The summer of 2009 will go down in my personal history as one of the more pivotal times of my life. I made many grand decisions about my life and every conceivable emotion was hitting me day to day. To say it was a tumultuous journey wouldn’t be an exaggeration. But I had constant companions for my navigation through the choppy waters. A lump of granite on the north west corner of Trafalgar Square and all the weird and colourful cast of thousands who stood on it, worked behind the scenes and commentated on it online.
At the start I saw myself as one of what would be 2400 people. Nothing more, nothing less. Then twitter entered my life. When I came down (physically) from my hour I read the tweets that had been posted. They were all so lovely and I tweeted people back to say thank you. When I got home, wanting to keep the experience alive, I popped on the stream to see what was going on… oh and someone had replied to one of my thank you tweets. I’ll just reply again. 4 hours later I have found myself talking to a random bunch of strangers all of whom seemed to have something indefinable in common with me.
And thus began the transformation from plinther to tweckler.
People have come and gone through the 100 days. But some have stayed to the bitter-sweet end. Everyday we would all get a little more comfortable and let a bit of ourselves show. Some people literally bared all while others held their cards close to their hearts. In time emails, skype names and telephone numbers were exchanged and friendships were being forged beyond tweet deck and the plinth.
We were also joined by the web droids. I am sure it was our witty and sparkling tweeting style that brought them to twitter - not getting news on borking feeds and relieving the boredom of being stuck in a glorified broom cupboard. They became honorary twecklers and furnished with affectionate nicknames with some appearing on the plinth just for the entertainment of the tweckling tribe (possibly).
Of course this is where you could say I have had a bit of a ‘unique’ plinth experience. At the start of the journey I certainly didn’t think I would end up being charmed by the wit, shadow puppet skills and expressive eyebrows of a droid, but I have been indeed. Lucky for me he is evidently fond of massive butterfly wings and crap dancing. Happily.
I was a bit torn coming up to the last day. Was I a plinther or was I tweckler. Both twecklers and plinthers were going to be there on the last day. Who was I going to identify with more? In the metaphorical party would I be standing in kitchen gossiping or would I be in the living room dancing like a loon?
But when it came down to it there was no contest. The last night started for us together drinking soup, skyping with those who couldn’t make it and occasionally checking out who was on the plinth. Every time I met someone it took a minute to adjust to not talking to an avatar, but we all soon got over that and even managed to talk to each other in sentences of more than 140 characters.
But as dawn broke the terrace began to fill up with media and plinthers. And it all felt so odd. Who were all these people? Why were they all of a sudden interested in our corner of Trafalgar Square? Why are we being so polite to a really dull plinther who is out staying her welcome? So I watched the media circus move down through Trafalgar Square following the last plinther.
In the distance, beyond the cameras stood a little group of nerdy cool types by the portacabin. Our droids together again. I would like to think they were sharing memories and tales of borking feeds but more realistically they were discussing how quickly did they think they could get to the pub for a drink!
And watching all of this from the steps beside our beloved, now lonely plinth was 2 twecklers. Taking it all in. I would like to think they were talking about the merits of the last 100 days, but more than likely they were debating how long it will be before sleep deprivation took them over and they started seeing pink elephants frolic through the fountains.
I started my plinth experience physically in the same place as I started it. I was in London on the first day and sat for about 30 minutes watching the 10th plinther from the stone benches on the side of Trafalgar Square. 100 days later I was back there. This time shouting abuse at the sky arts presenter, rating the pigeons for aesthetic and entertainment values, surrounded by friends, looking forward to a shiny new future and in a very different place in my life.
I was on the plinth for an hour. An hour I will never forget, but I was a tweckler for the whole summer. And that is what kept me company through my journey this summer, brought me friendship and serious sleep deprivation on occasion.
4191 people contributed to the #oneandother hashtag-a-thon and of those, around 30 regulars need to pat themselves on the back for being generally fantastic. You have all been a part of what has made the project for me. Thank you.
