The Con Report - Friday

[awmperry]

The Con Report - Friday

Friday

Seven AM. Up, dress, toothbrush, breakfast. Discover that Hilton Metropole has very friendly restaurant staff, quite good fried potatoes, and abysmal coffee.

Anyway, suitably fortified, I wandered around the place for much of the morning, chatting to people, eating chips, and killing time until things started happening. Oh, and signed up for a klatch (the Colin Smythe one), which I’d been meaning to try in ’06 and never got round to.

Then the Troll’s Guide To The Con, which is always good fun. If only I could remember where to go if I had a question...

After the trollery, I wandered up the stairs to the games room and ended up playing some sort of train game – Ticket To Ride, was it? – for about an hour. Quite good fun, really, and if I hadn’t seen the £30 price tag I’d have bought it when I saw it in Sator Square.

Soon enough the clock ticked round to panel show time; being a Just A Minute nut, there was no way I could miss that, of course, so I set off for Ankh.

Have I Got A Nac Mac Feegle For You didn’t disappoint. Davina ran Pat Harkin and Bernard Pearson through a whistle-stop tour of JAM, ISIHAC, even A Question Of Sports[1] until someone (I can’t imagine who...) suggested Mornington Crescent. It was brilliant.

Next up, the guild fayre. I chatted to a few more people on the way – though I can’t remember who I chatted to when – and switched from Seamstresses to Conjurors. I don’t think corsets would suit me. Besides, the conjurors got fun little pop-up magic wands, which was nice. I still can’t deploy them elegantly, but I’m getting there.

At the last Con I didn’t get into the Opening Ceremony, and indeed only got in at the very back for the Closing. But this time, I was in. Oh yes. Fifth row, or something. And it was terrific.

We’ve all seen the show. And those who didn’t see it have all heard about it by now. The Sweeper, the Procrastinators, Terry exemplifying the phrase “relentless good humour” as he somehow managed to make PCA funny. Anyway, a great opening, and I hope it’ll be on the DVD.

Actually, I hope the whole Con will be on the DVD.

For that matter, they might as well make it a 10-disc boxed set, and I’d still buy it.

Anyway, that’s enough about the OC; it was followed by a meeting of the Conjurors’ Guild (or bits of it, anyway), where schemes were put in place. Just A Minute, scorpions, Thud... (By the way, if anyone knows where Loriba and Ssirienna – or any of the deputies, ConCom, or Monks, really – managed to buy those extra 12-15 hours per day, let me know. I don’t know how they do it.) Plenty going on, in other words, and the first thing I did after the meeting was sign up to play a troll at the live-action Thud match.

I needn’t have bothered, as it turned out, but I’ll get back to that.

Terry’s Bedtime Stories, of course, were another must, having missed it last time. Nation was a bit of a surprise; what I heard of it was much grimmer than most of the books, but I seem to recall someone mentioning it was classified as a Young Adult book – which with Terry seems to mean “grimmer, scarier, spookier”[2]. So perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. All in all, it seems to be like a sort of Orphan Island with the tone and introspection of Thud! – all bundled in with a larger-than-usual bundle of philosophy which, if past performance is any guide, will be written so you’re three weeks down the line and still thinking before you figure out that hey, that was philosophy.

If I were expecting a comedy-heavy book (which I must admit I had been, for some reason) I suspect I’d be disappointed when I get it. But having a rough idea of the tone of the thing, particularly as it seems to touch on areas of philosophy that I’ve always been rather interested in, I’m getting a sneaking suspicion that it’ll be bloody good.[3]

Then what... oh yes, back to the bar for singalong and chips. Although, as you’ll see a few paragraphs down, I probably shouldn’t have had the chips.

 

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[1] Though thankfully without involving sports in any way.

[2] Did anyone not find the HFOS Hiver terrifying?

[3] Why yes, I have got it on pre-order at Amazon, why do you ask?