Glad to see the back of you

That's great Bags so glad you will be coming. Us NE grans will probably get on your train at Newcastle.

Great news Bags. We are booked on the 10.30 from Waverley and back on the 17.20 from Darlington. Hope you can join us!

I can come

Yeah! I'm counting.

Hi..looks like it will all work out..so count me in please!

Hope so, Bags. !

I'm keeping my fingers crossed Bags – although that does make tpyig fiddicult.

Still hoping to come. If I can come, I might even be on the same train from Edinburgh as the 'easter Scots'

That's great absent it is in the diary

Hi..I will check with a) my daughters (one has b'day on 19th and other DDs husband b'day on 18th) as they may be relying on some babysitting for celebrations over the weekend! Will also contact my chum in York to see if she is around for me to stay with her!.
Will let you know as soon as I know!

You having a laugh glass?

You seem all sorted absent

That's no problem Marelli. The station is a very short taxi ride (£4.50) from the centre of town and I don't suppose early birds will start stuffing our faces the moment we arrive.

Our train doesn't get into Darlington until 12.30 (?) absent, but we'll jump into a taxi and get there as soon as we can. Gally, *Elegran and I have bought our tickets and I think baubles might be doing it tomorrow.

I have booked a restaurant table for 12.00 on 20 April. At the moment, I reckon the definites are Gally, moomin, Marelli, baubles, glass, harrigran, Elegran and gillybob.

Non-definites
Janeainsworth has another commitment but might be able to change the date and Bags doesn't yet know about her scouts' event. Helshea, phoenix and nanaej have expressed interest and I should love to see them.

I need to confirm numbers a couple of days before 20 April, so if anyone, listed above as a Non-definite or not yet mentioned, would like to come would they please pm before 17 April?

I shall of course let everyone know the venue nearer the date.

Sorry I'm NE but will be in transit on 20th Aprilbut but I will wish you Bon voyage.
. I use yahoo as a travelling email. On another thread hotmail is being transferred to outlook. In oz andNZ I've never been able to connect with outlook express .im assuming this is the same.

Hotmail or Yahoo were going to be my next Suggestion, Forgot you Are Bt. Ha ha we wont let you off posting we will find a way

Absent you don't need 'a British base to operate from'.

All you need is access to a PC, laptop, etc.

Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo is available worldwide, as is Gransnet!

You could open a hotmail account and get GNHQ to transfer your account to it before you leave. I'm pretty sure you can use hotmail anywhere in the world.

glass My ISP is BT Internet – they don't operate in New Zealand and I shan't have a British base to operate from remotely. I shall be closing my BT phone and internet account when I leave the country. When I just visited NZ, of course it was no problem. Also, I shall not have access to my own computer for 12 weeks – the time it takes for all my goods to be shipped over there. I don't especially want to buy a laptop or some other substitute given that I am spending ridiculous amounts of dosh just getting to NZ in the first place. The cats alone are costing nearly £4,000 in air fare (plus over £1,000 for the cattery here, plus whatever the brief quarantine period in New Zealand costs.) I think Mr absent and I will have to be packed in crates and travel as freight.

I suppose if its tied up to a broadband account you would have a problem, see talking myself into something and out again in a blink of an eye

absent I thought you would have your email where ever you are, I can access my email from any computer by signing in, but I talk out of my hat most of the time so ignore me if its rubbish

JessM I intend to but I haven't got round to checking with GNHQ about quite how I can do so from absentdaughter's computer but without an e-mail address of my own for 12 weeks. (Maybe she can put me on her machine?) And whether I can keep being absent then and when I do set up my own computer and e-mail account again. It's on my gargantuan list of THINGS TO DO FOR THE GREAT UPHEAVAL. Maniacal emoticon

I'll be in Perth WA by then. Hope you will carry on posting after your move absent

It seems to me that Saturday 20 April is the day that suits most people so that's the one I am going for. According to my list the "definites" for that day at the moment are Gally, moomin, Marelli, baubles, glass, gillybob, harrigran and Elegran. I hope some other friends will also be able to join us. I haven't yet booked anywhere but when I do, it will still remain flexible enough to include more guests. Indeed, the more the merrier.