British Library | Helen Glynn Jones

This is the main entrance to The British Library, London. Through it you can see into the central piazza, and the large statue of Isaac Newton (based on a drawing by William Blake). This was the meeting point for the first Blogger’s Bash last year, and I have fond memories of us all standing around and chatting like old friends, even though most of us were meeting for the first time.

I went past the library this weekend past, which prompted me to take these shots. Someone had, rather incongruously, left a small baby doll propped against the open door – whether a lost toy or an artistic statement, it was hard to tell.

The Library was created in 1973, as part of the British Library Act of 1972, and is the largest library in the world (by virtue of the number of items catalogued there). My own books are here – this is due to the principle of Legal Deposit, which dates back to to 1610. It states that the Library is entitled to a free copy of every book published or distributed within Britain, as are five other libraries, The Bodleian Library at Oxford, The University Library at Cambridge, The Trinity College Library at Dublin, and the National Libraries of both Scotland and Wales. While you have to send a copy of your book to the British Library, the other five libraries will only request a copy if required, which you then have to send at your own cost (and yes, this happened to me).

Thanks for reading my entry for this week’s Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm 2.0. To see more doors or add one of your own, head on over to his site.

Great day for a Blogger’s Bash…

Today was the first Annual Blogger’s Bash Awards, held in London and attended by around twenty bloggers, including myself. We were a mostly UK based bunch except for Ali who flew in from Ireland to attend and Conny from Germany, a welcome surprise addition to our group.

I arrived just before eleven at the British Library and… there was no-one there. Then a woman who’d been taking photos of the wonderful Isaac Newton statue came up to me.

‘Are you here for the Blogging Bash?’ she asked, very brave under the circumstances. It turned out to be Marje from Kyrosmagica, and she’d recognised me from the photo on my own blog. Pleased to meet a fellow blogger at last, I shook hands and we chatted for a few minutes before a Blogging Bash T-Shirt-clad Hugh, from Hugh’s News and Views appeared and said hello. Then it was on. Soon there was a small crowd of us at the base of the statue, conversations ebbing and flowing as we moved around the group, introducing ourselves. There were people I recognised from following their blogs, and others I’d not yet seen – it was a strange thing, to put faces to the names and words I’ve been reading, something a few of us expressed.

Photos were taken, jokes told and blogs exchanged, before we headed across the road to Pizza Express and took up a table spanning most of the room. We ate, we drank and we made a lot of noise, much to the amusement of the staff and fellow diners (at least, I hope it was amusement!) Speeches were made, with Sacha, Hugh, Geoff and Ali all taking their turn and then awards were handed out, with Suzie from Suzie Speaks getting two nods, and Lucy from Blonde Write More winning one as well (for a full list of winners, go here).

Sacha saying a few words…

Hugh making us laugh

We wound up by wandering several doors down to an Irish pub on the corner, where we sat and drank and talked some more (not short of words, us bloggers!). Then it was time for me to go and so I walked back to Euston with Mel and we went our separate ways.

Me with the lovely Suzie from Suzie Speaks

A fabulous day over all – well done to the organising committee, Sacha, Hugh, Geoffle and Ali 🙂 I met some wonderful people, had a great time and my only complaint was that it was over so quickly! Bring on next year’s Bash 🙂