I visited Canberra over the weekend of 28 Feb/1st March (09).

My friend, Lawrie Brown, had offered me his spare room to stay in as I wanted to go to Canberra for their Agricultural Show, which in my opinion is *very civilized* because it includes donkeys. That gave me a little longer to spend in Canberra - never a hardship, I assure you! 

Murrays runs a cheap regular express bus route from Sydney to Canberra, and I've been going with them for quite a few years, even though I noticed Greyhound buses are matching their cheap rates. (A non-changeable ticket is only $15. Less that it'd cost to drive down, and I can gaze at the passing scenery or catnap on the bus, which I couldn't do if I was driving.) 

Lawire had asked if I wanted to do anything else while in Canberra, because he was quite happy to drive me around the place. 
Quite a few years ago at the first Conflux convention, there was a night trip planned to Mt Stromlo where the University had quite a few telescopes. I would have loved to go to it, but even back then I was a bit wary of night driving on strange roads, didn't know anyone to ask to have a lift with, so I begged off the experience. In 2003 the Canberra fires ravaged Mt Stromlo, and I've always regretted forsaking the opportunity of seeing the observatories. So I asked if he'd take me to Mt Stromlo (via the Canberra Mint so I could buy a "year of Astronomy" coin as it happened.)  

I was right about the roads...one lane either side, and a few hairpin bends that looked serious in daylight. Part of me was glad I didn't try the drive up myself as part of Conflux all those years ago.

And the view from the top of the mountain was Happy/Sad. It was a lovely view (despite the gusty wind) but most of the observatories are burned out shells, their telescopes ruined beyond repair in the fires. There were few tourists about, as there's little there to see anymore. Their cafe, like the observatories, is burned out and closed off. But the ghosts seem to cling to the place still.

We didn't spend very long there. Just a quick walk around and a few minutes to play with their sundial, and lawrie suggested a drive out to Tidbinbilla to see the deep space tracking station.

Having someone drive me through the countryside was heaven on a stick as far as I', concerned, as I'm still reticent to drive beyond my comfort zone of home/shops/work.
 
The array of radio telescopes was also fascinating. They have a canteen area (I was starving by then), souvenier shop and display area showing videos of the space race, displaying a  jacket worn in the space station, early model spacesuits etc etc I was especially fascinated by the small piece of moon rock on display (Hey, it reminds me of a ceramic glaze I've got at home...) and the sound recording of space. I needs must work that into a short story somewhere down the track.

At Mt Stromlo, on seeing plenty of kangaroo poo, I'd grumbled how I'd never seen a roo in the wild. After the radio telescopes we drove deeper into the valley where there's a wildlife reserve. As the shadows lengthened in the late afternoon, we drove around a corner into a parking area, lawrie pulled up the car and announced: "There you are" - a small female grey roo with a fairly mature (judging by its tail sticking out of the pouch) joey in-tow briefly regarded us, decided we weren't threatening and returned to grazing. Maybe twenty metres away there was a small family of (presumeably male) emu parent and three half-grown chicks...the Australian coat of arms au naturale!

And the best was yet to come! 

On Sunday, I was driven the scenic route (via Duntroon, with a detour to the splendid lookout above the grounds) to the EPIC centre, where the Canberra Show was being held. I found my way to the donkey show, and got to chat to Pat Emmett who - with her husband, barry - breeds mammoth donkeys. They had a half-mammoth, (13.3 hh?) called Wicopy, at the show, and a teamster jenny called Judy. 

The Emmetts are easy to find: just look for the tallest donkeys!

I was easy to find too, through wearing my Andromeda Spaceways Inflight magazine T-shirt. Made me stand out like a sore thumb.

There were some smaller (10hh?) donkeys in pens across the way from Pat, including a paint jenny and her adorable white foal, complete with curly top fringe! But I was drawn to another donkey who was quite happy to lean up against the fence for a bit of a smooch. I learned through another donkey cuddler, who was also called Pat - Pat Hines in this case. I suspect if you want to be anyone important on the Aus Donkey Scene it helps if your name is Pat - that this donkey's name was Emily. The penny didn't drop until Pat gave her her full title, Emily Rose. 

I know Emily Rose via photos of her in Sydney's Hyde Park taken last Easter (for either an Easter event, or maybe a blessing of the animals event?) and published in the NSW Donkey magazine. Her owners had kindly driven me to the NSW Donk Soc Christmas party 2 years ago. 

Emily had been a bit off colour (bright enough, from what I could tell. Keen enough to interact with us humans who were patting her, but her head would occassionally swing back to nudge her side. I wasn't sure if this was an instruction to "scratch here" or not. Pat H suspected she may have had "a case of the hormones", which seemed plausible to me. (I don't know much about donkeys after all.) 

Pat H was running the Donkey Sanctuary table...or she would be when she could drag herself away from cuddling the donkeys and set the table up. As I wanted to invest in the Donkey Sanctuary via buying stuff, I volunteered to help her set the table up. (Promptly bought 2 donkey notepads, and two carry bags, and probably would have bought a T-shirt too if they'd had my size!)
pat offered to mind my overnight bag at the table while I went and explored the rest of the show, so off I went.

The Canberra Show seems to be part produce market/Sunday Market/Ag Show all rolled into one, and I enjoy it's "earthiness" in sharp contrast to the paved/cleaned/souless/sterile Sydney Showgrounds at Homebush. I went in search of the Goulburn Valley Fruit Leather Stall where I'd discovered a variety of fruit leathers (essentally edible straps of dried pureed fruit) last tie. But last time was 2 years ago now, and they weren't there this time as far as I could see.

I bought some locally made nougat (so much for trying to buy *healthy" : - ), and a bag of good value local (?) macadamia nuts, watched some of the show jumping, and tried to inspect the horse stables (which I missed last time) but they don't seem open to the public.  Their craft show yeilded a local ceramist who'd made a Dr Who plaque, and I found the sheep dog yards but no sign of when the sheep dog trials were on as I hot footed it back to the Donkey area where I gratefully sat in a spare seat Pat H offered me and attempted to "earn my keep" by offering Donkey Sanctuary leaflets to people that stopped and browsed at the table. (Next year they're suppossed to have general seating, so "passers by" or "hangers on" (in my case" can have somewhere to sit and watch the donkey classes in the showring.

