Joomla!Day began early on the Saturday as I got a message late on Friday night that Pedro from Globodigital.net was flying in from Portugal. He wasn't expecting it but I thought it would be a nice surprise if I turned up at the airport wearing a Joomla t-shirt and gave him a lift to the city centre and his hotel. (For those of you that don't know Leeds the city fathers thought it was a good idea to build the airport on top of the moors miles away from the city - doh).

I think judging from the expression on his face that Pedro was pretty surprised to see someone at the airport wearing a Joomla t-shirt so it took a while for him to approach me. (Not surprised really I wouldn't approach a nutter at the airport just because they were wearing a Joomla t-shirt either.

After driving Pedro into Leeds and a quick coffee I set off to complete the arrangements for Joomla!Day. (Note to self - don't organise something like this on your own again). Late on Thursday I realised that Joomla!Day was just before the 1st Joomla Birthday and that it would be a good idea to have a birthday cake. Sainsburys have a clever printer that will print directly onto the icing sugar of a cake so after Geoff had create a really cool graphic I set off to get it done. 3 supermarkets later I gave up, either they had no ink or no cake.

Then it was back home to wait the arrival of the intrepid Vince (Jomres) who had made the stupid decision to drive the 370 miles from Milford Haven. Actually it wasn't such a stupid decision as Milford Haven is stuck so far at the end of Wales that there is no other option than to get the horse and cart out and make the journey across the UK to the civilised world. Vince made surprisingly good time (just under 8 hours) so after a quick coffee I dragged him back out to Leeds railway station to meet Igur Dutra who was travelling from Edinburgh by train.

Not surprisingly the train was a little late but it was easy to recognise Igor as he was wearing a big smile and a Joomla t-shirt. (No mistaking the big Brazilian here). Pedro had joined us at the station so we made the short walk to the Prince of Wales pub to meet everyone else. The Prince of Wales is a very traditional drinking establishment that might be best described as a "spit and sawdust" establishment and not your sterile chain pub.

Phil Taylor and his wife Trevena were the next to arrive and it wasn't long before we were joined by another 20 Joomla-ers (what do we call ourselves, I'll never know). The rose seller spotting just a few women in a crowd of geeks very bravely approached us and I managed to embarrass a cashless Phil by buying a rose for his wife. I am sure it made an interesting souvenir of the weekend if nothing else.

The plan was for everyone to go for a meal at Wokmania, a Chinese buffet, just around the corner. It nearly didn't happen as I forgot to book a table until late on Thursday night but the restaurant coped admirably, although they did raise an eyebrow when I said my name was Brian Joomla.

With stomachs full (although I suspect like most people who eat Chinese food we were all hungry again 3 hours later) we returned to the Prince of Wales where we propped up the bar till midnight. At the midnight hour carriages arrived to take us all back to our respective hotels. Vince was staying with me and Igor was staying at Dave, a friends, house so we stood, with all the drunks, in the queue for a taxi. Dave was out on a stag night so we let ourselves in and sat down to a coffee before bed. (Is it just me that finds strong real coffee doesn't keep me awake). Dave rolled in shortly after and Igor dug in his bag and revealed a bottle of Cachaca, which is a very strong rum like drink made from sugar cane.

At 3am I decide that Vince and I really should leave especially as I still had a presentation to write. (Note to self don't try and write a presentation when you are drunk. It's hard to see the keyboard never mind spell.)