campsparkle | An update on arrangements!

pensnest posting in

Right.

1. Food. I suggest the following schedule

Monday: Pen (pies, various)

Tuesday: Stellamira (pasta salad with possible meatballs)

Wednesday: Turlough (chicken and veg thingy)

Thursday: Fleur (lentil soup and cake) nb slightly reduced numbers on this date

Friday: FEAST (because everyone will be there!) Pen and nopseud will take charge

Saturday: Chalcopyrite (to maximise usefulness of vegetarianism!)

Sunday: ihearthings_ii for Kringle, saba for cheese soup

However, if you want to negotiate swaps, go ahead! Minions, I'm sure you will distribute yourselves/volunteer appropriately. Chefs, feel free to bellow for a minion at any stage.

2. What to do in Brighton

There is *so* much to do! I have some basic suggestions for a framework...

Royal Pavilion - a group effort, I think, as it's the iconic thing in Brighton. How about we start there on Tuesday morning? If we're also going to do a group visit to the Aquarium, I suggest maybe Wednesday morning for that one.

Camp Sparkle Minigolf Extravaganza sounds like a Wednesday afternoon to me, weather permitting. Possibly nonparticipants can run a book on the event… or video it, to our subsequent shame.

Borde Hill Garden: Chalcopyrite, Turlough and I, and possibly also Beast, will hie ourselves thither at some point. Thursday afternoon?

The Toy Museum - Friday morning?

Nobody seems to have mentioned the Brighton Sand Sculpture Festival at Black Rock, but I certainly intend to give it a look at some point. There are also several city walks, eg Ghost Walk of the Lanes, Brighton Murder and Mayhem tour, for the grisly-minded among us.

There is a *lot* to do, and I think probably the best thing for us is to have a noticeboard up in the house somewhere, or maybe a "what's everyone doing tomorrow" moment during dinner, so that people who want to do something can group up. Can anyone think of a good system for this?

I suggest that we pull out a bit of sparkly stuff in the evenings, when we're all too exhausted to get up and go out. Any suggestions? We do have a modest amount of Timberlake flesh on display in "Friends with Benefits". Anyone else got new stuff?

3. As for Getting There, is everyone sure of what they're doing?

To recap: adelate, stellamira and bettina will be chez Pen on Monday morning. We're planning to have Nopseud collect a couple of you and head down to Brighton in good time to open up the house; Beast and I will go via Stansted that afternoon with the remaining visitor, scoop up Fleur, and get to Brighton as soon as we can.

Rikes and Saba will have to get the bus from Heathrow, sorry about that but it seems like the only viable solution, as your flight lands at about the same time Fleur's does, but there probably isn't a viable bus from Stansted to Brighton.

Everyone else is getting to Brighton on the train: Fadedsouls gets in to Gatwick in the morning, Chalcopyrite at 1430, ihearthings_ii from London - possibly the three of you can co-ordinate and maybe share a taxi from the station to the house?

From the website, it looks as though we should have access from 3.30pm, but I've just emailed the owner to check on details. We have to be out by 10.30am on Monday.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

adelate

Speaking on behalf of

ihearthings_ii, I know she can't make the kringle on Sunday since we both have to leave before four a.m. that day. But as it's a dessert type of thing, I'm sure it won't be a big deal to make it at some other point? :)

From:

ihearthings-ii.livejournal.com

Yes, sadly my affordable plane tickets leave crazy early on Sunday, so I can't really cook (for you) that day... :(

But I'm fine with making it at any point :)

("It's gonna be June" just isn't that catchy.)

From:

pensnest

Rats! This is me not knowing who is where when. Can you work out a different day for it? We must have Kringle!

From:

nopseud

If the weather is nice, then we'll probably join the trip to Borde Hill Garden, so there'll be extra car space.

From:

turlough

Couldn't we please do the Royal Pavilion on Wednesday morning instead? I don't arrive until late Tuesday afternoon and since I missed it the last time I was in Brighton I would really like to see it this time.

I've decided to make a dish that's less time consuming to prepare than the chicken and veggie one I did two years ago so I can definitely make dinner on Wednesday even if we do the Royal Pavilion that day.