Possibly my own worst enemy, just as a couple of donkeys were harnessed into carts, I went off in search of a late lunch, but that quest gave way to watching some of the sheep dog trials. When I got back to the donkeys (wondering if some kind soul would let me "have a go" at driving their donkey and sulky) that part of the show was over, and the donkeys were unharnessed and back in their stall. (See what happens when you're spoiled for choice?)

I did get to see Emily Rose get looked at by the vet though. Fortunately her "off colour" wasn't colic, but the vet gave her an injection to make her feel a bit better. 

I think I've witnessed my first "donkey tantrum" . The needle went in, and it stung a bit, didn't it? The way Emily Rose fidgeted, she obviously didn't like the feel of that! The vet stepped back to her car, Emily Rose took a couple of steps forward then sank to her knees. amd laid right down.

Don't know if the vet;s thoughts were the same as mine, but I was thinking "Oh no! They've killed her!" 

Her owner, geoffrey Farrance, with more experience of donkeys in general and this young donkey in particular, just waited a moment on the other end of the lead, and she got to her feet again, without much encouragement, having made her point.

I'm totally smitten with Emily Rose. She's a sweet little thing. I only wish I *had* taken the camera with me. I'd been debating it, but since the last digital camera seemed to break down when I took it to NZ, I didn't want to risk breaking another one - especially since this one's only a couple of months old.

The weekend in Canberra did *nothing* to cure my addiction to donkeys.


   

Tags: donkeys canberra mr stromlo.
Current Mood: content

The last time I went to see my Oppo he didn't want to listen to how I was having trouble getting time off work to attend medical appointments. (In fact I get the feeling he doesn't want to listen to me at all. His work would be a lot smoother if the patients didn't talk, and of course, none of us has a life outside of those times when we spring into existence in his waiting room, pay our bills then disappear back into the void until the next time we magically appear in their waiting room again for our next appointment.)

This time he did a perfunctionary pressure test with the hand-held eye pressure tester. These gizmos actually work better for me, there's a knob that touches our eyebrow, and while I'm concentrating on that, I'm *not* concentrating on some stranger tryingt to stick me in the eye with a probe.  Previously, when I thought I was giving "positive patient feedback" (i.e. "Hey, I don't find this as traumatic as the other way of doing things") I've been told by both the orthoptist and the opthalmologist that these hand-held devices are also considered quite inaccurate, so we have to do it the stressful way as well.

Yet here he was, looking at a reading from a device he'd previously told me was wildly inaccurate, and announcing that the pressure in my eyes was now at 30. ("Hit the bell and win a prize! Ding, ding, ding!.) He was going to refer me to "a good friend of his" and here's the next lot of procedures I could look forward to.

I know a little bit about this next step. Dad had glaucoma, and in the end had an operation to cut a channel in his eyes to reduce the build up of fluid/ causing pressure in the eye. He had his op at the Prince of Wales Hospital. It's just up the road from where I work. Could I go there? "Their eye clinic has closed down" (please note the past tense). "Well, what about the eye hospital in town?" No, I couldn't  go there either for no sufficiently explained reason. I had to see the man he was writing me a referal for. His good friend.  And the dire warning "Don't leave it too long!" that makes you think you're on death's door. Then he bundled me out of his office as quickly as possible... belatedly remembering as I was at reception paying his fee, that I''d probably need another 6 months of eye drop prescriptions as well.

Out of his office, as my nerves began to settle a bit, I started to stew over this. 

I mentioned in passing to a friend that I'd been told the eye clinic at POW had closed. She said another of her friends had just been there the day before. ???
 
I asked another friend who's had glaucoma for quite a while if he could recommend anyone. His glaucoma specialist is in the city. I can travel to the city in half the time I can get to the preferred specialist,

It seemed there were other options available to me. None of which were discussed in the Oppos rooms.

I mentioned my dilemna to my GP when I next saw her. She likewise deflected the POW eye clinic, and the Eye Hospital in the city. Possibly there's a valid reason for this - like a preference is given to the elderly or the unemployed, but I'd love to*know* what it is rather than someone I barely know deciding "That's not what you want" (I want it all to go away. *That's* what *I* want. 5 eye operations and the associated stress that goes with them is more than enough! And what I also want is not to re-live the trauma of the orthoptist coming at me, trying to prise my eye open to stick a plastic cup attatched to a syringe of water to my eye, but I can't make *that* go away either - months after the event. I know it's not there when I'm not confronted with eye problems and pretending I'm normal like everyone else.) 

At least the GP  *listened* to me, and got back with a suggested name in the city.

I looked him up on the internet. He seemed okay.

I rung the opthalmologists office and asked if I could be referred to him instead because he was closer. The receptionist said she'd get back to me.

She did a few days later, stating: [The opthalmologist} says {the specilalist in the city} no longer works at that clinic. [the oppo] would write the reference if I really wanted it, but was I *sure* I didn't want to see [his good friend I instead?

She seemed a bit put out when I said it said he still worked there on the internet, and that it was my GP who'd suggested him to me. She said the oppo would get back to me soon.

That was on 5th December, 2008.

I waited.

On  Tuesday, 27th January I got a call from the receptionist. I was told yet again that despite this specialist no longer working at the establishment I'd read about, and not doing the work I need, I'd get the referral. (So much for the sinister "Don't leave it too long" warning I'd been given.) 

It was something of a surprise to find in my cc'd copy of the referal that the oppo seemed quite chatty with this new specialist - addressing him by first name at least, which I presume you wouldn't do if you weren't familiar with a colleague.

Being a paranoid, nervous wreck, I've been waiting for the other shoe to fall  - I was almost certain I'd phone to make an appointment only to be told "No, he's left the practice", and I'd have to go back to square 1 and jump through all the hoops again.
Just the idea of having to phone and make an appointment today was enough to keep me awake for a lot of last night, reliving the othoptist trying to stick a plastic cup to my eye  among other things. Probably due to lack of sleep last night, I've felt like I'm on "high alert" sinceI woke up this morning - that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that I've known so well since the "eye thing" began to unfold back in 2003.

