The 4th European Mars Conference October 8-10, 2005

Friday 8th October
Read what delegates had to say about the weekend

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Event Review - Saturday Dinner

Following the end of the Saturday evening discussion panel, delegates retired to the Accenture campus or their chosen hotels / homes. Those who had booked a place on the dinner, had just enough time to get changed before it was all aboard the buses for a trip across Milton Keynes to the New Mandarin restaurant, and a specially-arranged 4-course banquet.

To keep things interesting, a seating plan had been drawn up that enabled delegates to share tables with the featured guests, thus encouraging conversation and interaction. While the coach company had withdrawn one of the three minibuses hired for the evening from service, and was unable to provide a replacement, the slight delay in getting everyone to the restaurant actually seemed to make things go a lot smoother - on arrival, parties of 14 were met by Bo Maxwell and quickly directed to their table & the restaurant staff were equally as quick to furnish drinks.

Soon everyone was seated, and the food began to flow. First up was a delightful selection of hor d'oeuvres sufficent in themselves to feed an army: spring rolls, vegetarian rolls, seaweed, sesame prawn on toast, barbecued ribs, crispy won ton, salt & pepper squid; while for the vegetarians among us, there was a hearty vegetable soup.

The mid-course followed with a crispy aromatic duck & pancakes, garnished with ho-sin sauce and cucumbers and spring onions, while the vegetarians were treated to a range of non-meat or poultry savouries.

By the time the selection of main course dishes (six of them!!) arrived, people were already beginning to look full - but who could resist the delights on offer? Not this delegate, that's for sure! Throughout it all the conversation ebbed and flowed, people took pictures, others bounced around the tables catching conversations here and there, and Bo Maxwell circulated among us, making sure things were OK and people were happy.

I'd heard there was a little apprehension before the dinner on the part of some of the organisers and some of the delegates. As it turned out, no-one needed to worry: the food was outstanding, the conversation sparkling, the drinks bouyant and the staff really, really, super.

All too soon the evening had to draw to a close. Again, without fuss or bother, the mini coaches arrived, people settled their drinks bills in groups and slipped out for a ride back to the accommodation; fortified with a good meal, and ready for bed and the second day of proceedings on the Sunday.

Just prior to departure, Bo Maxwell allowed us to show our thanks to the staff of the restaurant by calling them up and then introducing them to us all - and a hearty round of applause was given.

Added by Delegate Peter Collins

Having returned to the hotel at about midnight after an excellent evening at the restuarant, your correspondent and two fellow delegates were disappointed, although not surprised, to find the bar shut, so we had to resort to imaginary drinks while putting the world to rights. Joined a few minutes later by three more, we decided that a few frames of pool were in order. Alas, there were no cues. Not wanting to turn in for the night, someone suggested a club. There were six of us, only one of whom was a sober driver.

I suggested that we couldn't all fit in one car, to which was said "If we can send people to Mars, surely we can all fit in the car!". The fact that we haven't yet sent people to Mars was deemed irrelevant, and by 1am, thanks to sat nav and directions from a guy in a petrol station, we were in a club in the centre of Milton Keynes. Strutting our funky stuff until kicking-out time, we returned to the hotel to the stirring sounds of the Star Wars soundtrack.

Back to the bar and in a merry state the fun continued until 4am, by which time we decided to call it a night. With the partying tendencies of Mars-fanatics thus proved, when people do land on Mars it will without doubt be the hippest place in the solar system. What more justification do you need?