As I'm sure you know there is a sister E-Zine that goes hand in hand with the Mag, and it is envisaged that this will go out about once a month and be made up of articles submitted by you lot. You've all read this blurb before so you know the deal. The Web page will consist of the best articles and direct links to web sites. It will also allow the use of images which the E-zine obviously does not, at least not mug shots ;)
All that remains for me to say is hope you enjoy this first release, any comments would be greatly appreciated, and don't forget that this mag relies on your participation, so put your thinking caps on and get writing.
FreeWheeling
Well, where did the name come from, you must all be asking yourselves :) The dictionary gives the definition of Freewheeling as:
"To Idle with no fixed purpose in Mind."
And that really describes what this mag is all about, ie. just idle banter and fun. It also is supposed to be a pun on the fact that when playing a MUD properly you are deemed as running, so a rest from that would be freewheeling!!
Q] What do you call a line of blondes standing cheek to cheek??
.
A] A wind tunnel
Ideas for the MagJust to give you a little taster of things that we are looking for, to go in the mag. This list is by no means exhaustive and any ideas you may have will be greatly appreciated.
*Info on new additions to the mud *Info on work under progress
*Player Profiles *Poems, Jokes, Stories
*Web Info *Mud Related Chat
*Pen Pal Requests *Mud Quiz
*Crosswords *Puzzles
*Profiles of the people behind the characters
Oxford WeekendIt was the weekend of Dave's (Boogie) baptism, and people on TD had been invited for it. As it turned out, it was more of a meet-the-wizzes-weekend than anything else, except for the one and only mortal 'Azrael' who turned up.
This *exciting* event had been scheduled to start on the Saturday prior to the baptism on Sunday, and most off the non-Oxford people including myself were gonna arrive then. I must say, it was extremely *exciting* and *nerve-wrecking* in anticipation of this whole meeting thing. Just meeting all these people you have never met before, the whole lot of them in one weekend, boy was it an experience.
Well, the first to arrive was me, Todd, aka Luckyspin, who had arranged to meet up with Gly at his house. So full of trepidation up the garden path he walked and banged on the door. The door was opened by a nice polite chap who seemed a bit befuddled by the outstreched hyand and the greeting of 'Errr Nick?". but no, true to his colours Nick wasn;t even at the house :(
Anyway, a good 20 mins later up turned the Ox posse and the mad sleigh ride began ;) On the way to meet Vert at the station an entourage was formed, consisting of Lukie, Portia, Gly, Boogie & Luckyspin. Well, a few introductions later and we were off for some BEER.
A good chat and it was time to try and meet Honey and Clapton at the station, or so we thought. A futile 40 mins was wasted in a vain attempt to find them so, obvisouly this had to be rectified. Solution = BEER.
Time was dragging on and we had an appointment to make at the Pub, so back we went, but the journey was a little sapping so more BEER. A chance phonecall home and Nick was blushing again. Sitting in front room apparently were Morr and
Medains, and he had forgotten all about them :( A frantic rush back to pick him up and it was off to the rendevous, and yes you guessed it more BEER.
Clapton takes up the story now to give it his very own perspective, and lets face it he had enough time to study every one in between his widely spaced sentences *grin*.
It was Saturday evening, and EVENTUALLY we all got to the White Horse pub. It was rather interesting finally having a face and a voice to put to the names we all see on TD. Basically, it was a couple hours at the pub, then it was off to another pub with more talking and getting to know one another. For the later part of the night, we all went to Dave's house and had pizza and watched this HORRID film. The pizza was good! Ask Mike (Link) about it, I'm sure he'll agree. After all that, most of the lads not from Oxford stayed at Nick's (Gly) place. They were me (Clapton), Todd (Luckyspin), Rich (Vert), Dave (Lukie), Peter (Morr) and Colin (Medains). As for Isabel (Honey), well!! She stayed with Dave (Boogie), on his bed. As for the rest of the details, you'll have to ask them.
Sunday morning was it, Dave's baptism. More people joined us as well that morning, namely Mark (Vardick), Hal (Negrokin) and Duncan (Azrael). I think for most of us, the baptism was a good experience [altough conducted very energetically ;)-Ed.]. As for Dave (Boogie), he obviously had a smashing time that morning.
