Waiting for Gary and Tanya at the station, I had planed to take pics of their arrival. But when they appeared, I forgot completely about the camera . Gary had an interrogative look and seeing the red hair, came and asked for confirmation, and that was it.

I first did not recognize the guy of the pic Gary had send sometimes before, but some seconds after as we were getting out of the station, he had a kind and cheering smile and I knew this was the Zoner I had been exchanging with since August.

Gary got in touch in the Zone since the first day, as Rick, Foe, and Yana Ya Ya , who began the first group exchange some days after. Yana had to quit some months after and then Agent Zero joined. After several months of daily exchanges, we had become real buddies. J

Since this first exchange on August 11^th 97, we had been corresponding regularly several times a week with the others, and this aspect of the Zone had a big influence on our respective lives then and the orientations of the Zone.

Gary made the first site, "Welcome to Interzone", anticipating the name of the group the Zoners voted for some times after. Foe had already his personal one and transformed it then into one of the Zone's space. Rick made his, mainly about Gysin. The Western Lands appeared then, and their help made its building easy to the newbie I was then.

From my side, I was a bit anxious about this first meeting with Gary, due to the confrontation between the inner image one builds from the correspondents through the mails, the "inner" character who emerges from them, and the real person. I had a similar feeling before meeting Burroughs in 81, and was terrified during the first seconds, but then he made it really cool.

Coming out of the station, Baud proposed we had a beer before getting into the car, so they could relax a bit before the ride. We crossed the street and went to the bottom of a nearly empty bar.

This first contact was great, since the first seconds, the atmosphere of the trip came back. The wonderful side to have friends from abroad visiting is that you feel on the road even being at home. Sort of two space-times which mix together.

Very impressive too to get in touch through the Burroughs' connection, and see Interzone taking shape in the physical world. People often ask about it : "Do you meet ?" as if the net connections were only "virtual" as they say, under the meaning of "imaginary", which I do not agree with. Considering the facts, I mean what effectively happens in those exchanges, is the transmitted information real or not ? Are the feelings, the impressions, the friendship , the mutual assistance, etc..., real or not ? Are the writings we write and gather, the musics, paintings, videos, etc..., we produce and which people can listen on their computer real or not ? So the so-called "virtual" actually is used to talk about something real . We just are in 2 levels of reality the people who are not used to computers do not know about. So the only problem here is a recognition of different levels of reality, which both exist independently of the observers.

So the problem is not in the "virtual" world, the word "virtual" being in the circumstance deprived from its common meaning, not similar to the facts, but in the inability of some observers to apprehend something which is beyond their capacities of understanding,

And to limit it doctrinally to what they can conceive of it.

Hence the problem is not us, but the mental barriers of people who limit reality to what they can conceive of it, and reject what does not come into their map because it puts it in question.

I wanted to clarify this because is sometimes the sort of question we have to face.

So the beer we were drinking in this bar was not virtual, and jumping from one level of reality to the other while being aware of making it is at the same time extremely exciting, and comforting (hey ! we made it !), but also very impressive : the feeling to be into a reality which is beyond us, different from the home made world, and where sometimes the home made world can become an element of, which gives it another dimension, and makes it magic.

We were all tired : they had a long journey by train from Leeds ( more comfortable and quicker than by boat though) , and Baud was just in holidays, after weird time-tables.

The journey to our place was about 3 quarters an hour, and then there we were.

We made some tea and exchanged a lot about our trips, respective lives, England, studies, the Zone, the Dreamachine, Burroughs and Gysin, our respective readings, etc.. Too much to say in a too short time.

Gary and Tanya were very polite and nice. I was impressed by the trips they had done and their erudition : students in Chinese, Gary spent one year in China and Tanya visited a lot of places in the East.

The place here is retired and really quiet, so they could sleep without being awaken by the noise. Sunday was the first sunny day of March, and after breakfast we went for a walk to the village through country-side paths and the woods along the river. As we stopped in the middle of the way, this feeling of two space-times mixing came back as Gary was talking. Very impressive to see Gary and Tanya chatting in this place and the gathering of the connections here . The place around is on the Roman way, the village, founded in the 5^th century, has the oldest church of France. Before the Romans and Cesar called the inhabitants "Gauls", the culture was Celtic.

When we arrived there in July 84, Burroughs and James Grauerholz had just sent "The Place of Dead Roads", and there were striking similarities between descriptions in the book and the actual place.

This sunny day at the beginning of spring seemed like an oasis after weeks of rain, and very propitious in the circumstance.

In the evening, I gave Gary a copy of the address book of the Zone. Glad I did : after the computer disaster in June, all the address book disappeared and Gary then sent it back.

The way back to Poitiers on Monday morning was rich in emotions : we took the breakfast chatting quietly, Gary and Tanya taking the time to taste the home made jams, aqhen we realized it was time to go. We started one hour before the time, but the road was busy then, and the latest minutes were rather stressing. (Never again !!!! J ) But the junction could be made just in time and Gary and Tanya jumped in the train one minute after coming.

Too short ! Those moments are precious , they are the demonstration that the dream can become true if we want to make it happen.