My hands were sweaty and shaking when I dialed the number. yes, he still worked there, said this receptionist. What was my condition? She didn't balk when I read the details from the referal I'd been sent. I was waiting to hear "No, Ihe doesn't treat *that*" but it never came. I had the sense to ask if she could give me an idea of what it'd cost. Just as well I was sitting down! You don't get much back from medicare, and no, you can't claim the rest back on your private health cover.

So no back to square 1. More of the same old, same old. Another round of specialists appointments, another round of worrying where the money's going to come from to pay for everything, and this time the worry of how to take the time off work if I'm not supposed to be entitled to sick leave.

Another round of reminders that when this all started back in 2003 the oppo drew a little graph and said the "best case scenario" was that they could stabilise my condition, and I'd probably have 10 years of reasonable sight left. I don't need to be reminded of how little time I'm supposed to have left before everything goes *pffft* 

But why the heck was I subjected to "He doesn't practice anymore" and "He doesn't treat your condition" from the oppo???

Health care *professional*? Health care *provider*??? More like the ethics of a dodgy second-hand car salesman!

  

     
   

 

Tags: opthalmologists. rant
Current Mood: depressed

A New Zealand SF fan told me about how you can see the sperm whales at Kaikoura when I was chatting to him at the natcon in Brisbane back in 2006. You can get there by train, he said, and that sweetened the deal for me, as public transport is  my preferred option when I'm on holidays. Let someone else drive who knows the way, I don't want the stress!

I started out in Auckland because the last time I was in Auckland I was about 7 years old, and I figure the place has changed a bit, and also because their Overlander departs from there  and travels  through NZ all  day reaching Wellington, the  capital, roughly 12 hours later. (You can also do the trip  from Wellington to Auckland, but I reckon it's easier going "downhill" than "up".)

I caught a small shuttle bus from the Airport. It dropped me in front of my hotel for $30. The driver commented on the old NZ$ notes I'd given him to pay for my bus fare - um, it's been 19 years since I was last in NZ, and they've moved from paper money to polymer notes. While they still exchange the higher denominations of old paper money, I came acropper with about $8 I had in small paper notes and they turned out to be useless. Couldn't spend them, and not even the banks wanted to cash them in for me. Oh well, I now have an unusual and unexpected souvenier.
 
In Auckland I stayed in the City Central Hotel because it was central and cheap. It was also clean, and the staff members I encountered were all friendly and helpful. My room was small, but functional. It had an ensuite, but it didn't have a fridge. Eh, I could survive without the fridge! They offer breakfast & lunch from an in-house cafe. I had the buffet breakfast there and thought it was reasonably priced. 

Day 1 was spent just wandering around Auckland. I caught the bus to Parnell, and found the Museum by accident more than design.
I found a Pro-Cathedral the same way (sometimes going without a plan is a good way to travel.) Back in the 1970's they'd moved the entire thing across the road to sit beside the bigger, "proper" Cathedral. (photo to come, hopefully.)

Day 2 saw me checking out of the hotel and heading for the Britomart railway station, suitcase in tow. I thought the Auckland streets would be empty before 7am, but there were still people going to work, and tourists wandering about.  I had a muesli bar, a chocolate and a 600 ml bottle of coke as "emergency provisions" for the trip. I was assigned a seat in Car A - where they have an indoors lounge/viewing area. I wasn't expecting to make much use of that, because I had a panoramic window seat. I got into conversation with the lady sitting beside me, who was traveling with her niece and niece's husband across the aisle. They all took turns to share the window seat on that side of the carriage, so they played "musical chairs" and I got to talk to all of them. By the end of the trip, I felt I'd made three good friends.

While nosing around the net trying to find out about my trip before leaving home, I thought I'd read, in someone elses blog. they served decliscious Devonshire teas on the train, but there were none on the menu everyone is given, or in the buffet car when I checked the buffet for an early lunch. They'd also already run out of egg sandwiches! There's something about long train trips and egg sandwiches for me. They just go together. I had to make do with a roast beef and salad sandwich, which turned out to be a great second choice...none of this processed meat product - this was a generous slice of real beef and it was deliscious!
Speaking of beef - I saw an awful lot of it on the hoof as we got out into the countryside from Auckland. Far more than I was expecting. Dairy cows also grazed contentedly in lush green paddocks, but where were all the sheep? New Zealand has a reputation for having a lot of sheep that it was failing to live up to. I asked Judy about it, and was informed cattle and dairy were where the money was these days, so that's what many farmers were turning to, but there were some NZ'ers who weren't impressed as cattle tend to churn up the soils and cause erosion worse than sheep do. Further away from Auckland we did start seeing sheep farms, and many  lambs  were grazing beside their mothers, or gamboling as the train incaded their world.

I was also fascinated to see all the paddocks had neat hedgerows running along their fence lines in one area we travelled through. I also remember the white flowers that grew along the tracks. They reminded me of drifts of snow. Later the white flowers gave way to yellow ones.

An "operational problem" (I love that phrase, it covers all sorts of things going awry!) with the engine slowed us down a bit. We stopped at a station where they said they had to call for a second engine to be coupled to the first. I have memories of being holed up in a carriage in the pouring rain at Tarago for a couple of hours, and worried we'd be doing the same thing this time, but they'd obviously summoned the second engine well before they'd told us of the problem, and we were soon back in action and on our way.

There's a sort of corkscrew in the tracks that gets the train up into the higher altitude just before the national park. It's something of an engineering feat, and I wish I understood it better , so I could explain it better.

I can explain the mountains. Judy was the first to glimpse Mt.... an impressive snowcapped peak. (I'm from Sydney, Australia, so I don't often get to see snowcapped peaks, and if you think I'm making a fuss now, just wait until I start writing about Kaikoura!) 

The Overlander stops for a while at National Park, where the crew change over onto another train for the return journey back to Auckland (and passengers doing the Auckland/National Park/Auckland day trip get on this train as well.)  The station had a tea shop, with a nice varnished wood interior, paintings, and painted saws decorating the walls, and once we all arrived, a queue to buy food as well as a queue to the toilets. It was here that I spied "lemonade scones" (scones made with lemonade so that they're sweet and light.) I should have indulged myself, but I opted for something savoury instead. They also had carrot cake. My whole trip of NZ seemed to be punctuated by places selling the best looking carrot cake I'd seen in quite a while, but I only succumbed to trying it twice. 

