Trying to place myself on your Venn diagram. British, software engineer, writer, hiker, introvert. Last time I was in Wales I was crossing the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in a narrow boat. https://www.pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk
Never read LOTR, nor saw the movie, so no idea what you were going on about.
I don't believe anyone has ever hurled the epithet "cool" at me, although "suspiciously cool" is, well, cool! Coming from you, I'll take it as the highest compliment. I am most certainly a nerd, and not much of a geek, and it's possible that my wife has moderated my dorkiness.
I've seen Bill Gates irl by the way. I'd place him on the geek-dork axis.
I'm a city boy through and through, but some of my wife and my favorite vacations have centered around hiking. This was so much fun to read. Vicarious hiking and nerdery through your eyes. And some beautiful writing––your description of the vastness of Wales like a carpet rucked. And it wasn't me complaining about the LOTR references.
Nought but nerdery through my eyes, David ☺️🤝 Thank you for the kind words, the beauty of Wales writes itself. (Also, I reckon the only people who penetrated that far into the text were the ones who weren't bothered by the LOTR refs .... 😅🎯) x J
We took a trip to Bhutan many years ago where we hiked every morning. They gave us staffs and of course I was Gandalf.
My daughter and I once dressed up as Nazgul (elaborate costumes!) to surprise my twenty year old son for his birthday/Thanksgiving. We even played the music from the movie scene at Weathertop, before we entered the room.
Unintended consequence: traumatizing our five year old niece.
Honestly recreating Weathertop is inspired 👻 I know a ruined hill fort that would serve as a perfect Amon Sul, if the occasion ever presents itself for an encore….
I am definitely not a geek. Too old to be a dork. I am a bit nerdy about a few things - old films (I mean 30s and 40s, maybe 50s, not 90s and 00s), old books, vintage knitting patterns. To be fair, I'm probably just an old person.
"Too old to be a dork" —does that mean maybe I'll age out of dorkiness?? Bring it on.
I think old books and vintage knitting patterns are really cool, but you probably wouldn't want to trust me on that (see: dork-nerd status 🙋🏻♀️) Thanks for reading, June. It means a lot to me. ❤️
Wordsmoke. I love that word, Jill. I'm going to light me a wordsmoke and peace out. Our belligerent leaders (wannabe and be) of the nation have been igniting a wordinferno in the meantime as India goes into its monumental general election exercise.
If Wales were to be Eriador, would London be Mordor? 🤔 One of the nerdiest parts of Tolkien's world, I think, is the genealogy of races/families. I remember one guy at one of the many offices that I've worked in ask me, "This all happened, right? It's history, yeah?". Insane amount of detail! Reading about the two of you going up and down and all around, I realised I'm a hobbit, fat and lazy. I do grow vegetables and plants; maybe I'll become one too. It'll be my turn to go up in smoke perhaps (and the Lord of the Bantering passed into history). Oooh! I'd like that.
Saw the Goo Goo Dolls play live a few months back in my city; India is Rivendell for severely wrinkled musicians. I think "Iris" is the only song of theirs most people at that festival were familiar with but oh! were they familiar! The crowd sang all of it.
I spent an ungodly amount of time studying the Venn diagram, which probably places me in the nerd category. But I’m a true dork. And in fact, I’m in awe of your dorky self being able to coherently talk to all these strangers. Settling bets? Offering help to lost boys? I think that makes you a cool and confident dork? That waitress would say I ordered too much and I’d respond, “you’re right, what am I even saying? I’m sorry. Just the two curries.” Followed by a sheepish grin and zero eye contact. Where the sub-category for this group of humans?
Like John up there, also no idea what you’re yammering on about with all this LOTR business, but golly day it sure sounds nice.
Maybe there's an introvert/extrovert delineation amongst the DNs that I'm missing? Although, if you had smelled those curries, I reckon there's no way you would have scaled back your order either x (ps. LOTR is wonderful, an absolute joy to read if you can deal with elves, trolls and the like...)
