The first poster that I ever met was Philo.
We'd traded a few stories via the site and I realised that we knew some of the same people down in Portsmouth.
He was very cagey as to his real identity, but eventually we shared emails and he told me all about himself.
One day, I took HL down to Portsmouth to see my daughter who lives there. I'd mentioned it in a post, that I was going in that direction. On the way, my mobile phone rang and this posh voice introduced himself as being Philo!
He'd got my phone number in WSM via directory enquiries and persuaded one of my boys to part with my mobile number.
I was all excited because that night England were about to play Germnany in a vital World Cup qualifier.
Anyway, we agreed to meet later that day in a pub close by. Now I started to feel nervous!
We went into the pub and there was Philo, immediately recognisable by his astonishing resemblance to Steve Martin who he used as his avatar here. Gosh, there were real people on JWD! He was younger than me (most folks are) and accompanied by a young lady who was trying to get back into the dubs so that her parents would talk to her again.
We talked and talked and talked. The beers came thick and fast and we talked some more. We resolved to meet again.
A few weeks later Philo came to stay with us for a few days. He brought presents for everyone, wrestled with the cat, came to skittles with me, met all of our friends, came down the pub several times and behaved like a real good guy. I liked Philo.
Well, the down side is that I don't hear from Philo anymore, nor do the other people who met him. I hope that he's happy, but I worry that the lady who was trying to make her way back might have taken Philo with her.
Whatever. One things for sure, you never forget your first real-life poster!
Since then I must have met over a 100 people from here. One day I'll try and list them all.
Englishman.
PS. England 5 Germany 1 was the score.