Why PP Ping? Well, PP stands for "Purple Person" aka Tinky. And because Tinky in the Teletubbies wore purple, SWMBO ("She who must be obeyed" aka Jubbly) decreed the dress code would be purple in deference, LOL. I just couldn't find the right shade of purple but, in the end, settled for a Rugby World Cup 2011 tee-shirt loaned to me by the Jubbly one.
Proceedings were due to start at noon at South Bank Parklands, Brisbane. This journey is around a couple of hours involving car and two trains, so an early start was needed.
How to describe the Parklands? Well, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bank_Parklands or http://www.visitsouthbank.com.au/attractions/south_bank_parklands, they do it far better than I ever could. Difficult to imagine that this area was largely submerged following the bad floods earlier in the year.
Jubbly and I got off the train, crossed over the street and found ourselves going past the Brisbane Wheel, some time cousin to the London and Manchester Wheels before going down to the river front and passing by the spectacular Nepalese Peace Pagoda. Colleen had contacted us to advise she'd found a bench for us to sit on and she came up to meet us when we texted to announce our arrival. It was so nice for me to see her again, as we'd had such a good time when she and Jubbly came over for last year's Coro-Ping. She took us down to the river-front where her grand-daughter (shome mishtake shurely!) Ashleigh was guarding our place. Pretty soon, Joan Elliott joined us (a Corrie Cobber herself, she'd already contacted me before my departure from the UK), followed by Elaine (Feral Rambler on IRC) and her hubby, Paul. It was so nice meeting old friends and new - I first met Elaine online over 13 years ago on IRC and it was a real joy to meet her in real life after all this time. Apart from young Ashleigh, Joan was the newest face to me, a delightful lady originally from Mexborough in South Yorkshire who has been in Australia many years. For the next few hours, we took photographs, then settled down to natter and either get to know each other or to catch up on events.
The Parklands has barbecue areas with free heating for use by the public to BBQ their food - such a wonderful idea and, unsurprisingly, these were all in high demand. The part of the Parklands where we were was just a wonderful mix of friends and families out for the afternoon, enjoying each others company, having drinks, eating food, playing games, a superb venue to get together, a real winner.
We got the food going on the barbecue ourselves with Ashleigh becoming designated chef and Colleen going back and forth to keep an eye on proceedings. Then munching time, washed down with pure aqueous matter, (LOL, I lie)!
It was one of those lovely afternoons when there wasn't a dull moment and the time went far too fast. I'd like to thank all who turned up to make this such a special event for me, quite something going halfway round the world and having such a great time! Such is the ethos of the Corrie community! Bless you, one and all. Mwah xxxxx
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