TechCrunch UK, although running for a couple of months now, had its official launch last night. I was fortunate enough to get an invite, and I decided to fly over for the event primarily because Mike Arrington was going to be there and I wanted to finally meet him (we’ve had several conversations over email and phone/skype but we’ve never met in person). Mike didn’t show.

My annoyance at the no-show was tempered by the fact that I got to catch up with Hugh MacLeod, Fergus Burns and Robin Blandford. And I got to meet lots of interesting people like Jeremy Baines, Ryan Carson, Ivan Pope and Simon Grice from Etribes. And I got to be on the Gillmor Gang podcast.

Also, the (finger) food was plentiful and there was no shortage of drink (despite the three Irish guys best attempts!).

I took plenty of pics which I’ll post when I get back to my USB cable (note to self, pack USB cable in future).

So thanks to Sam for the invite, even if it was under false pretences, and congrats on landing Mike Butcher as your editor, I know he’ll bring a lot to the site.