The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Meeting Dr Maroon

As I sat in the bar of the hotel waiting for Dr Maroon, I realised I was actually feeling a bit nervous.

Would he find the place; would he chicken out; would he be anything like he comes across in his blog; and, of course, what on earth would he look like? Young, scruffy, tall and Asian, or short, old, posh and Caucasian? It did feel somewhat like a blind date.

At one point a small, well-dressed, middle-aged woman wandered into the bar and hesitated as she looked around. Surely not, I thought, but then one of the bar staff said “Ah, Mary!” and promptly took her elsewhere in the hotel to discuss their business.

Is it a good idea to meet up with another blogger when you know little about them other than what you have read on their site? For him, I guess there was less to be worried about, as on this blog I don’t hide who I am; in fact there are even photos of me. But all I knew about Dr M was that he was a good writer and had a sense of humour that I enjoyed. If he was to be believed in what he’d written in various blog comments over the past few months, then I also knew that he was Scottish and lived less than 100 miles from the Central Belt of Scotland.

He could be a homicidal axe-wielding maniac, although he would be a well-educated, thoughtful and occasionally witty homicidal axe-wielding maniac, so that wouldn’t be so bad.

Far worse though, was the prospect that he might be some sad sod who wanted to show me his nasal hair collection or recite the names and birth dates of every Dundee United player since 1903.

I’m not into hero worship; I’ve never been awe-struck by meeting stars or celebrities in the flesh; and I’ve never been impressed by people name-dropping. The fact is, however, that I really enjoy Dr Maroon’s posts and comments and there was certainly a bit of concern that meeting him in the flesh might taint future readings.

Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. If I was to say he was a nice bloke or a decent enough chap then you’ll end up with an image of Hugh Grant from his “4 Weddings…” days, and that would be inaccurate. But he was good company and I did enjoy our lunch together. In fact, it was quite reassuring to meet a real live, flesh-and-blood person who also experiences the problem of time displacement when blogging: of how entire mornings can seem to vanish in only ten minutes.

So the risk was taken that meeting the man behind one of the more enjoyable blogs on the net would lead to disappointment but, if anything, I think it will actually make reading his blog a fuller experience.

Next time though he can pay for lunch instead of making an excuse to go to the bathroom, climb out the window and, tyres screeching, drive away in what, frankly, I considered was rather a reckless manner…

UPDATE

DR MAROON'S RIGHT OF REPLY.

“Oh, for the love of….“
was Kim’s astonished welcome at the bar.
“are you at least a doctor?”
he continued doubtfully.

I should have taken my certificates, because he has the unnerving ability to make you want to confess and for the life of me I couldn’t remember the title of my Doctoral Opus or much of what it was about, (though I didn’t tell him that). He is perceptive. A bit too bloody perceptive if you ask me, and I hadn’t really realised how seriously I was beginning to take myself.

Kim and his beard had the crisps, while I was allowed to choose from Cap‘n Bob’s Pirate Platters (½ portions, but you get an apple as well).

You know, he says he’s not into hero worship, why then did he ask me to autograph his arm with a felt pen which he produced for that purpose?

On a more serious note, neither of us I noticed, had a negative word to say about anyone round here, even though by that time we were “amongst ourselves” and could have.

We did look behind the curtain at the silly bloke pulling the levers, but that‘s blogging I suppose.

Blog on, me bredren!

14 comments

Foot Eater said...

That's all you're going to give us? Hell, Kim, dish the dirt.

Glad you had a good lunch together.

Binty McShae said...

But does he even look remotely like his Cogs character...?

Monstee said...

Things me have learned about Dr. Maroon from Kim:

Personality facts - Good Company, experiences problems, dodges lunch bills

Physical facts - real live, flesh-and-blood person.

Now, due to lack of information, me am now inclined to believe Kim am being kind and Dr. Maroon am akin to some Gollum-esk creature with good personality and more boils than unwashed fishing village.

Really Kim!!! How you do this to us and not give us full description of everything. Me am dying here! PLEASE!!!! What you both have for lunch?!?

Binty McShae said...

Ah, yes... choice of food and accompanying beverage can tell a lot about a man...

Kim Ayres said...

Ah now, come on lads/lasses/things/delete as appropriate. How sporting would it be to start giving away information about a fellow blogger you won't have picked up from his/hers/its website or comments?

I'm sure if I'd met any of you for lunch, you'd not want me spilling the beans (if that's an appropriate phrase to use).

All I will reveal is that he's not a milion miles away from his Blunt Cogs image (he does share the same number of eyes, for example).

Dr Maroon said...

RIGHT OF REPLY.

“Oh, for the love of….“
was Kim’s astonished welcome at the bar.
“are you at least a doctor?”
he continued doubtfully.

I should have taken my certificates, because he has the unnerving ability to make you want to confess and for the life of me I couldn’t remember the title of my Doctoral Opus or much of what it was about, (though I didn’t tell him that). He is perceptive. A bit too bloody perceptive if you ask me, and I hadn’t really realised how seriously I was beginning to take myself.

Kim and his beard had the crisps, while I was allowed to choose from Cap‘n Bob’s Pirate Platters (½ portions, but you get an apple as well).

You know, he says he’s not into hero worship, why then did he ask me to autograph his arm with a felt pen which he produced for that purpose?

On a more serious note, neither of us I noticed, had a negative word to say about anyone round here, even though by that time we were “amongst ourselves” and could have.
We did look behind the curtain at the silly bloke pulling the levers, but that‘s blogging I suppose.
Blog on, me bredren!

Dr Maroon said...

Aha! You said you wouldn't mention the nasal hair!

Kim Ayres said...

That's too good to leave in the comments, Doc, so I'll add your post to the main one as an update.

Siddharth said...

lucky that u got 2
meet a writer whom u read.i
try and read blogs (including urs)with just as much seriousness like i would read an article in a magazine or something.and the nice thing abt bloggers is that we get 2 respond and react 2 each others write ups.i have met a couple of bloggers myself.one of them is a disabled person.

hey i liked ur valentine's article.i 2 dont like the consumerism which seems 2 have become associated with that event.or any other major festival so 2 speak.

k,cheers,
sid

michael the tubthumper said...

i wondered if any fellow bloggers got round to meeting eventually.

this is actually quite a cheering story

how did the recognising each other thing work? did you stand under the clock in central or wear a green tie? did you both have little signs?

Kim Ayres said...

Siddharth - Dr Maroon was the first blogger I've met who I didn't know before I started blogging. Of course what made it easier to meet him than most of the people who visit here was that he lives less than 150 miles away

Michael - the advantage was with Dr M because my photo is on my header as well as my profile, so he knew who to look for.

We were originally going to initiate some covert phrase such as "The swallows fly low when midgies swarm", but as there were only about 4 people in the bar, including the bar staff, it was quite unnecessary. Well, that and the bright yellow top hat he was wearing with the words DR MROOAN flashing in red lights...

SheBah said...

Dr M quote: “Oh, for the love of….“

Did Maroon come dressed as a monk? Is he a monk?


Dr M quote: “(½ portions, but you get an apple as well).” Half portions? Is he extremely young? A spotty student?

C’mon Kim, do tell more!

Kim Ayres said...

Sorry Sexybeauty, I have to refer you back to my comments above. If Dr Maroon isn't giving away these kinds of details, then it wouldn't be fair for me to do so.

I will say there was something of the Heathcliffe about him, but I'll leave it to you to decide whether I'm talking about Wuthering Heights, or the cartoon cat...

Gyrobo said...

Blogging and real life go together like milk and pickled tomatoes.

Delicious.

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