Meeting Lister yesterday

hi again,

Yesterday was quite an eventful day, it started at the unearthly hour of 6.30am when my alarm went off to signal my mad dash to get showered and ready to get out by 7.am in time to pick JM up from his home in Liverpool at 7.30. I thought I did well running only 10 minutes late at this point.

As we approached Manchester airport and were presented with a choice of Terminal 2 (turn left) ot Terminals 1&3(straight on) We realised that we had absolutely no idea what terminal Listers flight was coming into and we had approximately 10 minutes before landing time. ~We decided to go for 1&3 as we had twice the chance of being right. We parked the car by terminal 3 went in and found an information desk.

We were then informed that yes Listers flight was coming in at Terminal 2 at the other end of the airport, but thankfully it was running late and wasnt landing until 9.05 (it was 8.35 by now).
We began the long trek to terminal 2 and were grateful for the moving walkways.

We got to terminal 2 at about 8.55 and checked info screens to find Flight 734 from Philadelphia had landed already. so we got ready to meet our visitor.

Ok here's the explanation for what came next just so you won't think JM and I have gone completely off our rockers. Lister is a fan of the British TV comedy Red Dwarf in which Lister is the main character, in the show he calls his coworker Rimmer "Smeghead". Because of this I have nicknamed Lister himself as Smeghead in our chat room. And so I made a welcome banner which reads "Welcome to England Smeghead"

The character of Rimmer in the show is in fact dead but his character has been brought back in the form of a holographic projection this is indicated in the show by a silver H on his forehead.

SOOOOO. JM and I position ourselves at the arrivals gate awaiting the imminent arrival of Lister, we hold out our banner and each wear a silver letter H on our foreheads.

and we wait.....

and we wait......

and we get strange looks.......

and we cause a few giggles..........

One lady walks past and shouts "It's good to see the dwarf aint dead".

We look at each other and giggle too. We must look like complete weirdos we think.

still more strange looks

as we wait........

and wait......

we begin to question if we are sure this is the right terminal and reassure ourselves that it must be as the flight number had appeared on THIS screen.

and we wait..........

getting hopeful every time we see a tall person's shadow approach the etched glass doors.

an OBVIOUSLY American guy in the biggest Stetson we have ever seen walks past, checks us out and laughs. JM thinks he has a cheek to laugh at us, at least our strange appearance is temporary and for a purpose.

Then JM spots a tall guy with long hair... is it Him ???? but I point out that Lister does not have a beard, hhmmm but is that a false beard???

By this time I had been holding my camera poised for so long it died, so we were unable to catch Listers initial reaction.

and we wait

and wait.. until

YAYYYYYYY out of the arrivals gate walks LISTER

About SMEGGING TIME !!!!!!!!!!

we wave our banner and cheer.

After Lister receives the mandatory Kazz hug we begin the walk to find FOOD which we all feel is desperately needed at this point.

I remove my H and place it on Listers head and I am shocked to see that he actually leaves it on as we walk through the airport.


We decide to treat Lister to a traditional English breakfast, which was actually pretty mediocre so I do hope one of you other chatters treats him to a better one while we are here.

This is Lister in the restaurant, where I realise he is actually a lot calmer and quieter than I expected him to be.

The following discussion reveals Lister and Hobbits surprise about my dreadful lack of knowledge of 80s heavy Metal Christian Music, and my shock at discovering there was any such thing in the 80s. My only excuse is that I was a good little brethren girl in the 80s and was taught at the time that even Cliff Richard was a servant of Satan for being in the debauched Music industry. so there was NO WAY I would be in anyway into such terrible things as Heavy Metal!!!!!!!

This is also where I find that Hobbit just cant help himself from pulling scary faces whenever he sees a camera.




Is that really Hobs or is it a Madame Tussauds dummy of Stan Laurel??

After this came what has become traditional when Hobs meets tall people.

The height comparison photos!!




As you can see here, Hobbit and I are approximately the same height, but Lister is ummm errrr ummm a LITTLE taller!!!



















We then proceed to the railway station where Lister hopes to get a train to Birmingham to meet Matrix girl. and he has yet another very british experience QUEUING!!.
Here he is queuing up to buy his train ticket and also the point at which I find out that his wallet is not big enough for British money!! haha so not everything is bigger in the USA.

We discover that the quickest way to Birmingham New Street is via Crewe and the next train is in an hour and a half. so we sit in the cafe and chat some more over a drink until Hobbit and I have to leave. We leave at 1pm to begin the mad panic to get home in time for me to lead my disabled outreach group at 3. Hobbit is nearly falling asleep in the car which is quite worrying when you realise that he is supposed to be leading worship in church in a few hours. lol it was a strange kinda day, but well worth all the effort to meet and give our friend a proper welcome into our beautiful country.

Lister we hope you have a fab time while you are here, it was fantastic to finally meet you, after all these years chatting online.