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!
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!
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