The 45 minute "whistle stop" at National Park gave us plenty of time to eat, freshen up and walk around a bit. I took a few photos of the impressive snow-capped mountain range that doninated the horizon on the station side of the tracks, and began to get a niggling feeling about my camera. It's an older model with a small screen and this was only the second time I'd taken it on holidays. The pictures didn't look *right* on the screen, but I'd had a similar problem in Perth too, so I wasn't overly concerned...yet.

Judy, Graham and Mary had a late on-board afternoon tea a couple of hours later which included a few G&T's and a meat pie bought from the train's buffet car which smelled absolutely delicious! Unfortunately, it was the last pie on the train, so I was out of luck there as well. (Maybe I should be calling this LJ entry "New Zealand by Food??? ; - ) The others had ordered their dinner at the buffet car, and seeing as how I'd missed out twice already, and we'd be getting into Wellington a fair bit later than expected, I decided to put my order in as well, opting for vegetarian lasagne and a can of lemonade. they'd run out of diet coke by then too, and what was left of the bottle I'd taken onboard with me was nice and warm by this stage. The friendly buffet staff said they'd deliver it to my seat. They'd made the same offer to the others who'd tipped me off about the service, and I'd selected the same delivery time they had so we could all eat our meals together,..only Judy, Mary and Graham's meals arrived on time, looked ans smelled fantastic...and mine didn't.  I waited. and waited (and could have easily have mugged one of the other three for their roast dinners!) and finally went up to the buffet to collect my lasagne. The buffet host was very apologetic for forgetting me, but I wasn't really worried. Getting up to the buffet car had probably burned a few calories that would have lied idle if I'd been served at my seat.

The tray tables on the Overlander are ingenious things! They are heavy metal clip-board shaped thingies that you get in your pouch pocket in front of you, along with the literature about the train and the buffet menu. At first I thought you used them "as is" on your lap, and had observed someone returning from the buffet car with two cups of coffee balanced on one earlier in the day...but how the hell were you supposed to eat a meal off them without balancing the tray on your lap? Then I noted the people in the seats across from me had a tray that seemed (from my view point) to levitate in mid ear above the lap. Curiouser and curiouser!
I started fiddling around with the between-seats armrest. The tray had a tim and a lip, but didnt seem to fit into the armrest anywhere, until I discovered the arm rest has an extra portion that folds straight out, and the metal tray slots into that. 

Anyway, back to dinner.  I found the serves very generous, and the vegetarian lasagne was delicious.

After dinner I went up to the lounge area at the back of our carriage and got to talk to a few more of the passengers. I think I started seeing deer farms around about then too, noticeable by their very high fences...oh, and if there are deer in the paddocks, that's usually something of an indicator too. : - )
I was always on the look out for horses, and had spotted some pretty young foals earlier in the day, and *maybe* I caught sight of the lower part of two grey donkeys. They were up an embankment from the trainline, and a wide wooden plank post obliterated the rest of my view of them.

Dusk was falling as we rolled down off the mountains, onto the straights and began to catch glimpses of the sea. The cabin crew even announced we had a very good view of the South Island, which we did. We passed an island that serves as a sanctuary for NZ wildlife. Many of NZ's flightless birds have become endangered by introduced predators such as rats, cats and dogs, so they've set up a number of these sanctuary islands around the place.

I think it was close to 9.30 pm when we pulled into Wellington railway station, and then we had to wait for our luggage to be taken off the train, but again everyone was in a good mood and didn't seem to mind. The train staff had made an announcement about the free bus that connects with the ferry terminal. My ears pricked up at that, I'd have to investigate further, but not tonight. 

Once I got my bag (it was among the last to be taken off the train, I was beginning to wonder if it'd got lost somewhere) I asked one of the railway staff if he knew the street where my hotel was on. I'd booked The Holiday Inn because it was walking distance from the railway. He wasn't sure, so he ckecked with someone else, and I was on my way in no time, pulling my suitcase behind me.

I was a bit wary about travelling around a strange city late on a Friday night, but there weren't many people around, and I ended up following a couple from the train anyway, so at least I had the illusion of "safety in numbers". And the Holiday Inn wasn't too far away either, but I was glad to see it. Despite sitting around watching the scenery most of the, I was tired and looking forward to getting out of the clothes I'd been wearing for the past 15 hours.

I had a blissful room! Two double beds offered a small mountain of pillows each, and the wall-to-wall window offered a good view over the harbour. Lights from the boats and the houses twinkled like ferryland!
The room had a fridge (it also had a mini-bar, and there was room service, but looking at the prices I was glad I'd had dinner on the train after all.) The bathroom was spacious, I quite liked the wall of frosted glass seperating bathroom from the bed area, the complimentary toiletries were high quality, and oh joy! The room had a bath!

Now, I'm from Sydney, which has had below-average rainfall for quite a few years, and conserving water has been etched into my psyche...but ,Toto, I wasn't in Sydney anymore. I was in a country that got plenty of rain, had just passed through lush green countryside to prove it got plenty of rain. I was feeling grotty after a 14+ hour train trip and that bath was calling me. I can't remember the last time I indulged in a bath. (And before you jump to the wrong conclusion, I had been indulging in plenty of timed short showers!) I ran the bath and had a nice long soak and it felt wonderful! 

In my PJ's I crawled into bed, and I would have turned on the bedside lamp so I culd write for a bit if I could have worked out where the switch to the bedside lamp was! It wasn't in "the usual places" and I became frustrated being unable to find it (there's *another* intelligence test I've failed!) In the end I figured I could do without it, crawled into the very comfortable bed, admired the pretty view of the harbour through the sheer organza curtains and went to sleep moments later.

Next morning I found the bedside lamp switch! Half-way along the electrical cord. Didn't think to try and look there, though I *did* look at the end of the cord where it slipped into the wall just in case. The cord was black, the switch was black, the wall they were next to was black and I'm visually impaired, that explains why I didn't find it.

