Your Tree Memories

[kaya]

I have not posted very much on the previous board but have been following WT for years, first started in 2004 when I went traveling so used some of the travel branches. Later on you guys have helped me when I was going through a really tough break up 4 years ago and then gave me lots of good tips and support when I was moving to the other side of the world a couple of years ago. What kept me coming back to the tree were the witty posts that made me go through a boring day at work… to the real friendships and the caring that you could see among all these amazing people around the world. You have all been an inspiration and a companion to my days for a while.

I was shocked to see LP close WT and other branches but very happy to have found this place now (thanks Romily).
I would now love to contribute more and get to know you all better.

[ruthincanada]

Awhhhhhh, what a gorgeous thread! Group hug!!!

[SoulCurry]

I remember Nutsy going to the MegaSlim wedding, Hellis's singing Santas, the Vegas pissup (I didn't go, only gathered the gossip!) and the days when Bailey's was the national (?) drink of WT.
WT gave me one of the closest friends I've made in the past few years, someone who's stood by me through thick and thin and is possibly the best travel-mate on earth.
I went through two cr*p episodes some years ago: an assault and a divorce. Some of you took the time out and gave me brilliant legal advice when I was taking part in the Departmental hearings. The sort of detailed, step-by-step advice for which a lawyer would have charged me heaps of money. Again, so many of you sent PMs and emails and letters and cards when I split from the ex. A wonderful thing to do for someone who's feeling rejected and hurt.
Sh*t, I'm tearing up as I type this....

[MsU]

I don't know where to start. The first pissup? Snow_white kindly met me before meeting the rest. Shortsail and some other guy, don't remember the handle.
The great Edinburgh pissup, meeting elyflump, clichy, splodge, lumikuuro and the rest? The Paperclip appeal? The Christmas in Ireland with tart, with the infamous room service Peking duck Christmas Eve dinner. The mini-pissups in my hometown (under the handle Greta Garbo too keep my whereabouts somewhat hidden)? Nric and missmaria and more came to town.

The arty photo thing that bill_and_ben orchestrated. (Walk thirty steps, take a pic, turn left and walk... etc) That was so long ago I didn't have a digital camera so I had to scan my negatives.

The support when I, a newbie with a new handle, came to WT to ask how to handle my stalker.

And the endless swearword threads, the chocolate-mousse-bazooka-threads.

The postcards to and from around the world.

Most important. The things I learned about myself through discussing with you and learning about your lives.

And the real friends, cyber and RL, I've got from TT.

[scicaro]

What everyone said.

It was a place that helped tremendously when I was in a very dark place after several miscarriages. Especially waps who shares my dark sense of humour about it all.

The sadly too long lasting unemployment thread that supported all of us through this difficult job market.

The fact that I could travel to Paris too meet a bunch of "strangers" and feel like I was with friends I have known for years - because I was.

[tortuga]

I've always kind of stayed on the periphery of things, using the tree mostly as a distraction on slow days at work without sharing too much personal stuff about myself, or taking friendships off the board and into real life.

But I've grown to like and care about a lot of you, participated in things like the paperclip appeal or the postcard campaigns, and now, when I read about how much it meant to people (leela's husband, dana's mum) I feel very honoured that I could play a small part in it, too.

I've also learned a hell of a lot from the debates and discussions with people from all over the world, whom I would never have met otherwise. My opinions on a number of things kind of crystallised as a result, or changed, or I've just become more aware of issues I hadn't previously thought much about. It might have seemed like mindless distraction at the time, but quite often it wasn't.

The tree was an ace thing.

I hope it lives on in some way. I hope it's just the platform that's gone and what made it ace still remains.

[Deleted]

The Christmas in Ireland with tart, with the infamous room service Peking duck Christmas Eve dinner.

'twas awesome! And the amazing ham and cheese sandwiches and vegetable soup for Xmas lunch x OMG - and the birds! What were the birds you kept pointing out while I was driving??? I was going to slap you with one!

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2013 13:56:22 GMT -5 tortuga said:

I've also learned a hell of a lot from the debates and discussions with people from all over the world, whom I would never have met otherwise. My opinions on a number of things kind of crystallised as a result, or changed, or I've just become more aware of issues I hadn't previously thought much about. It might have seemed like mindless distraction at the time, but quite often it wasn't.

This.
Every word of it.

[MsU]

Rooks, honey. They were rooks. You called them blackbirds, which they were not!

And what tortuga said about the discussions.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2013 3:38:53 GMT -5 MsU said:

Rooks, honey. They were rooks. You called them blackbirds, which they were not!

And what tortuga said about the discussions.

As I said- are they birds? Yes! Are they black? Yes! Therefore they are BLACK BIRDS

[Phoenix]

I merely lurked on the tree for the longest time. A couple of years, maybe? Y'all were so clever and fun and irreverent and honest and well-traveled, I wasn't sure I had the right to join in.

Then, I was living in a hostel in Scotland and mentioned being a bit *bleh* with being constantly surrounded by people in an institutional setting. Next thing I know, I'm meeting Sticktoria at the station in Newcastle! We had the most gorgeous brownie from the market before meeting Megs & 'slim and Catkin. They kindly let this very introverted person hang out with them for the weekend. They were great company and the food...the food was glorious!

I must also say that, whilst I'm not very sentimental about Christmas, getting a Secret Santa package delivered to my little apartment during my very culture-shock laden first year in South Korea was fantastic.

[tortuga]

I met Sticktoria in Newcastle, too. She's lovely.

And so are all the other folks I met over the years in various places.

[Tulipana]

I also remember the Saturday night megathreads. It was a bunch of us. Me, alone in a new city, Phona and some others, supposed to be studying and some peeps working the night shift. So much fun was had in these useless threads. Sometimes I was laughing soooo hard that I just kept laughing once I was finally in bed.

[MsU]

Witchy will never become a birdwatcher. F.A.C.T.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2013 4:53:05 GMT -5 MsU said:

Witchy will never become a birdwatcher. F.A.C.T.

And yet you still love me

[Deleted]

Wait wait i have another one!!!!! When I went on school trip from London to Amsterdam and in the middle of dinner one night I turned around to see the dutchies walking in!! Pretty sure I screamed the room down in my excitement!! Was awesome! They did a great job keeping it a secret from me... Awesome surprise

[Webs]

Blue drinks and burgers at the Life Cafe during NYC pissups. If anyone received a Postie from one of these pissups, they probably came from the bathrooms at Life Cafe.

[Deleted]

Maybe I was hanging out on the wrong branch... I have some warm memories of the tree but some really not so warm:

It's always been a great place to bounce ideas off people and get real life advice. Advice that I've really taken to heart and used despite how I may come off. I've met up with some wonderful, gracious TTers traveling (flatfoot, tarra, leelee...). I've had a great time with others who were passing though my home town (ian, nycdad...). Buuutttt I've had two different TTers overstep their boundaries one by contacting an ex of mine and another by contacting my landlord and actually getting me evicted from my apartment (I did hate living there but still). I met a bf on TT and, well, I suppose many of you know how that panned out.

Hopefully all new memories will be good ones.

[Webs]

I remember coming home one day and my neighbor catching me in the hall and saying they had something for me. I couldn't imagine what it was and there was this lovely bouquet of flowers from Zoe. I was crying, it was so unexpected.

I remember how you all held me during my father's death.