‘Farthings’ is the name of Patrick’s home in Selsey. Back in the summer, when I went there for the interview, Chris came with the idea for a ‘zoo-meeting’ there, which we had this autumn. All members of the Galaxy Zoo forum were invited and it turned out the be a great party. Or weekend even.
I was travelling with David (a forum member from the Netherlands too), Tommy, Edd and Graham and I shared a room with these guys as well, which brought back feelings of those school camping trips, with Tommy warning us he brought tooth paste to put on our sleepy faces and Graham pretending to tip Tom’s bed over while tucking us in. Before we checked into this nice hotel, which became a zoo hotel with us having Geoff, Annie and Els as our neighbours, we went for a walk on the beach.
Els is from Belgium by the way and she is very sweet. She made ‘Smarties’ with Galaxy Zoo inscriptions on them for all attending the party. And the party was great. Last time I was in this house – where you just feel at home right away - I didn’t see the telescopes, but this night we had a look at them. Besides meeting some new faces, most of the regular visitors were there too and of course it was nice to see Patrick again.
We had (a lot of) dinner, when Tommy said something to me. Neither of us can remember what exactly, but it was something like: “You’re the … on my …” and for some reason I remember it being about ketchup. Anyway, Chris heard it and said: “Hanny, you know that’s only true if forty people agree with it!” (referring to the statistics of Galaxy Zoo), which sort of became a theme for the evening.
After a long night of fascinating stargazing, of the inevitable and awesome card tricks from Edd, of so much laughter my tummy ached and even some sleep, we went for another walk on the beach. It was beautiful autumn weather for that. We played like kids, we looked for shells and we just chatted away while walking. After that, we had lunch and then it was time for Graham to drive us back to London…
These are just a few anecdotes of that weekend that felt like a too short holiday, and here are some pictures to remember it by too.
Els and me on the stairs at Farthings. Credit: Graham Bowes.
Chris and me, also at Farthings. Credit: Graham Bowes.
Graham and me, still at Farthings. I think Harry took this picture.
Me on the Selsey beach. Credit: Edd Edmondson.
Tommy posing with his artwork for me. ‘HH’ has become a sort of nickname, which stands for ‘Hanny Honey’ (or the other way around, you don’t hear the difference in pronunciation anyway). Credit: Graham Bowes.
One Comment
A great weekend and great to meet Sir Patrick.