The day was grey and overcast so I packed my raincoat and headed off to see Wellington.

I had to chuckle when I glanced down a side-street and saw their distinctive beehive shaped  parliament house. a few clocks from the motel. Linda Cox Chan had led Helen Small, Gary Armstrong and I a merry dance to find it - or rather a stamp shop very close to it - the last time I'd been to Wellington (also the first time I'd been to Wellington) about 19 years ago. We'd all seperately come over for a NZ con, all had a late flight out of Wellington and had spent the day sight-seeing together. Now here I was within stones throw of the place!

I made for the wharf and what had seemed like their cultural precinct on the maps I'd studied, but very little seemed to be open that time of morning. (The cultural centre I was after was actually up the other end of the wharf complex and I discovered that later in the day.) While wandering around trying to get my barings I stumbled upon "The Old Bank" building which had the look and feel of a NZ version of the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney - lots of boutique shops, and an added surprise! It had the remains of an old sailing ship buried in its basement. It had been discovered while they were excavating the bank's basement, and you can still see part of it through a viewing area underneath the stairs. The ship had been purchased by a local merchant when its former owner couldn't afford to repair it to make it seaworthy.Tied up to the pier It served as a warehouse and auction rooms in its...bu t what was it doing several blocks away from the waterside where I'd been earlier in the morning? 

Turns out an earthquake had lifted what had been the earlier waterline a couple of metres into the air in the 1800's, leaving the locals to develop the new wharf area and redevelop the old. They'd done that, and the ship had been forgotten about until it was rediscovered.

   
 
    

   

TO BE CONTINUED

 

Tags: new zealand trains overlander

Conflux 5 has been and gone. (I took the expurgated version and came home Sunday night so I had time for RealLife.com boring things on the holiday Monday.

The con was really good, even if I was hanging out in the dealers room most of the time. I got the chance to socialise with people both in the Hucksters room, and at the 1920's banquet.

Canberra fans are a friendly lot, and everyone seemed pretty relaxed & happy.

Lawrie Brown met Anne Devrell and I at the bus depot in Canberra and transported us the short distance to the con hotel. I unpacked my Celestial Cobbler stuff from my suitcase, and started selling. I had sub-let half my table to Ian Nichols (a phenomenon when it comes to selling books) Jean Weber was on the next table, and offered me lots of spare space. I appreciated the offer, and spread my stuff *a little bit* into her space. I also bought Lyn McConachie's latest book off her as I really like Lyn's writing.

By closing time on Friday I'd covered the cost of my half of the table. It's always a relief when that happens!
Saturday was a slow sales day, and there were times when I wished I had packed my tapestry to do.

There was an informal gathering to remember recently deceased Melbourne Fan, Clive Newall at the con on Saturday, which I went to.

The 1920's  banquet on Saturday night went very well, despite getting off to a slowish start. The menu was designed by Gillian Pollack. It was multi-coursed (with vegetarian and gluten free options available on booking) , *very* filling and very delicious.

We had a choice of identity pass-outs: Ladies could wear yellow ribbon (to show they supported the suffraget movement), while men could wear "Vote for Dann" (Jack Dann) for President" badges. (they were interchangeable) This allowed us to wander in and out of the banquet (to go to the bar, or to "powder our noses") . I was a *little* disappointed to find liquor wasn't served in tea cups, but the list and names of cocktails (alcoholic and non) on offer more than made up for this. They were all of a suitably SF theme with names like "Rocket Fuel" and "Moon Landing". I couldn't go past a Stardust Cobbler, and it was deliscious!

Dave Luckett gave me the perfect chance to "do a Groucho" by announcing, "Edwina shall sit on my right hand, and Lucy Sussex shall sit on my left" (How are you going to eat, Dave? Through a straw???" (Da boom, boom!)

Ian Nichols also came in costume: a gangster suit complete with fedora. He even had a hip flask which he put to good use on the fruit cocktail!

The joint was "rumbled by da cops" half way through the evening, and Senator Dann was arrested for imbibing liquor. Oooh err! I can just imagine the newspaper headlines!!!!

It was a good, fun night! My only criticism would be directed towards the hotel bar staff who didn't seem capable of running the bar. (They had the list of cocktails on their side of the counter, had been making them for half the night by the time i turned up for my Stardust Cobbler, and still seemed a bit muddled about what went into what drink...I'd had a similar instance the previous night when I fancied an Irish coffee...they had a coffee machine  at the bar. Make coffee, add whiskey. It's not rocket science, yet the guy serving me asked me to wait (while he sold premixed and bottles of beer) then got his act together.

Anne Devrell and I got our acts together (re attending Conflux 5) a bit too late to get accomodation in the con hotel. We got a good deal with a hotel (The Mantra) about a block down the road. Breakfast was included, as was a picnic lunch and bottle of bubbly. I thought lunch would be a sandwich and maybe a poppa juice...it was half a BBQ small chicken, *two* baquettes, a container of salad, 2 cheese and bikkies packs, a generous bottle of orange juice and a generous bottle of apple juice! After the fiklling breakfast, I wasn't particularly hungry, and neither was Anne, Our lunch ended up feeding the two of us, and partially feeding Dave Luckett and Jean Weber who picked at the salad, bread and chicken.
 
When other volunteers (Ian and Simon Petrie) offered to "mind the shop", Anne scarpered back into Civic to do some more shopping, and I - resolute that I was going to make use of a motel's facilities for a change! - headed back to our motel for a quick sauna and swim in their heated pool.

I don't know what it is about Canberra, me and fire alarms. When I went to a Conflux years ago, I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by a hotel fire alarm...some joker had been smoking a cigarette apparently... Friday night /Saturday morning of Conflux 5, Anne and I were abruptly awakened by what I first thought was a fire alarm, then thought was a loud clockradio alarm. (Anne was fiddling with the clockradio when it stopped.)   When the alarm went off again about an hour later, I presumed Anne had hit the "snooze" button on the clock radio *last* time, but it kept going on. We stuck our nose out the door, rang reception, finally got an answer (a rather stressed night clerk saying it was a false alarm) so we went back to sleep.

