Friday, December 19, 2008

East Belfast (Belmont-ish) Bloggers' Meetup?

Alan in Belfast - Christmas profile picture

The best bits of blogging don’t happen sitting behind a screen. They tend to happen away from the virtual suburbs and out in the real world. Encounters with real people, with real lives, real stories, in real life situations.

It’s at events like Flickr meetups, Add to Set, Creative Camp or the Slugger Awards where actual faces were put to on-screen personalities.

I’m aware of at least four or five bloggers living in and around Belmont in East Belfast, within a couple of streets of me, and there could be more. Seem’s like East Belfast is pretty dense! And there are others living not too much further away.

Maybe it’s time to get the community together! After all, if we invite the neighbours around over Christmas to sit and have a cup of coffee together, why not the blogosphere?

So in the spirit of getting out from behind our screens and having lunch together, I’m proposing we meet-up between Christmas and the New Year. An experiment in East Belfast community over lunch, somewhere down the Belmont Road, on Monday 29 or Tuesday 30 December at around noon. Partners, bumps and children welcome. Don’t be shy!

Email me alaninbelfast AT gmail DOT com if you’re interested - mention which of the two days would suit - and we’ll arrange it offline. Probably best to set a maximum number (8-10) to keep it manageable. I know a couple of you have already put up your hands!

7 comments:

Manuel said...

us south belfast bloggers will just kepp our selves to our selves.....

have a great Christmas...

Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban) said...

I know - I do feel slightly bad. But the idea came from knowing that I must keep driving past people every week that I only know online. And that's silly.

So no intention to be exclusive. Just starting small. You could organise a South Belfast meetup instead? Or we could get a float in the St Patrick's parade!

Sharon McDaid said...

Well you know I'm interested!
Since my inclusion spreads the catchment area further east, we should go further south too, for the posh ones like Manuel.

Hey, the more the merrier!

Timothy Belmont said...

An interesting idea, Alan. For some of us I imagine our reputations precede us!

Tim

Anonymous said...

SORRY but that is the difference between Norn Iron and southern bloggers!

Blogger/tweet-ups are are inclusive down there - everyone is welcome!

David Todd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban) said...

@Grannymar - Don't be too hard! Nothing wrong with occasional exclusivity. There's a time and a place for throwing your doors open for all comers, and a time and a place to decide to get to know people that you've known (in some cases for years) and walk past without knowing. No worse than a girly lunch!?

Anyway - closing comments on this post. Anyone wanting to find out about meeting is very welcome to email as mentioned in the post. And if it's a success, maybe I'll cast the net wider next time.

In the meantime, don't forget that Flickr meetups for local snappers - now happening on a monthly basis. Details usually posted on the Belfast Flickr group.