Once upon a time when I thought the Red Book of Westmarch was real, and that hobbits were just leprechauns and so they must be from Ireland, though perhaps the East Farthing could have been in Wales give or take, the Alps were the Misty Mountains and Mordor was in Transylvania-ish, naturally, life seemed much more enchanting. Based on your travelog, I'm now hot to visit Wales - if I squint my eyes, maybe I can get a little of that old magic back.
"He was annoyed not to appear well-informed at all times. He was annoyed—most of all—to be advised in the out-of-doors by a girl." I laughed at this.
A lovely dispatch from Middle Earth.
I loved the quote about the law: "Law is just reading and writing. If you can do that, you can do law." I started a law degree and found this to be true (with a bit of logical thinking thrown in). When I realised that, I gave it up and decided to do something more useful with my time and with my reading. I changed my degree to English literature. A solid career move.
‘Dweeb’ popped into my head while reading this … remember it? No one says it anymore, probably. I feel like it was closer in meaning to dork, maybe, than any of the others. I’m mostly just a big nerd, myself. Have read and watched LOTR several times, doing the Holbrooks thing too … silently cheered each new reference you hit us with as the post proceeded. High marks.
Agree. I did think about 'dweebs' a bit (the sour candies in the States? Used to love those when I was a kid) but couldn't figure out where it belonged. Now thinking more about it, could it possibly be the hallowed centre of the Venn? Bill himself.
Bill is SUCH a dweeb. Clearly, being a dweeb does not, as all the high school bullies may have suggested, prevent one from becoming a Master of the Universe. Dweeb: the unholy triple-point in the Venn diagram of Nerd, Dork, and Geek. I love it.
YES. He will love it. He should read the Hobbit too, if he hasn't yet. Also: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. ❤️
❤️ Thought of you Kenneth, re the secret hiding places — and your tree. We talked about that before, but I'm sure there's still so much more to say....
Oh Jill! I’ve just dropped my soft-boiled egg while reading this - held in my hand because using an egg cup in a campervan is for dorks - every word was a delight. I’ve been behind on my reading for a while now but OMG I’m so thrilled it was THIS post I woke up to this morning. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got some very drippy dippy egg to wipe up before heading out into the wilds….!
Interesting debate. One might argue that dropping your egg is more of a dork move, whereas having a special Camper Van Egg Cup (as well as a Camper Van Cheese Knife and storable Butter Board) would be more of a purist nerd move... Happy to consider this further in the spirit of academic inquiry. ☺️ Thank you for reading Rebecca. Go enjoy the (hopefully troll-free) wilds!! x
🤣 Ye Gods - a cheese knife and a butter board?! Heck, I travel with everything ready-made or very easy to do - home-cooked blocks of freezer food which tesselate beautifully into the freezer compartment - eggs boiled in an egg boiler (a recent £22.99 investment which means we are NOT starting every day in a van full of steam) - and Jim has a tidy stash of dehydrated camping food which is perfect to shove into a food flask with 300ml of boiling water so he can have a hot lunch during a shoot. And speaking of shoots, please shoot ME if you ever see me chopping an onion in the van to make an evening meal from scratch....!
Trying to place myself on your Venn diagram. British, software engineer, writer, hiker, introvert. Last time I was in Wales I was crossing the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in a narrow boat. https://www.pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk
Never read LOTR, nor saw the movie, so no idea what you were going on about.
A lovely read anyway!
You sound suspiciously cool, John. Might it be that you’re not a dork at all? 🤯😱
I don't believe anyone has ever hurled the epithet "cool" at me, although "suspiciously cool" is, well, cool! Coming from you, I'll take it as the highest compliment. I am most certainly a nerd, and not much of a geek, and it's possible that my wife has moderated my dorkiness.
I've seen Bill Gates irl by the way. I'd place him on the geek-dork axis.
🤝 You're right, let's keep Bill out. He can sit with the geek-dorks. He'd only kill my nerd-buzz.
