first and second post in this thread no one answered in the thread, only via PM and email.

As for central places where people meet, a couple of years ago there was a big BBQ in... the state escapes me, it was in the US. That was something people from multiple projects met and ate at. So it's done, just not so often.

As for my plan, I had planned to go on a vacation in January with a friend, but then in December we got into an extremely big dirty argument. So I moved things a couple of months as I wasn't going alone on that vacation. My friend and I have ceased our hostilities last week, we are now on a speaking basis, not as good as we were before though, f.i. she is on vacation with another friend as I type this.

And no, before some of you think, we're not romantically involved, we're just really good together, she's just a really good friend of mine, the one I can tell things to I can't to anyone else, do things with no one else is interested in. Although when we're fighting we're going nuclear at it as well. And where other relationships then fall apart, we only get stronger out of these. This August we know each other 10 years. Not bad for one person diagnosed HSP, the other ASD. The end of our fights just take time, a month, maybe more before things normalize. So there's a chance I take her along with me on my trip, although I doubt she will. She's thinking about it.

At the time I planned the previous vacation I didn't know yet where we'd go to. When the argument started, I set my sights on England. And to spite her, set the dates so it would cross her birthday. Which now... if she wants to come along... may cost me... ;-)

I think you're confusing this thread with the initial post ...

Ahhh ... so that's where the missing stuff was hiding :-).

I don't browse over here all that regularly so when I saw the thread title (and the Radio Caroline reference in the content) I was easily convinced that this was the very same stuff I'd seen initially, but quite a bit earlier.

So thanks very much for pointing out how senile I'm becoming :-).

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Cheers,
Gary.

Well. Checking out my route from Harwich, I noticed I have 5 roundabouts within the first kilometer. If I don't learn to navigate those things by then, I'll never learn. :)

Small update: it's definitive, I'm coming alone. The friend has made up her mind and said she wants to be here for her birthday. Her wish.
Was thinking of making it a night drive to Richard, but then found I have to go through Bradford and I may not want to do that by night. I don't mind driving in the dark, not even in another country. It's usually calmer out there then. Just don't know how Richard feels when I bang on his door at 1am.

Meanwhilst, a muscle got stuck in my back, just on the right side of my left shoulder blade. At least, that was this morning. During the day a larger group of muscles joined in and now everything from the left to the right on my upper back is stiff and painful, and I can't look left or right without hellish pains. Got a physiotherapist appointment on Wednesday.

Yes, driving into Bradford is easy, driving out of Bradford is easy, but driving through Bradford is a pain in the fundament. (Bradford sits in a bowl in the hills: 'into' means downhill, 'out of' means uphill, but picking the right hill is tricky)

I'll send you some suggested routes.

If you're bypassing London to head North, best stay on the A120 all the way to Birchanger (Stanstead), then onto the M11. That merges with the A14 just past Cambridge so watch for the roadworks on there. Once you past Huntingdon follow signs for the A1. Harwich to A1 is approx. 2.5 hours.

Edit: Whether or not you visit London 1st or not, you will need to use the A120 anyway. Piece of good advice - Watch your speed on it, there are several points on it that the police operate radar sites.

Forgot to say they are mobile radar sites.

Also if bypassing London, just past Elmstead the A120 becomes the A12 skirting the edge of Colchester. Near Marks Tey, the A12 veers left to London & the A120 veers to the right to Braintree & Stanstead.