Lunch at Astrolabe Road

I guess that this post is just for my regular readers.

Lunch today at Astrolabe Road. From left to right Noric Dilanchian, Clare Belshaw, Neil Whitfield and Dennis Sligar.

I cooked roast lamb in the weber kettle BBQ.

Not a big group, but discussion ranged widely across books, writing, our respective blogging friends, the internet and the vagaries of life. It was one of those lunches that I so much enjoy with interesting people talking in interesting ways about things that I am interested in.

Three of us are bloggers, while not a blogger the fourth uses his writing skills in a professional sense.

I didn't talk a lot for much of the time, just listened while I was preparing or serving food.  

Clare talked about her writing projects. In a way, she is is bad as me with just too many projects!

I hadn't seen Neil since Lord Malcolm's funeral. Then I was a relatively new blogger. I didn't know Lord Malcolm, but went with Neil's approval because I had heard so much about him via Neil.

The internet is wonderful, I have made so many friends via that medium, but nothing really beats personal contact. I was thinking over lunch as I have done before that it really would be nice if I could continue putting together people who might not have met but who share interests in common with me.

I write a lot about writing, the internet and the need for change. But as I chatted to Neil tonight about things that I had written about but could not actually explain explicitly on line, I thought how easy it was when you can actually talk.

I think that all this gives me something to aim for in the next stage of my life. As an example, Clare's writing projects may or may not proceed, but talking to people who are interested and can offer support increases the chances of success.

Well, I have washing up to do. I should do that!  

Postscript

Neil has run a companion post on the lunch - Sunday lunch in Daceyville - with some additional material on the suburb plus a photo of me holding forth! Over lunch, Clare was talking about her art work. This is a piece in progress commissioned by one of her friends.

Clare's painting continues: