The Bloggiest

David Scrimshaw has been having Canada Day brunches for many many years. Most of the people there yesterday had gone to one before, and so knew that when David emailed "10 am for brunch," it was like saying "show starts at 9 pm" to a bunch of indie rockers. Most people showed up at 11:30, perfect indie rock timing. Eric and I, having never gone to one before, and being pretty punctual people in general, showed up at 10 sharp. I'd even been worried about being late and holding up the proceedings, picturing people sitting around a table surreptitiously checking their watches at 10:05.

I knocked on the door a couple of times, but no one answered. I'd seen bodies moving about and had double-checked the address, so I was sure we were in the right place. I got shy and shifted from foot-to-foot until Eric took the reins and gave the door a jaunty but very firm series of knocks. Someone who was very definitely not David Scrimshaw opened the door. We all introduced ourselves, she looked at me oddly and introduced herself, saying "You're the first here." I realized that we were very definitely not holding up the proceedings, and had, in fact, made the opposite faux pas of turning up on time when "on time = early" and had interrupted the time-honoured tradition of friends doing last minute things while the host cleaned himself up.

But really, good on us. The woman who answered the door quickly revealed herself to be Agatha, both Elgin Street Irregular and Muse! Although David Scrimshaw is a very nice man in his own right, I really was hoping that I would also get to meet some of the Irregulars, since I know he hangs out with them from time to time.

We chatted a little nervously, at least on my side, feeling a bit awkward about the e-to-face shift. We all went into the kitchen, and met the fruit-peeling man I'd seen through the window. Eric and I helped peel oranges for the fruit salad and Eric kindly offered to keep the last cup of coffee black so we could share it.

Fruit salad made, the fruit-peeling man wiped his hands off. "Now that I'm cleaned off, I'd like to shake a paw." The Coyote! This was turning out to be a very exciting morning.

None of the other Irregulars revealed themselves to me, though I did put two and two together about the Chair, and someone pointed out the Independent Observer and Harmony.

Another blogger also made an appearance. I recognized her as soon as she walked in, and tugged on Eric's sleeve.

"That's Zoom!" I whispered.
"What? Sue?"
"No, no, Zoom! From Knitnutdotnet!" Only I was so excited I think I said knitnetdotcom. Either way, Eric smiled at me like he thought I was being very cute.

It was great to be shown around David's house a little. Agatha showed me some arresting mobiles he'd made out of typewriters and slide projectors, and coming down the stairs from looking at the platen mobile I noticed the faceboard. Very exciting indeed.

I went home with my belly full of delicious food and my brain full of new faces. And full of bloggy goodness.