It happened again on Sunday morning. Fortunately we were both up and dressed by then. We blithely headed to the dining area to have breakfast, where the aroma of burnt fruit toast filled the air. It had set off their fire alarm. 

We had a nice time watching the fire truck pull up, then two fire-ees wander through the kitchen to make sure everything was ok. 

Maybe they're just *very* safety conscious in Canberra???  
  
I really enjoyed my short break away, and while I came home tired (and not expecting the hordes of football Grand Final fans that were massing at Central Station!) I felt refreshed, revitalized and inspired to forge ahead with my plans the next day.      

Tags: conflux 5 banquet

There's this Marx Brothers gag: Groucho, as a real-estate entreprenuer, says to Chico "Go have a look at the lot" (as in parcel of land)
"You know what a lot is, don't you?" Chico looks serious as he replies: "Sure, atsa too much."

A couple of months ago my ceramics teacher (not that I've actually been to ceramics classes in quite a few years, but I've kept up the hobby, and in the past 18 months or so have been getting more involved in it again) decided she was moving (from a house to a flat.)
Everything  ceramic-wise was being sold off at bargain basement prices, and I can't resist a bargain!

It started off with me buying a few bottles of glaze every time I popped in to get my firing done, or pick my fired pieces up...it escalated to her offering me trays of ceramic glazes (about 12 bottles in a tray?) for a little more than I was paying for two jars, and of course, I wasn't going to say "no" to that either, was I? Especially since by then I was indulging in the purchase of lots of lovely greenware (ceramics are made by pouring liquid clay aka "slip" into moulds, letting the outer layers set, then pouring out the excess. The item liberated from the mould is in an unfired state, fragile, and known as "greenware") with the idea that I'd have lots of pieces to use the glaze on...not to mention lots of pieces to make from all the nice moulds I'd bought from her in the preceeding 12 months. With the moulds, I barely scratched the surface of all the moulds she'd collected over the years. I was almost restrained. Almost!

As it got closer for her to move out, she also offered me her non-working spare kiln (that's a story best left for another day). I made a few inquiries, was told it shouldn't cost much to fix it up, so I said "Yes" to that as well.

As moving day got closer, it all escalated to being *given* lots of glazes, a vast number of her ceramic books, a 2 drawer filing cabinet filled with ceramic project sheets (I'm in heaven!) some ceramic tools, more greenware and  other assorted craft supplies.

It's like asking for a pony and being given an entire racecourse!!! It's like having an early Christmas, that went on for weeks! She just kept giving me all this wonderful, marvellous stuff, and I didn't want to say "no" to any of it.

Now my shed resembles a mini ceramic studio, the back veranda has boxes of greenware carefully nestled. The hallway has at one end the nice little wheeled shelf thing I scavenged in a neighbourhood cleanup with all the trays of glaze and underglaze *neatly* arranged on it...at the *other* end are the boxes, and boxes of ceramic goodies that I haven't been able to organize yet (I"m still sorting my way through the project sheets and books, and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it!)

My Celestial Cobbler Ceramics website is on the move, but I suggest you Google Celestial Cobbler Ceramics if you want to have a look at *some* of the stuff I do. More will be added in the fullness of time! Not only did I recently invest in some greenware donkeys, but I couldn't resist a ceramic donkey mould either.

I need only two things to make my life complete just now (okay, 3 things if you include getting the kiln to work!), and maybe you can help?

1. I need to make up and sell some of these ceramic treasures. (I'm open to haggling!)

2. (and this one's harder, I admit) I need to find some more spare time so I can chill out and *create* with all these things I've been gifted!





 

Tags: ceramics celestial cobbler donkeys
Current Mood: happy

I'm spending a few days of the October long weekend down in Canberra mixing business with pleasure. The business is I'm taking down some of my hand-painted silk ware and ceramics to sell. The pleasure side of it is I get the chance to be social with a lot of my friends, and I'm staying in a hotel that offers a sauna and an indoor heated pool.

The theme for the Con Banquet is "1920's." Anne Devrell and I have both bought tickets to attend.

I was just thinking how much effort the convention has put into this banquet...Gillian Pollack has developed an authentic menu from the period, I understand (not sure if we'll be drinking booze out of tea-cups or not)...but how did the con manage to pull off the current  financial global meltdown that so resembles the start of the Great Depression??? Wow! I bet *that* took some planning! ; - )

I'm already feeling frivolous and looking forward to a great weekend.

Tags: conflux silk ceramics
Current Mood: happy

Tags: swancon naff v1
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: That "Man" song Tony Plank sent me!

 

SWANCON & NAFF V.

 

Easter Sunday 23/3/08.

To mark Easter Sunday, Lucy and I have a hotel breakfast while Tehani moves all the ASIM stuff from our room. (No Rob Shearman to act as porter this morning.)

 

Hanging around the foyer area, I bumped into Stephen Dedman and had a chance to talk to him for a bit. I even tried to peddle him Katherine’s Diary because she mentions a few SF people in it like her good friends Terry Dowling & Nick Stathopolous.

 

There’s a “Boot Camp For Jedi” on the program, and I got to see the tail-end of this (really cool. Wish I’d seen more of it now,) before the indoor Quidditch match was on.

 

I wasn’t really sure what the Quidditch match entailed. (How do you get flying brooms, for a start…?), but I expected to be a spectator only, and that was still a high priority as things were explained. No flying brooms. Bugger! But the bludgers were contorted teddy-bears, and the snitch was a Nemo squeaky rubber toy, and for all that I thought I’d only gone to be a spectator, I ended up as one of the volunteers who threw the snitch *and* thoroughly enjoyed myself, despite having problems seeing the snitch on occasions. The number of players increased, play hotted up and became fiercely competitive, but also wildly fun. I wondered if the referee was a school teacher, and could see Quidditch being a great pastime on a wet day when kids have to spend their lunch hours indoors at school.

 

Lunch was devoted to the ASIM business meeting in the hotel courtyard. Tehani had arranged food from the café which we all shared.

 

After lunch I attended Zara’s “Greenwashing” panel, which was thought provoking.

