04 June 2020

Planning the next Philofaxy Meet Up


The last Saturday of May should have been our latest Meet Up, but for obvious reasons it had to be cancelled several weeks ago.

What about the next one? Yes there will be a next one.. but I don't know precisely when yet.

As some of you know we became grand parents about three weeks ago, so we are keen to visit UK when we can.

At the time of writing this, there are still travel restrictions in France stopping us from going beyond 100km from our house, that doesn't get us to the channel ports, which are over 400km from where we live here in France.

Then there is the enforced isolation, as I type this UK will be introducing a 14 day quarantine period for anyone arriving in UK, and then on our return home we would have to self-isolate for 14 days as well. This of course makes it impractical to travel to UK even if we were not restricted to the 100 km limit.

Once all of the above restrictions are lifted, for the meet up to happen we have to find a venue. At present Vapiano are not open, all of their restaurants in London are closed.

Whilst we all patiently wait for life to get back to normal, I am holding 'Virtual Meet Ups' on Skype, not the same I know, but better than nothing.

Once we are go for another meet up I will of course post an update. However, it might be relatively short notice compared to normal.

Keep healthy and stay safe.

6 comments:

  1. Steve, patience and time are the watch words really with all these lockdown laws, rules and regulations.I expect you and Alison can't wait to meet baby Alexander. Let's hope it is soon going to happen alongside a meet up. To anyone dithering about ever attending one,not due to Covid 19 reasons obviously,I can say go for it as they are well worthwhile.Lovely people who understand planners and who have new ideas and insights to share.

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  2. ... even if the quarantine period gets lifted, all hotels and overnight accommodation throughout the UK is still required to stay closed. I’ve a virtual meeting with my MP (Member of Parliament) to discuss this tomorrow, as I work in that sector. Then there’s the risk of a “second wave” of COVID-19, so this could go on for a long time.

    One possibility might be a virtual meet-up? Skype is ok but limited. I’m no expert but I’ve recently attended some fantastic meetings using Zoom (I’ve no commercial link!) with guest speakers using PowerPoint presentations and photos and the ability to let everyone make a contribution. It hasn’t just been work; I attended one at the weekend on woodland foraging! Just an idea!

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    1. Yes this crisis isn't going to end over night.

      I have used Zoom, but they now limit free calls to a 40 minute limit. We have been using Zoom for Family calls with the 'new' parents and the other side of the family as well.
      Skype doesn't have that time limit, and it works just as well from the point of view of screen sharing etc.

      Thanks for your thoughts Tim.

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    2. Ok. But be aware that Skype is slowly getting phased out (Microsoft’s own admission). It has already been replaced by “Microsoft Teams” for business users and word on the street (true or not) is that Skype will disappear altogether in the coming months.

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  3. Please do another! I missed this despite writing it down - I really wanted to say hi. I'm happy I got to go to the meetup in Denver in... 2015? Hope you're doing well!

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    1. Hi
      I'm fine thank you. But staying away from crowds of people at the moment, so that more or less rules out any meet ups until later this year at the absolute earliest.!!

      I hope you are doing well.

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