We all then had lunch at another pub, [more BEER-Ed] had a couple of games of pool and chatted a bit. By that time, some of us had to return home to our homes away from Oxford. A very short weekend indeed, but nevertheless, it was an excellent one.
Hmm, maybe it will be nice to tell you guys who couldn't make it what some of the people really are like.
Boogie - MUCH shorter than I expected *duck* [*rofl* Ed.]
Gly - he really is a nice guy
Astar - hmmmm, you've gotta meet him. Kinda hard to explain... hehe
Portia - she's much worse than on the mud *egrin*
Lukie - ahh.. another nice guy
Daedelus - dark and elusive
Luckyspin - cool DJ
Vert - pretty cool too
Clapton - that's me
Vardick - this guy, you've GOTTA meet!
Honey - cool
Morr - talkative!
Medains - ditto
Hal - interesting
Azrael - pretty quiet, just like me
Turbo - ;)
Link - you've gotta get a load of him, he's REAL funny. Jester just about
fits his description, [and does like his afternoon drinking
and chiles ;) - Ed]
Wolfie - hangs around with Link and Daed, so you can guess what's he like.
Errmm.. if I forgot any of you, sorry. They were just so many of you!!!
Well, that was it then. It was a weekend I'm sure many of us will remember for some time to come. Looks like were gonna be having coming up soon. So if any of you are interested, go down to the Polling Clerk and pick your choice for the next event!
Q] How do blonde brain cells die??
.
A] Alone.
Cool Web SitesThere are some good, there are some bad and there are some awful, but there here, so you might aswell use them, as we've dome all the work for you already.
VotingJust in case you didn't know there is a new voting topic in the polling station. Its to decide what will happen at the next TD real life meeting. Make sure you all vote so when can have a group decision.
"Pretty polly?" she says to the parrot... "Fuck off you one eyed cow!" says the parrot..
The old lady is shocked! what is she to do? she's bought a parrot that swears a blue streak every time you talk to it? No! she thinks, i'll teach that parrot a lesson, and she puts it in the cupboard for half an hour, thinking that'll straighten him out. Into the cupboard the parrot goes, and half an hour later she brings him out and says, "Pretty polly?", "fuck off you one eyed cow!" says the parrot.
This makes the old lady pretty angry and she decides that the cupboard may not have straightened him out, so she puts him in the fridge for a half hour. Half an hour later she brings him out and says, "pretty polly?", the parrot replies, "Ffffffffuccccckkkkk offfffffff-f-f yyyyou one eyyyed CccccoW!" not sounding quite so cocky now, but still rebelling.
RIGHT! she thinks, this is it.. and puts him in the freezer for half an hour, only she forgets about him and leaves him in there for two hours. Worried that she may have left him in the freezer too long she comes back and opens the lid and there's the parrot, frozen stiff with one hand over his left eye and the other hand giving her the finger.
Not a particularly interesting topic but its a space filler ;)
1 Limpet - Smelling little children 2 Astar - Asking lamp-posts to marry him when drunk 3 Gly - Torturing tadpoles with pins 4 Setanta - Mooning in pubs 5 Azrael - likes little girls [don't we all?] 6 Portia - Randy as hell when drunk 7 Klo - Living in Essex 8 Honey - Procrastinates beyond belief [studying?] 9 Thicky - Playing the dome during exams [Not the only one!] 10 Rastafari - Farting [An honest but lonely man]Special mention to Lukie, Medains & Azrael for picking their noses and Morr, Harley, Slarg & Kellie for biting their nails.
Ok - as I'm about to start this really long story, as my tales are long, I just wanted to make sure that you're all sitting comfortably wherever you are in the world before I start on the background to the tale. This Saturday just gone, Dave (aka Boogie) purchased for himself a new car. Though the car wasn't new, it was new to him and was bright and shiny. After the nice bbq at Rich's-(Astar's) house we decided (under the affluence of alcohol) to go to France. [Are you asking who "we" are? Dave=Boogie, Nick=Gly, Rich=Astar, Terri=Portia and "Kath" [lady d'amour -Ed]. A foolish idea you say? Well perhaps it was.. and this is how the escapades developed....
It was a bright and sunny day, a Sunday, part of a bank holiday, when 5 youths decided to travel to the continent in a small 1.4l Rover Metro. All was fair when they set off into the great wide unknown but little did they know of what was going to happen to them whilst they were away.