 

There was an Australia in 2010 Worldcon bid  panel I attended after that. It’s good to see the people behind this bid getting out and selling it to their Australian audience, generating awareness and support. Not for the first time, I find myself thinking if we could just pick up the enthusiastic, innovative, friendly Perth fans who make Swancons such great events and transfuse them into the Wordlcon committee we’d really have a great Worldcon. Perth fans just have something special about them with their “can do, no fuss, and I can still be friendly to you even though I’m under stress” attitude I admire.

 

I saw the 70 years of televised SF photographic display in what had been the art room the day before, then I “wandered lonely as a cloud” in search of someone to have dinner with. (Thought I could afford it for once!) Ended up back in my room eating biscuits though (spot the recurring theme in my posts!)

 

Tehani had left the boxes of ASIM in my room, and people congregated there to change into their Ditmar outfits prior to the awards ceremony. Tehani looked particularly elegant.

 

Of course, I was planning to go as “rent a scruff”. I hadn’t packed anything fancy to wear, but thought I’d get away with the outfit I wore on the plane. Lucy decided to save me at the last minute, saying “You can wear this if you like” throwing me a very nice, stylish black linen top, and offering me a bit of make-up while Tehani and Alyssa headed  downstairs.

 

I went through the “lets experiment with make-up” phase in my teen-age years like most other girls (and probably some boys?), but the novelty wore off. I can’t get it right, and it’s too much bother, and I’m a WYSIWYG person anyway, which isn’t to say that I don’t mind it if someone else wants to fuss over me.

 

Lucy indulged Monissa and I in “dress ups” at Conjure in Brisbane in 2006 and I really enjoyed it, so I’m not adverse to her applying a bit of make-up.

I’m even confident about her putting on mascara for me (this is a *huge* compliment to Lucy considering how nervous I get about strangers getting anywhere near my eyes!) But applying mascara to me is making *her* nervous, so she suggests I have a go myself. Slight problem: We’re applying mascara to the (good) left eye. When I close it and try to look at my reflection in the mirror, my face turns into a blob with hair on it. The cataract is so far advanced, I can’t even see my features any more. Lucy bravely carries on, and Ohmyghod I look almost *human* with a bit of make-up on! We head downstairs.

 

Tehani comes racing towards me as I get out of the lift. I hadn’t realised that as one of the Ditmar presenters, I was expected to be at a walk through prior to the awards. I apologise to Ju for my tardiness, and she’s very professional as she gives me the folded-over winners envelope and the list of nominees in the category I’m presenting.

 

There’s very low light in the room we’re using, and this throws The Blind Lady (me) into a bit of a spin, because I can barely read the nominees names in such low light, and know I’m probably not able to learn all the nominees names by heart to rattle off because I can’t read them at this late stage. I mention I can’t read the writing on the paper because of the low light. I spend an anxious 15 minutes sure I’m doomed as an award-presenter, drawing a shred of comfort from the fact that one of the other presenters is having trouble reading in the dim light as well. They decide to up the lighting, for which I’m much relieved!

 

The Tin Ducks – awards recognising WA fans doing well in various fields – are announced before the Ditmars. Alysa Krasnostein walks away with an armload of them.  

 

My 2 minutes in the lime light lasts long enough for me to stumble through the nominations in the category I’m awarding, and announce Cat Sparks is the winner. (No, I didn’t peak before hand. It was a surprise to me as well!). ASIM win an award, so I get to stand up as one of the award winners a short time later, and Tehani wins an award for “Best new talent”

 

The Atheling Award follows the Ditmars, and then the local tradition of presenting a Mumfan in honour of a WA fan who had been active in many Swancons, always making sure everyone was well taken care of, is continued.

 

Then in an emotionally-charged presentation, three locals explain why it’s been decided to bestow a silver swan on a well-deserving fan. Danny Oz receives this award amongst a flood of tears. (Him, the presenters, just about half the audience.)     

 

At the supper held in the next room after the Awards ceremony is over, I’m introduced to Grant Stone, which put a positive turn on my night. Like Brendan Carson, I’ve read Grant’s posts on Eidolist over the years, but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to speak to him f2f.

 

I eventually adjourn to my room while Lucy is off being a social butterfly somewhere.

Tehani turned up later looking for something, still radiant and excited about her “Best new talent” Ditmar win.

 

Good luck to her! I recall what it’s like to be young, and happy and vibrant with plans and dreams…but these days at cons I just feel old. I don’t remember anyone ever leaping out from behind a bush to yell “Surprise” and hand me a certificate, but more and more lately I feel like an elder stateswoman of fandom.

 

 

MONDAY 24/3/08. Last day of the con (What? Already?)

Lucy and I were in the midst of breakfasting and trying to pack up our belongings to vacate the room when tehani, Alysa and Rob Shearman arrive to remove the stack of book boxes from our room. Bob is heartbroken to hear he hasn’t won the chocolate easter egg raffle. I offer him some conciliatory chocolate, but he pouts and says , “No, I don’t want your sympathy chocolate!” (all in jest, of course!)

 

 When we’ve paid our bills and cloaked our bags, I realise there’s a panel about craft and craft-people becoming appreciated again. It was interesting and uplifting.

 

I catch up with Emma Hawkes & give her the raffle money from the easter egg raffle. She gives me the money for my 3 art sales. Yippee! I’m solvent!

 

After another panel, Lucy suggests we hot0tail it to a local Vietnamese restaurant Lucy had tried previously. We need to get there early to avoid the big queues. (Big queues means it must be good!) We selected about 4 entrees and a noodle dish to share. It’s all freshly cooked and delicious, and I eat like I haven’t had a proper meal in days. (probably because I haven’t.)

 

On the way back we see DUFF delegates Sue and Steve, and *have* to ask about their still missing luggage. They’re moving on tonight, and I hug them both feeling I’ve made 2 new friends who we’ll hopefully see back in Aus in 2010…their wayward luggage might have made it home by then? ; - )

 

I went to a panel on father of D&D, gamer Garry Gygax, who’d recently passed away then it was time for the closing ceremony. Some of Sue and Steve’s luggage has turned up, and in it are some items to auction for DUFF. Rob Shearman offers 33 1/3 (Aus $) for a Kentucky Derby glass, and everyone hopes the next bid will be 45 to keep ye olde music theme going, but Zara bids $50 instead.

