Welcome to Public Mouth.

Sorry for the short delay with your message. I've had to change the
settings to stop the spammers and scammers who insist on posting
their nonsense everywhere.

Now I know you are a real person, I've changed your settings and you
won't have to wait next time.

Anyway, enough "copy-taker" style uber-moderation stuff. On with the
reply...

The Internet lets us do something we couldn't do back in LOOT -
inline replies. I've replied to your separate paragraphs. See below.

--- "Drum" wrote:
>
> So there I was on the loo in 1988 reading Loot (as you do) and for a
> laugh had a look at the personals (as you do on the loo) expecting
> "spicy matron owns good looking wolfhounds, will tutorise young
> farmhands..." etc etc (Thank you Alex Harvey) when I realise it
ain't
> like that at all but a load of berks sending messages to each other.
> So I put one in (with, for the sake of old times, the same heading
as
> this message) and lo and behold a new looter was born. I was a
serial
> character creator with at one time around 12 different aliases all
> messaging at the same time... occaisionally to each other. I needed
a
> life in those days. But mostly people knew me as Big Bad Wolf (BBW).

It was a slightly different story for me. Firstly it was 1986 instead
of 1988. Secondly I wasn't sitting on your loo. I actually had the
900 column stuck under my nose by my sister. I saw LOOT back in 1985
and dismissed it. But that isn't the begining of the story...

<wibbly wobbly effect>
Back when I was in school, my mother read about a guy called The
Curlyman who had a funny message on his answering machine. She told
me and my sister about him and we both called his number (736 6411).

The Curlyman was really funny. He was essentially doing a radio show
on his answering machine. He started off with fairly short messages,
but got longer and longer over the years.

After listening to his messages, you could leave one for him. Me and
my sister used to talk about his jokes and say stuff back to him. One
day I was really surprised when he actually answered the telephone!
We got to talking to him (off and on) and he told us he was going to
DJ at the opening of a restaruant called BJs.

We went along (with our mum) to meet him and a guy called The Bean
was there. (Yes he actually *was* called The Bean before he was in
LOOT!)
</wibbly wobbly effect>

...The Bean came around my house to see my sister and had a copy of
LOOT. He showed her the 900 column because he thought it was funny
and she kept the paper and said to me. Lets do this.

I don't know why, but posting your first LOOT message was always a
big deal. Like you, I've put my message in the subject heading.

I wrote: "I've got a Commodore 16. What's your problem?" and was so
nervous/excited that I forgot to "sign" the message. It was probably
good that I didn't sign, because several people thought I was someone
else and replied. The "berks" might not have answered me if they knew
I was new.

I got heavily into LOOTing in the first few years and sometimes had
about 40 messages in a single issue. I'd be having multiple
conversations with people like Dirty Harry, Doctor Feelgood and Mr
Famous.

Back when I went to my first LNO (LNO7 or LNO8 I think) people used
to ask why you had your LOOT name. Well I picked mine because it was
my favorite Commodore 16 game. (Yes, I did actually have a Commodore
16 back then.)

I didn't got to my first LNO for eons...well I exagerate a
little...because people didn't like organising them back then. My
first LNO was on the same day as the Capital Caper (an event where
people were encoraged to run around Underground Stations to raise
money for charity).

Me and my sister (who is Splash Welly Kid BTW) tried to organise a
bunch of LOOTers to do the Capital Caper before the LNO. We actually
had some aggro with the LOOT copytakers as they didn't want to give
Capital Radio a free advert. We spoke to the boss copytaker and he
did put the ad in eventually, but it all happened at the last minute,
so we only met about 3 or 4 people. So my first LOOT meeting was
*technically* me and my sister standing in an Underground station
with a long sign that had LOOTers (written in coffee) on it.

I'm glad we did that, because I was blown away by the actual LNO. I'm
pretty sure there were over 50 people there - scattered all around a
big crowded pub in different groups. I got greeted by Zen Bud (later
Zen Buddings - don't ask me why) who was sitting cross legged on top
of a metal fence (or thin wall) with a 5 foot drop behind him.

> So here I am now some 20 years later (bloody hell!) surfing the net
> and this group catches my eye as there is mention of Loot and a
> picture of Tomcat! Bless his wee cottons...

Time flies, as the monkey said when he threw the clock at the cat.

I'm glad you found us.

> Hi Big Mac. I know we never really connected when I was around but
> cool that you are here.

You probably joined in one of my less active phases. A lot of people
changed when they found out who was real. I used to get a lot
of "nice to see you at the LNO" and "see you at the next LNO"
messages. They were a bit boring so I invented some new names and cut
down on my Big Mac activity.

> Would love a catch up if anyone knows where anyone is.

Well I know where I am - I am here. But that probably isn't what you
meant.

I know where Hunky Dory and Sparky are. (She is running around
Azeroth and he is battling the Teladi Empire!) I haven't seen them
yet this year, but often go up to visit them. They are part of the
LOOT crowd that got into re-enactment and LARP. So you get a buy-one-
get-one-free offer if you know them. (I occasionally see the rest of
the re-enactment crowd and the LARPers.)

I also know where Fred is. You might not remember Fred, but I'm sure
you would have written to her at some point. I got the credit (or the
blame) for a lot of her jokes because we both had a very similar
sense of humor. We often ended up making up new characters and then
writing to each other's new characters, without realising it was us.
Weird! (I've not spoken to her for about a year. I must phone her up.)

I also know where Tomcat is. I got the credit (and the blame) for a
couple of his jokes too. He got me a job back in 2006, so I actually
worked with him for a year. Working for someone you know is a bit
weird. You hear all these stories about people fighting, but that
never happened. It was a lot of fun.

I'm sure you will get a couple of other posts from the regulars.

Black Knight used to write here, but hasn't been around for a while.
Cheshire Cat pops in from time to time. (She usually sends emails to
me instead of posting them to the group - I don't know how she
manages to do that - I find it very endearing.)

We get some of the Via Via crowd writing in here.

I've been very busy in the last couple of years, but have been in
contact with (in alphabetical order) Animal Mother, Cyberknight, Dr
Feelgood, Kamikaze Biker, Little Sis, Nightwing, Phantom Bride,
Plumstead Model and last but not least, Starchild. (I hope they are
all still where I last spoke to them.)

I saw Selwyn Bog Trotter, The Bean and Splash Welly Kid on Saturday.
We ate a meal on top of a London bus (as you do).

> Look forward to hearing from you. I have a couple of photos too so
> I'll post them if I get a mo.

How is this one:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/characters_cast/characters/character_m
o_s.shtml

Whoah! Eh? Eh?

> Cheers
> BBW

Hmm. I think that was slightly over 50 words.

;-)