After my morning run I joined @slobberchops for breakfast at his hotel. My meal routine was totally out of whack as there had been a lot of snacking through the conference days. A hearty breakfast set me up for the day. We wandered a bit and eventually met up with @revisesociology whilst sheltering from the rain in a cafe where we had some cake. I eventually managed to lead us to the heart of the city where all the bars and 'other entertainment' are found. We stopped at a pub opposite the 'Erotic Museum'.
Chops was flagging a bit, so RS and I went on to do some gift shopping.
My daughter had visited the city before and recommended a visit to Toney Chocoloney. This is like a mini Willy Wonka factory with chocolate bar dispensers and a way to make your own custom bars. The queue for that was too long, so we just bought a selection. They do nice chocolate and it is very ethical.
Near there we got some fries, but not from the trendy place with the huge queue. It was too wet for that. Next door was a cool cheese shop with loads of varieties. We made more purchases there.
After that I needed a rest, so went back to the hotel to chill.
I do not think you can stay in these caravans. Notice how one has a wall going through it.
The final dinner was in the De Hoop rowing club near the hotel. My dad is a rower, so I had to send him some pictures.
I sent him this picture I saw there. I noticed that the boat in the background has 12 rowers. Maybe that was a thing back then, but eight is the usual maximum.
Lots of photos were taken there.
I had to get one with @roelandp who has organised every one of these events and deserves a medal. I hope he gets some time to recover and see more of his family. There was some talk that the next one could be on a different continent, but I have not idea how reliable that is. We do have local events in places like Venezuela and Cuba. Just getting a few people together, even if just for a few hours, can be very productive.
I was a bit nervous when I first met @blocktrades at a previous event, but he is a nice guy. @arcange is just great. As well as making cool tools for Hive, he loves socialising and set up the connection challenge where you scan barcodes to log who you met. He was one of many people who gave me a hug. He was going around getting selfies with everyone there whilst making us say some Dutch phrase to make us smile.
@blind-spot said he is a fan of my music, which is very flattering. He was helping run the event. Much respect for the volunteers!
After dinner we moved to the bar at the top of the hotel. That was my first time up there. I know I am old, but having loud music does not make the best environment for talking, but others may enjoy it more.
I do not think these guys actually used all those glasses. That is Roeland with @starkerz, @crimsonclad, @celestal and @brianoflondon.
It was great to see the lovely @soyrosa again. We have met a couple of times before. She was showing off some nice dance moves.
I did not get pictures of everyone, but I talked to lots of others including @michelle.gent, @m31, @gandalf and an elusive guy who I will not tag as I am not sure if he wants his movements known. Some like to stay below the radar, but if you turn up to events like this then you may get photographed anyway.
The party was still going when I left near midnight, but then some had been up until at least 2am each night. I just cannot do that and I had to catch a train in the morning. I saw a few people as I grabbed a morning coffee including @elmerlin (the @liketu guy who I had a long conversation with previously) and @lasseehlers who I had been surprised to see attending. I will try to get on with most people, but there are some Hivers who just do not get on at all. Lasse can be a divisive figure, but he is trying to make Hive work for what he believes in. I do not have to agree on everything with everyone on Hive, but it should be open to all and to all types of content. You cannot censor with algorithms and so it is up to the community to decide what earns. There is no perfect system, but I think Hive mostly gets it right. It can just be frustrating if a big account takes against you. I would hope that as Hive grows then it can be more diverse.
@revisesociology and I were taking the same train home. At the station it took a while to find each other as we did not realise there are two concourses. We found our first train that took us to Brussels. We did not seem to have much time to change to the Eurostar, but the queues at security and customs were short. Those flying from Schiphol were less fortunate as staff shortages meant long waits. I hope everyone managed to catch their place.
We got back to London at 2pm. With the Queen's funeral happening I was expecting it to be really busy, but it was not actually too bad and I could catch a train back home with plenty of seats.
There was time for a last selfie with RS before we went our separate ways. @tdctunes is talking about a London meetup fairly soon, so I may see these guys there.
I think you can tell that I had a great time. Hivers tend to be smart and interesting. They also like to have fun. Those make for a great combination. I am back at work tomorrow, but I came away inspired and confident that Hive is continuing to get better. We just need the world to realise what it can do for them.
Sorry for my late reply, I finally recovered from HiveFest and I now have to deal with several days of communication delay.
I have been so happy to meet you again, can't wait for the next HiveFest
So you are. Your guitar play on stage was an excellent idea!
Glad I was not the only one to enjoy hugging you.
Repeat after me: "schild en vriend" 😂
Is that what it means?
I look forward to when we can have regular Hive events on every continent so everyone can get to one. I won't get to Splinterfest, but I expect some people who were at Hivefest could go. Maybe there will be a @risingstargame Fest some day with lots of music acts performing. That would be really cool.
Love and peace.
You will find all info and story related to this sentence here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matins_of_Bruges
Wow! I'm glad you didn't fully re-enact that event.
!LOL
~~~ embed:1571989461218762752 twitter metadata:bXlwYXRodG9maXJlMXx8aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9teXBhdGh0b2ZpcmUxL3N0YXR1cy8xNTcxOTg5NDYxMjE4NzYyNzUyfA== ~~~
The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the people( @steevc, @mypathtofire ) sharing the post on Twitter as long as they are registered with @poshtoken. Sign up at https://hiveposh.com.
I should have chatted with Mr Elusive, he seemed quite open.., the noise level was a deterrent as ever with me. I could have used the balcony but it was there for a reason, and I am not a smoker.
Was a pleasure to meet finally. I'm glad we got to speak in person, it was very pleasant. Hopefully see you in the UK sometime!
Sooo nice to meet again! You’re lovely, wish it was able to meet up more often, but I also believe these yearly Fests keep it very special <3
It certainly looks like you enjoyed yourself. Thanks for the photos, it's nice to be able to put a face to some of the names here. I would have liked to have gone, but it just wasn't to be unfortunately.
Were those caravans in the hotel? it's crazy to see that one with a wall down the middle, makes me wonder how it's holding together xxx
Great to see you guys had such a great time.
It was really nice seeing you in person :)
Legends!
So awesome to see this man, hated that I couldn't make it.
Looks like it was a lot of fun!
!CTP
I am overjoyed that I could see you! And even play live. You are amazing to hang around with. Until next time!
Fantastic report!! It looks like you had a great time too!!!
Nice one Steve, good to meet you again, and all the best!
Looks like it was a really awesome time! I am glad that you were able to attend and meet up with all of those people. I have found some names that I am going to make sure I am following now if I wasn't before. I hope I can make it to one of these in the future.
Excellent final day write up - looking forward to the UK meetup already! X
I want to attend a Hivefest so bad. I hope they pick America next. I would definitely attend if it was somewhere I wanted to visit. VEGAS hint hint. Looks like lots of fun was had. Seems like it would be a lot of fun to meet so many Hivers in person. Great post.
!PIZZA
!BEER
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@the-bitcoin-dood(1/5) tipped @steevc (x1)
Join us in Discord!