Both the noticeboard and a "what's everyone doing tomorrow?" thingy during dinner sounds like good ideas to me. We could even do both. (Right now I'm making a list of shops I might want to visit. I'll post it in the comm when I'm finished.)

From:

turlough

If I'm cooking on Wednesday it would be really nice if the shopping for ingredients had already been done when I get there Tuesday evening. (And I should do the ice cream on Tuesday evening anyway.) I've just made a list of the things I'll need. Should I mail it to you, Pen, or?

From:

pensnest

Good idea. Email it to me or nopseud, or both if you want to be really sure!

From:

turlough

Will do.

From:

saba1789.livejournal.com

I'm okay with cooking on Sunday :)

Short question about returning to Heathrow on July 1st though - would someone be able to drop us off there? Because getting a return ticket for the bus is cheaper than getting two single tickets, so it would be good to know beforehand. Thanks!

From:

ihearthings-ii.livejournal.com

I'm sad to miss cheese soup! It's like, a combination of two things I love eating!

From:

saba1789.livejournal.com

Clearly you should come and visit me over here so I can cook cheese soup just for you!!!!!! :D <3

From:

fleurrochard

I'm ok with cooking on Thursday. :) As for the cake: I could bake something for Thursday, or I could bake something for dessert for the feast like last year. Thoughts?

From:

fleurrochard

Question: about how many people will be there on Thursday (so I can think about amounts of ingredients) and do you know whether the kitchen has any stuff like spices? Because I'll need curry and wourcestershire sauce.

Also they say the kitchen is well-equipped which in my opinion means there should be a handmixer (for cake) - I can mix per hand if there isn't, though. But I'll need cake pan(s). :)

From:

http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/

At least Noora, CJ and I won't be there, because we're in London for the day.

From:

pensnest

I think we'd better discuss the menu for the Feast when we get together - we can figure out then if we want Cake with the Feast or on another day (possibly this depends how greedy we feel...!).

I will bring a hand mixer in case there isn't one. What size cake pan(s) would be best?

From:

turlough

I was just wondering about hand mixer. Do you think the kitchen contains a grater and a lemon squeezer?

From:

fleurrochard

Sure, we can discuss the menu then, no problem! (If I feel up to it I might just bake twice.)

I usually use a round cake pan with a diameter of about 24 cm, so something near that size would be best.

(I told my mother that getting red lentils in England should be no problem. Please tell me I said the truth, otherwise I'll get them here?)

From:

ninjetti75.livejournal.com

nopseud has received the package I sent, which contains Much Splendiferous Manflesh In Awful Soap Opera form, so I hereby demand someone(s) video the mini-golf outing! C'mon, that'll be priceless stuff we can remember this year's Camp with...forever. Also, we failed to do "Camp Sparkle Cribs" at Beech Hill House, so we certainly ought to have a full Camp Sparkle video at this point, shouldn't we? Heck, this year's spot looks GORGEOUS and I can't be there...I'd love to see a Camp Sparkle Cribs of this year so I could enjoy it vicariously through your efforts!

Please and Thank You?

*g*

From:

ihearthings-ii.livejournal.com

Man, we also talk about it, but we really should make a cribs video!

From:

ninjetti75.livejournal.com

Beech Hill House would've been PERFECT, with the hot tub and the stairs, and the disco kitchen, and the fact that we could've had an endless stream of people entering/exiting one of the connected bedrooms, lol.

Too bad we didn't get around to it, but c'est la vie.

From:

chalcopyrite.livejournal.com

I am fine with cooking Saturday night!

From:

ephemera.livejournal.com

and I am available for minioning ;)

From:

chalcopyrite.livejournal.com

Yay! \o/

From:

fadedsouls.livejournal.com

As I wanted to celebrate my 30th with you guys (excuse for alcohol *coughcough*), I remember Anna mentioning maybe doing that on Saturday? But, with people leaving so early on Sunday, perhaps Friday would be better for Sparkly Party Time?

Also, I'll be hanging at Gatwick waiting for Jenny, so anyone who wants to come hang with me is welcome ;) I expect I shall make security nervous, just sitting there with my luggage looking all shady, not leaving.