I'm a city boy through and through, but some of my wife and my favorite vacations have centered around hiking. This was so much fun to read. Vicarious hiking and nerdery through your eyes. And some beautiful writing––your description of the vastness of Wales like a carpet rucked. And it wasn't me complaining about the LOTR references.
Nought but nerdery through my eyes, David ☺️🤝 Thank you for the kind words, the beauty of Wales writes itself. (Also, I reckon the only people who penetrated that far into the text were the ones who weren't bothered by the LOTR refs .... 😅🎯) x J
We took a trip to Bhutan many years ago where we hiked every morning. They gave us staffs and of course I was Gandalf.
My daughter and I once dressed up as Nazgul (elaborate costumes!) to surprise my twenty year old son for his birthday/Thanksgiving. We even played the music from the movie scene at Weathertop, before we entered the room.
Unintended consequence: traumatizing our five year old niece.
Honestly recreating Weathertop is inspired 👻 I know a ruined hill fort that would serve as a perfect Amon Sul, if the occasion ever presents itself for an encore….
I loved every single beautiful word of this.
I am definitely not a geek. Too old to be a dork. I am a bit nerdy about a few things - old films (I mean 30s and 40s, maybe 50s, not 90s and 00s), old books, vintage knitting patterns. To be fair, I'm probably just an old person.
"Too old to be a dork" —does that mean maybe I'll age out of dorkiness?? Bring it on.
I think old books and vintage knitting patterns are really cool, but you probably wouldn't want to trust me on that (see: dork-nerd status 🙋🏻♀️) Thanks for reading, June. It means a lot to me. ❤️
Oh, oh! Dorks aren't diminished orcs, are they? 😳
I'm losing it; I need my wordsmoke.
Diminished orcs is 🎯✌️☺️💯
Wordsmoke. I love that word, Jill. I'm going to light me a wordsmoke and peace out. Our belligerent leaders (wannabe and be) of the nation have been igniting a wordinferno in the meantime as India goes into its monumental general election exercise.
If Wales were to be Eriador, would London be Mordor? 🤔 One of the nerdiest parts of Tolkien's world, I think, is the genealogy of races/families. I remember one guy at one of the many offices that I've worked in ask me, "This all happened, right? It's history, yeah?". Insane amount of detail! Reading about the two of you going up and down and all around, I realised I'm a hobbit, fat and lazy. I do grow vegetables and plants; maybe I'll become one too. It'll be my turn to go up in smoke perhaps (and the Lord of the Bantering passed into history). Oooh! I'd like that.
Saw the Goo Goo Dolls play live a few months back in my city; India is Rivendell for severely wrinkled musicians. I think "Iris" is the only song of theirs most people at that festival were familiar with but oh! were they familiar! The crowd sang all of it.
“India is Rivendell for wrinkled musicians” - so that’s where they keep them… I wondered.
Yup. At that same festival we had Deep Purple as well (they've been here before as well).
I spent an ungodly amount of time studying the Venn diagram, which probably places me in the nerd category. But I’m a true dork. And in fact, I’m in awe of your dorky self being able to coherently talk to all these strangers. Settling bets? Offering help to lost boys? I think that makes you a cool and confident dork? That waitress would say I ordered too much and I’d respond, “you’re right, what am I even saying? I’m sorry. Just the two curries.” Followed by a sheepish grin and zero eye contact. Where the sub-category for this group of humans?
Like John up there, also no idea what you’re yammering on about with all this LOTR business, but golly day it sure sounds nice.
Maybe there's an introvert/extrovert delineation amongst the DNs that I'm missing? Although, if you had smelled those curries, I reckon there's no way you would have scaled back your order either x (ps. LOTR is wonderful, an absolute joy to read if you can deal with elves, trolls and the like...)
The series has been on my to do list for years. Perhaps it is time…
Once upon a time when I thought the Red Book of Westmarch was real, and that hobbits were just leprechauns and so they must be from Ireland, though perhaps the East Farthing could have been in Wales give or take, the Alps were the Misty Mountains and Mordor was in Transylvania-ish, naturally, life seemed much more enchanting. Based on your travelog, I'm now hot to visit Wales - if I squint my eyes, maybe I can get a little of that old magic back.