On arrival at Dover (a ferry port to those of ye foreigners here who don't know), they parked and attempted to purchase a ferry ticket, "The next ferry is at 9.30!" I exclaimed, and the teller nodded. "Lets try Sealink" Kath suggested, so we did. 114 pounds later, and the ticket in my name, we left the ticket office to queue up for a ferry.
After getting on the next ferry, just 30 mins later, we were sailing off into the great unknown at a speed unknown to most of the people on the ferry. Dave, being his normal grumpy self, complained about the couple on the deck below us who were snogging a lot, so Nick and myself had to imitate them [*puke* -Ed], just to check we were doing the right thing...
Finally we manage to get some money at a bank in this town called "Abbeville". We had previously stopped at various places, but their banks didn't seem to want to accept our plastic visa cards on a bank holiday Sunday night.
By this time is was beginning to get dark and being normal (typical) students, we hadn't purchased of any black tape stuff to stick on the lights. And as Dave had done all the driving, we decided it safer to stop in Abbeville and not travel on to Amiens as Kath and myself had planned.
Following various road signs up a hill out of town to the nearest "advertised" campsite, we scraped all the way along tarmac roads, country roads and rough drives to reach the campsite. It did resemble a campsite! A nice football pitch to play on as you reached the camping area, there even looked as if there was a bar as there were lots of people drinking and dancing there.
We pitched the tent fast, as it was dusk and soon going to be very dark, just checking whilst we were all sober to see how many consenting adults we could fit in Kath's 2 man tent and agreed on 5 if I slept close to Nick. [Guess who objected?] We sat down and opened a bottle of wine we'd purchased in the duty free on the boat because we had no idea where the nearest open off licence would be (this is France on a bank holiday Sunday).
After everyone had one glass of wine (and Nick and I had had 2 'cos we finished off the bottle), we attempted to investigate the campsite. There was no one at the "reception" so we couldn't book in - hence the reason why we'd just pitched our tent - and found the "bar". [I'm using the term "bar" loosely here, it was in fact just a small room with a counter and lots of beers behind in a fridge.].
Anyway... 5 of us, arrive at this "bar" and order drinks. None of us can speak French still, but immediately Astar and Dave get accosted and asked lots of questions in this weird language. Kath buys the drinks as she's the one with the money, and Nick and myself try to find somewhere to sit in the small marquis which is there.
After a few drinks, Astar is now talking to the French kids, Dave is talking to the French men, I am dancing with Nick and Kath is - where was Kath?
After a few more drinks, I'm dancing with everyone in our group, Dave's talking with Kath.
Then, for some excitement: (as I can't drink beer) I bought coke and then went to top it up with the spirit I bought on the ferry so that I could get as drunk as everyone else. This left the "frenchies" the perfect opportunity. For a little more background, these frenchies had spent the whole evening get Nick and I apart from each other - and failed, but Kath and I had left, leaving Dave and Astar talking, and Nick sitting by himself... For the French woman - this was the perfect opportunity. Placing her hand on the back of his head, she pulled his face towards her and kissed him. Not just on the cheek like all the others of the evening... but this one was a smacker - right on the lips! Naturally I laughed when I was told the next day, but at the time I was unaware of what this French woman had done to my man.
I'm not 100% sure what went happened that night to all of us in France, so the rendition of the tale is just from my point of view, Astar may have seen it totally differently, so could have Nick, Dave or Kath; but the tale is not over yet, and I shall continue, oh yes... I shall.
When I had returned with Kath from the long trek back to the car to fill up my drink, I sat with Nick and we were just talking. Then along comes Mr CuteAndYoung Frenchman and asks me to dance with him. (Up to this point, most of the dancing I had done was close with Nick and I wasn't prepared to dance like that with Mr CuteAnd Young Frenchman). After I had politely declined his offer of a dance, Mr CAY asks Nick if I can dance with him - HE ASKED FOR NICK'S PERMISSION! And then Nick said "yes". Well that left me no choice, I had to dance with him... I'm not sure if you know this as yet, though you will soon.. When I drink, I loose my inhibitions a little (though I am more restrained now), and I had certainly been drinking (and mixing). After dancing for a few moments with this frenchie, he puts his arms around me and we end up dancing close. I don't need to give you much in the way of details of this bit. But suddenly all his friends appear around us! I have to admit, I did feel a little scared, but nothing worth changing underwear about. Well to cut a long story short ('cos I do go on!) these 6 frenchies pick me up and start to carry me away! I did manage to be put down, and ran immediately back to Nick when the song thankfully finished...
