hv2000

initial ramblings, for now anyway..From the Heep mouse.

Hey y'all!!!!!

The Heepling and I finally managed to drag ourselves away from England
yesterday. I gotta tell y'all, we really didn't want to leave. And first of
all....

{{{{{{{SWEET PETE}}}}}}} Thank you, Luv, and Janine and Elissa and Matt for
everything! Y'all are wonderful, hospitable, "down-home" hosts who gave nary
a second thought to a couple of foreigners a place to bed down Friday night.
I can't say enough about the Whartons....and as for Pete's... well, uh,
inebriated state...Ha! The man can drink anybody under the table and
remember the conversations to boot! BTW, the drunkest I saw was Paul "you're
between me and the bar" Kubler. <grin> Hey Paw-ul, luv ya, man!

Graham, Lynne, Andrew and Richard Hulme...what a great family. Y'all worked
yer arses off to make this one go, and I am forever indebted to all your
sacrifices. BTW, Graham, now I understand why I came out of the t-shirt
purchase 30 pounds shy! You're training those boys right. :-)

Alan K, Dave O, and company....I knew y'all were working diligently behind
the scenes and in the months leading up to the HV, but I couldn't even
imagine what all was going on!

John and Iris....Thank y'all for absolutely everything!!! John, a special
thanks for taking care of Lannis on Sunday. Your friendship goes way beyond
words....

Bobbie and Lannis....my absolute favorite Heepster and Gunhiller in the
world....I owe y'all a world of gratitude for all your help for the Heepling
and me. Lannis dear, I know you wouldn't have missed Sunday for anything.
He really is a major Heepster y'all. Mac and Debbie would agree, after
seeing him Friday at the hotel in Charlotte. I love y'all!!!

Mac, Debbie and Ryan, as we fumbled our way through the airports and tubes
and streets of London, I kept wondering if we weren't supposed to be there.
Ahh, such are the things that adventures are borne from.

The first bright spot was meeting Rinus, Willie, and Sandra on Praed Street,
as we were trying to find our accomodations. Heepshirts! We knew we were in
the right place then. :-)

Now for the rest of y'all...I've been reading what y'all said about being out
of tune, late, wrong key, wrong song, and on and on and on....and I gots one
thing to say about it....

Horsehockey!!!

The whole weekend was so magical, emotional, mystical...so very Heep! From
the opening speeches (yes, Graham DID get all choked up) to the last closings
and goodbyes on Sunday night (yes, I cried, too)...I can't imagine anything
more memorable. Last year, after HV99, I said it was the bestest family
reunion I'd ever been too...well, I can say the same thing about HV2K. The
music was great, the 80 pounds (weight) of Heepstuff and Gunhillstuff that we
bought really gets our collection going, the great t-shirts (thanks
DaveO!!!), finally getting to join UHAS (thanks again, DaveO), chatting with
members of Gunhill (John, you're right about Justin), chatting with Paul
Newton and Ian Clarke and Ken Hensley as if they were old friends....and most
of all, for me anyway....was meeting more of my Heep-family.

Here we are, about 300 strong, representing some 20 different countries
worldwide, all traveled to London for a common love. I met some of y'all
here on the list, I met some who aren't on the list, and remet old friends
from last year. Looking around, Heepshirts as far as I could see, everyone
united by the music, forging bonds that go so much farther.... <sniff>

Sorry y'all, just a Heepstress' perspective and reminiscings.....

Tuesday, the bus tour of Bath and Stonehenge....<grinning> And yes indeedy,
the guide was a proper British gent who set Muzzy, Dale, and Mac up for some
great jokes! Sightseeing with friends... :-)))

Wednesday night at the Monkey Puzzle pub, after seeing the Lion King play
with Mrs. Madman and Little Miss Madman (what a show that was, too), meeting
Christoffe (sorry for the misspelling), seeing everyone else, watching Lannis
with his big, big surprise. Rumor had it that Reuben Kane and Justin
Shefford from Gunhill (the guitarist and drummer) were gonna be there, but
they couldn't make it. Helen brought some of her great photos, Lynn brought
the HV guestbook, Graham brought a few e-mails for Lannis, everyone brought
personal stories of the weekend.

Thursday, the Heepling and I met up with the Madfamily and Pete for dinner
and a nice stroll through Kensington Park. Oh, y'all oughta see Pete all
gussied up in a suit and tie. He cleans up real good. ;-) We played in a
children's park....the girls had to run us off the toys!

Then came Friday, and it was the Heepling and me, tubing our way to Chesham
and Pete's lovely wife Janine. We stayed the night with them in their
beautiful home, in a charming English town, absorbing all we could of the
English atmosphere before the firefly jetted us away. We had fish and chips,
homemade English trifle (delicious, Janine!), and a couple pints of lager for
me, as we Heeped. One of Pete's comments sticks out, "It's good to have
someone in the house who agrees with me for a change." <heehee> I don't
know who was having more fun, Pete, the Heepling or me! We jammed for a
while (Wishbone Ash, Lucifer's Friends, Heep), watched some Heep videos, and
reluctantly turned in around 1 am.

Saturday morning, Pete showed us some of his expert English auto abilities,
whizzing through the streets. :-) He got us safely to Gatwick, where
neither of us could say bye....I'll echo his sentiments here, I didn't want
it to end.

And now, the Heepling and I are already counting the time till HV01 in San
Diego. See y'all there!!!

Heep on y'all,
the Heep-Mouse