Wales guarantees magic. Also: rain, so bring waterproofs and Goretex boots...
Ooh, I reckon Hobbits are more Cotswolds-y than Irish but I'll accept it as a valid thesis.
"He was annoyed not to appear well-informed at all times. He was annoyed—most of all—to be advised in the out-of-doors by a girl." I laughed at this.
A lovely dispatch from Middle Earth.
I loved the quote about the law: "Law is just reading and writing. If you can do that, you can do law." I started a law degree and found this to be true (with a bit of logical thinking thrown in). When I realised that, I gave it up and decided to do something more useful with my time and with my reading. I changed my degree to English literature. A solid career move.
Jealous. I did law as an undergrad and really wish I'd done something useful like English and History.....
‘Dweeb’ popped into my head while reading this … remember it? No one says it anymore, probably. I feel like it was closer in meaning to dork, maybe, than any of the others. I’m mostly just a big nerd, myself. Have read and watched LOTR several times, doing the Holbrooks thing too … silently cheered each new reference you hit us with as the post proceeded. High marks.
Agree. I did think about 'dweebs' a bit (the sour candies in the States? Used to love those when I was a kid) but couldn't figure out where it belonged. Now thinking more about it, could it possibly be the hallowed centre of the Venn? Bill himself.
Bill is SUCH a dweeb. Clearly, being a dweeb does not, as all the high school bullies may have suggested, prevent one from becoming a Master of the Universe. Dweeb: the unholy triple-point in the Venn diagram of Nerd, Dork, and Geek. I love it.
I love it too 🤝 glad we cracked this one.
Love hearing about your hiking adventures! And I lol when you asked a passerby to settle a bet!!!
I have never read LOTR or seen the movie - glad I’m not the ONLY one.
Would you recommend for 13 year old nerdy geek grandson ?
YES. He will love it. He should read the Hobbit too, if he hasn't yet. Also: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. ❤️
So fun to watch the pair of you trip-blossoming in beautiful Wales...
❤️ Thought of you Kenneth, re the secret hiding places — and your tree. We talked about that before, but I'm sure there's still so much more to say....
Ha ha! Oh I remember... And I was duly thrilled to see the downstairs bathroom appear....
Fuuuuuck this is good! Refreshing for the soul, thank you so much.
Also, I'm 98% convinced by your theory that LOTR is Wales.
It totally is. That's The Hill I will die on, anyway.
Also: "Refreshing for the soul" is just the best, thank you. 🙏
Oh Jill! I’ve just dropped my soft-boiled egg while reading this - held in my hand because using an egg cup in a campervan is for dorks - every word was a delight. I’ve been behind on my reading for a while now but OMG I’m so thrilled it was THIS post I woke up to this morning. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got some very drippy dippy egg to wipe up before heading out into the wilds….!
Interesting debate. One might argue that dropping your egg is more of a dork move, whereas having a special Camper Van Egg Cup (as well as a Camper Van Cheese Knife and storable Butter Board) would be more of a purist nerd move... Happy to consider this further in the spirit of academic inquiry. ☺️ Thank you for reading Rebecca. Go enjoy the (hopefully troll-free) wilds!! x
🤣 Ye Gods - a cheese knife and a butter board?! Heck, I travel with everything ready-made or very easy to do - home-cooked blocks of freezer food which tesselate beautifully into the freezer compartment - eggs boiled in an egg boiler (a recent £22.99 investment which means we are NOT starting every day in a van full of steam) - and Jim has a tidy stash of dehydrated camping food which is perfect to shove into a food flask with 300ml of boiling water so he can have a hot lunch during a shoot. And speaking of shoots, please shoot ME if you ever see me chopping an onion in the van to make an evening meal from scratch....!
Please take a picture of the other side of your diagram. I’m having trouble locating a “friend.”