Then, Astar had arranged for me to give this French kid a kiss on the cheek and that was ok.. then his mate wanted one too... Turns out that the "friend"'s dad is the runner of this party and he wasn't to chuffed so we had to leave... We weren't asked to or threatened, we just figured it was safer to leave before being thrown out.
Back at the tent, we all piled in and slept in this 2man tent... It was an amusing night. I slept most of the time on Dave's car keys, and Astar kept kicking everyone and being kicked by everyone apparently!
Come morning, I was the first one up, or was it Dave? I can't remember now, but we were the first 2 anyway. Everyone had a hangover from mixing their drinks except me, as I didn't have beer. 2 or maybe 3 hours after I had woken up, everyone was out of the tent and dressed. We left the campsite at about 9am, still no one in reception so we couldn't pay, and just headed towards the town and a cafe.
They all had coffee and croissants, I had tea and meringue. They all had hangovers, I didn't. We had a laugh, Nick and Dave went totally insane, Astar and Kath watched. I just idled I suppose.
After a brief wonder around town, photo taking, buying postcards, looking round a cathedral type catholic church building and drinking more coffee; we set off back to Calais - the long way.
Whilst driving, we were also keeping an eye out for a hyper market to buy lots of alcohol. By this time the car was really making a bad noise, and so we decided just a supermarket would do - just for a little alcohol and cheese. We also discovered that lots of French shops are shut on Mondays... it's like their national shop shutting day - much to our disgust!
We reached Bologne and stopped for lunch. We ate in a really Divey place, just to experience the French culture - :) - and then went for a walk along the beach. Dave was going to bury Kath, but we decided against it, as she'd bring too much sand into the car when we bought her back [if we'd bring her back]. Thus after lunch we set off for Calais - again.
We stopped at a French garage too - just for peace of mind about the car. This frenchie told us we needed a new exhaust.. oh well we say... Off to Dover and "Kwikfit".
In Calais, we only stopped briefly at a wine merchant place. If you've ever been on a "booze cruise" to Calais, then you'll probably know the one we went to. I've been there twice now, or is it 3 times? But we bought just a few bottles in case the car couldn't carry much more weight.
Reaching the port we went straight onto the ferry, and I mean straight onto it. After I showed the bloke our ticket, and we were given a boarding pass for the car, we didn't stop till we switched of the engine on B deck. The ferry had even set sail by the time we got to the restaurant.
Naturally we pigged out on board and spent even more money on food and I think eventually everyone's hangover's dissipated - except Nick's. Fetching even more booze from the duty free we spent loads of dosh, and then went back to the car as we were in port.
We drove around Dover and looked for a garage. Dave made me ask lots of people on the street.. and even the employees of a kebab shop! Yet still no one could direct us. So we settled for a garage to get petrol and Astar asked directions.. turns out that it was only round the corner!
First we found Halfords, they were no help. "Sorry mate, no jobs after 5, come back Monday" - hrmpf... some people!
Then we found the Kwikfit. "Sorry we don't have the parts". Devastation - we didn't know what to do! They did say that it was safe to drive back to oxford on.. if we could put up with the racket!
Then as we were driving up this hill, we decided the noise was unbearable and so stopped next to this telephone to call the AA. Dave got out of the car to have one final look at the damaged area. Astar climbed out the front. Then I climbed out, tripped over Astar's seatbelt, and grazed my knee.
Turns out it was the mudguard over the back left wheel! Typical! So we removed it and drove back to Oxford silently.
Ok.. I know it was a long story.. sorry folks about that *:) but I hope you didn't get too bored reading it. Any questions feel free to ask me about it on mud, mudmail or Email.. and look at the web pages to see who we all are....
Q] What's brown and Sticky??
.
A] A stick. [doh]
Well, that's all folks, as the famous line went ;). All good things have to come to and end. I hope you all enjoyed the first issue of FreeWheeling, if not then write something for the next issue ;)
I'd like to thank all the contributors, however big or small, since they made this Mag for you. If you want to subscribe to the E-zine please mail me at Luckyspin@terradome.
My last word is :- Write something for the mag, or I'll be after you ;)
 |
 |
Next Issue  |