Elenopa's Realm

Woke up at 6am and left the house at 8.15am with Kaylee dress packed ready for the masquerade and my usual rations of apples and flapjacks. Made good time to the hotel, just 45 minutes, although I think I got flashed by a speed camera on the way.

Followed the abudant signs to registration and was greeted by a rather under the weather emmzzi . Chatted for a while, then because the registration wouldn't be open until 10am, I Wandered around to fix where things were. I bumped into gaspodex outside the ops room and so joined him at the feedback session. It sounded like the few probelms that there had been, were all being dealt with. Gaspode had typically made the hotel reopen the Real-Ale bar at 2am the previous night. I do wonder when he sleeps at cons.

At 10am I picked up the badges for me and Izzy, then went to visit the art show. The pictures were all amazing, the detail and the quality of the artwork was spectacular. Unfortunately I wouldn't have anywhere to hang the pictures, so I didn't bid on any of them. I did particually like the comic ones that included 'We're going on a Beer Hunt' and 'Oh my God! They killed Jack!'

At 11am I went to sign up for the masquerade, only to be told that there was another Kaylee dress entered! So there is someone else out there just as mad as me when it comes to costuming.

After that, I went to the 'Ashes to Ashes' panel with an interesting discussion over whether it is real, or in Alex's head, or if Gene Hunt is actually in a coma somwhere. The general concession is that it has turned out better than anyone thought it would be.

Met up with killalla in the atrium (fantsatic space by the way. Natural light, but not too sure about the artificial fish). She had just finished her belly dancing class and was taking a rest before the talk on fantastic London. I must try the belly dancing one of these days. Maybe at the next Redemption. Met up with Terry as well.

The talk on London was very interesting. Neil Gaiman told us how just about anything you can imagine has probably happened at some point in London's history. A couple of other interesting facts. Some of the open spaces in London have not been built on because there are plague graves there and any digging would disturb the bodies, and possibly the plague. Also, the traffic lights on the Mall are screwed in because they and all the bollards and signs can be removed within 25 minutes and the Mall be turned into an airstrip for Buckingham Palace. 

 

I then treked to Tetworth. It is one of those bizzare happenings at cons that I love. All those rooms to be used in the center, and then there are a couple stuck out past the bedrooms. Boy, some of those corridoors are long; it was just like a labyrinth. 'Is British SF TV being buried under the US onslaught?' again brought up some interesting discussions. We looked at the different styles of SF, how the US is so much bigger and can produce so much more, how SF is still mostly regarded as for children, and if the writer's strike will effect what will be shown on our screens in the near future. It was pretty much decided that British SF is having a resurgance at the moment, and we just need the BBC or someone to put more money into it.

Coming back from Tetworth, I bumped into vindolandia with family. Newest addition was dressed as Darth Baby and was so cute. There was quite a gathering of the pub crowd with Killalla and nickyb  and  wimbleas well. I didn't see much of  gaspodiaall day as she was busy, more's the pity. 

Also had my picture taken with a Klingon.


I went to the George Hay memorial lecture which was about the fiction in science. It was interesting, but due to the early start, I kept dozing off.

Then there was the masquerade set up, which as usual took ages, but you can't rush tech issues if you want things to run correctly. Anyone who wants to take part in something like this must expect to wait around. Everything got sorted with no obvious problems, so I went to the atrium to chill for a bit before changing into Kaylee. Wimble very nicely let me use his room to change, as a hooped underskirt is just a bit big to put on in a toilet.

Gathering in the corridor got a bit crowded as there were three hooped underskirts to accomodate. The standard was as high as usual, but I'm pleased to say my Kaylee dress stood up well against the other one. Talking later, we both agreed that the basic dress was easy, but the frills took forever!


The wait to go on stage went slowly, but that was because we couldn't hear anything from the corridor. It got to my turn and everything went well. I had thought out my script a bit better, and the crowd reaction was good. At the photo shoot later, the two Kaylees were on together. Should be some good pictures. I didn't win anything again, but the competition was stiff, and I had lots of lovely comments from people for the rest of the evening. Still need an idea for what to make next.

I watched some of the cabaret. I especially liked 'Day of the Triads' and would like a transcript of that if anyone has it.

Then I went off to Wobblevision. There are only about four left and  steverogersonwas checking in a programe guide to see how many people we would need for each episode. As one needed about fifteen people, that was taken out of the draw. We ended up doing 'Weapon' and I got to play Travis with an improvised pink eyepatch over my glasses. Izzy got in again as the mysterious monster behind the door. I think this makes three wobblevisions he has been in. He nearly got to play Gan and then Jenna, but we found humans to play them instead.

The production of 'Weapon' went very smoothly, so we were finished before midnight. I chatted for a bit longer, then as Lent was over, I ate my celebration Twix bar before squeezing my big skirt into my car for the drive home. Got back at about 1.30am.

Good day, and I'm glad I went. I look forward to the photos from the rest of the weekend.