Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Home

Hello folks! I've made it home (and earlier than expected!)



When we arrived at the arch there wasn't another person in sight, but within about 20 minutes, conspicious groups of two started popping up all over the place! Somehow myself and Heidi (my girlfriend) and nick managed to work out who each other was, so we chatted a for a bit whilst everyone else hung out in their groups.

A little time (and a considerable lot of rain) later we were asked to gather round (there were about 20 of us) and was told the first clue was to be found from a curly haired bloke in the nearby pagoda. I asked the chap if he had a clue for us and indeed, he handed out lanyards to everybody, showing the glyph on one side and a cryptic message on the reverse; "In a park near an area known for mardi gras, find a man that has enabled society to go far."

At this point 2 folks ran off into the distance (obviously locals) and here's me and Heidi having no clue about the festivities of Manchester. Thankfully the pagoda was next to a carpark so we went off with Nick to ask the parking attendant who happily gave us pretty good directions. A few minutes later we found ourselves at the Alan Turing Memorial statue in Sackville Park! Whilst attempting to avoid the omnipresent photographer (must be a Hanso Clone) we read a sign which told us to "go to the buidling that celebrates discovery and change, where you will find a baby who will give you the answer you are looking for. You have until 5pm!"

I knew the answer to this one; the science museum (the only tourist attraction I knew about in Manchester having past it on the train). A quick walk and yet more very very wet rain later, we arrived. Having no clue where to go, we approached the ticket desk, where a friendly museum employee told us we were looking rather LOST. She told us we had to go head towards the back of the building. Thankfully my wonderful girlfriend picked up a guide to the museum and had noticed that "The Baby" was on the 2nd floor of building 2, so after a quick detour around an exhibition on the textile industry, we found ourself in the right building. Strangely enough floor 2 was sealed - no access for the public. Thankfully yet more highly useful museum employees told us to jump over the felt rope (mmmmm... felt rope) and head up the stairs.

We were there! We were greeted by what seemed like a crowd of Channel 4 employees and warned "DO NOT TOUCH". A little hunt later we found what we were looking for; "The Baby", a replica of the world's first computer built in Manchester back in 1948. A laptop was placed in front of it, cycling through an animation of the glyph... Argh! Panic! No code! Thankfully someone hinted "be patient" and an agonising minute or two later, the code popped up! I fired it into HE.com there and then via my mobile and that was that! :)

Nick, Heidi and I waited around for a bit and chatted to The Other Girl and another chap who's been involved in TLE from almost the get-go. Very nice people who seem genuinely excited to be involved in this interactive experiment.

Anyway, what you've all been waiting for. I proudly present, the one, the only, The Other Girl!


To all you naysayers, she is 100% real and 110% nice! Unfortunately she suffers from a similar affliction to Speaker when a camera is around and photos appear as above! Maybe the result of a Hanso experiement? (The photo is taken in front of a replica of the 'The Baby' and not down a DHARMA hatch, despite appearances!)

Finally, good luck to everyone on both sides of the 4th wall in London tomorrow! Hopefully the weather will be a little less LOSTesque!

Some comments on mobile blogging


Well for the most part it worked! I'd like to have taken more photos but I always have this fear that rain and mobile phones dont mix!

Things only went wrong once on a post i tried to make describing the clues. My masterpiece vanished into the ether. :-( Another slight problem is the fact that i dont seem to be able to reply to comments (dont worry nick, i have permission if I show The Other Girl in a certain light;-)).

The final quirk of the implementation on this specific phone is the fact that you need to send a picture along with your post. The good thing about that is it forces you to be a little extra creative with what you can find around!

Anyway take a look at nick's lostpedia entry on today's events if he's made it already. I'll post more details later when i can use my laptop and be sure i wont lose it all:-)

Answers...


They'll come later... Along with an exclusive photo of The Other Girl!

The Glyph (Part II)


The code is 2ng39z!

The Glyph


No code yet though...

Another ITEr!


Contents deleted...

The arch...


Suspicious lack of fellow conspiraspies!

Made it!



Trains


On the train (which is on time! *gasp*)... Nothing* can stop us now. (* excluding acts of god.)

Good morning!


6.15am... Far too early!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Welcome!


This is a test of blogging directly from my K800i camera phone! Look out for live photos whilst the Manchester hunt takes place!