 

Various winners are announced. Various people are thanked, and the Natcon gavel is passed on to the representatives from Adelaide who are hosting the 2009 Natcon.

 

That’s it. Another Swancon done and dusted. I get my bag, I get a taxi and head back uptown.

 

 

Tags: swancon naff v
Current Mood: contemplative

 

SWANCON & NAFF IV

 

Good Friday 20/3/08

After a breakfast of Lucy’s Mum’s home-dried fruit and my contribution of store-bought biscuits, we set out to get our bearings in the hotel.

 

Friday was the day when I got to most of the panels I’d intended to go to, and even a few that I hadn’t.

 

Lucy suggested I should go to a panel on Fan Funds. Panel speakers were Sue and Steve Frances, the current DUFF delegates, David Cake, Ju Landesee, Damian Warman and Juliet, Lucy Zinkiewicz, Janice Gelb and Sue-Ann Barber. I sat in the audience, listened and began to see how and why Fan Funds work. Later I bought a trip report from Emma Hawkes, and another from Ju. I also tried a bit of fund-raising my way by selling raffle tickets for a chocolate Easter casket I’d made up.

 

After that panel, I wandered past one on using info gathered by Land-satellites (on Earth) and how it can help authors design their own worlds. This talk was given by Rebecca Handcock, and it was very interesting and informative. Once or twice she deferred to Andrew Williams, also in the audience, and my ears pricked up. I’ve known an Andrew Williams through his contributions to Hitch-hikers and Blake’s 7 fandom on the east coast of Australia for a number of years. Bec’s presentation had started with some B7 stills, so with that tenuous connection, I was wondering if this was the Andrew Williams I’d corresponded with for many years. Turns out it’s not. There’s an east Coast and West Coast variety of Andrew Williams’ in Australian SF.

 

When I returned to the dealers’ room to check in with Asimmum, I discovered I’d missed Jo Anderton’s brief visit to Swancon. My issue of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (33) and Jo’s first issue – 34 – were both printed at the same time and we were launching both at Swancon. Pity I missed her!

 

After lunch at the hotel’s café, it was on to a Romance panel with Satima Flavell, Glenda Larkin, & Julliette Marillier. There was some lively discussion about male bonding. I’ve been corresponding with Satima for a while, so at the end of the panel, I went and introduced myself to her. She gave me a big hug as welcome. Wow!

 

I also heard Zara Baxter give a talk on statistics gathered as research into children’s reading patterns.

 

Passing through the foyer, I ended up in discussion with Steve and Sue Frances who were still waiting for their lost luggage to turn up! This became a theme for anyone talking to them during the con.

 

If I’d known Sue and Steve’s travel dates in advance, I’d have tried to organize something for them in Sydney, but as it turned out I’d be arriving home in Sydney about the time they’d be flying out to their next destination (Melbourne, I think?) Oh well, maybe they’ll come back to Australia if we win the 2010 Worldcon bid and I’ll have a chance to show them some hospitality then?

 

That evening there was a shared book launch in the car park to promote Alyssa Krasnostein’s 2012 production and Russell B. Farr’s Workers Paradise anthology.

Russell in particular is to be admired for his passion and dedication to the local small press market.

 

I’m not sure *why* they held the launch in a carpark. It could have been that all of the con rooms were booked for other things at the time of the launch, but I have been noticing a growing trend towards “user pays” book-launches at cons in recent years. This might be all well and good for professional publishing houses that have large advertising budgets and can write promotion off on their tax, but the small-press in Australia have no such options. Once you’ve committed yourself to investing your own money in a publication, there isn’t an awful lot of money left over to spend on launches. I wish more con-organizers would realize this and give small press launches a break.

 

I enjoyed the novelty of the venue for this launch. There were two recumbent bicycles in amongst the cars in the carpark. They grabbed my interest, because I know someone who has scratch-built a couple of recumbents. These two looked more like pedal-cars for grown-ups, though. But given the rising price of petrol, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more of them on our streets in the future.

 

I got the chance to tell Bec Handcock how much I’d enjoyed her presentation earlier in the day, and during the course of our conversation, she explained her hidden talent for “dressing” people in period costume in her mind. She can look at someone and see them wearing a style of clothes from this era or that.  Bec can then verbally “dress” you, i.e. “I see you wearing *this* design  from *this* era. This would be *this* colour, or maybe *this* colour would look good on you.” It was all very fun and flattering, and vaguely reminded me of someone offering to read your palm at a party. Great for keeping the conversation rolling along!

 

Bec also explained how she had made use of the Leap year tradition to propose to her boyfriend, Mikey. She’d created a book and used it to propose to him, and he’d said “Yes”. What a lovely idea!

       

I also spotted Danny Oz at the launch. His friends and family had all chipped in so he could travel in style to this Swancon, travelling from East to West on the Indian Pacific, the train that takes 3 days to travel across Australia.

 

I took the Indian Pacific home after I’d been to my first Swancon in 2002. I still have wonderful memories of the trip including seeing the Southern Cross rise out of the desert the first night onboard the train.

 

The con-auction was my next port of call, and I arrived just in time to see someone offer $6 to see Jon (?) and Lee Battersby run towards each other in slow motion and hug while the audience hummed the theme from Chariots of Fire. I was about to say moments like that can’t be bought, but obviously they can at some auctions! And whoever bid the $6 made a good investment, I think! Danny Oz later joined the list of auctioneers at the front of the room. He probably needs a “fix” of auctioning the way I need a “fix” of sitting behind a dealers table -  even if it’s someone elses’ at a con.  

           

Saturday 22/3/08.

Tehani arrived at about 8.30am with Guest of Honour, Rob Shearman whom she’d shang-hied to push the luggage trolley for her! That woman’s shameless! ; - )

 

Inspired by her, after introductions, (he already knew Lucy. Everybody knows Lucy!) I sold Rob some raffle tickets.

 

Lucy and I made an attempt at the hotel breakfast. It turned into a “pick a number, any number – as long as it’s got a $ in front of it” farce. Another fan had told us the previous day if you were staying at the con hotel breakfast was only $5. The waitress at the café said it was $17, the café manager said it was $17, but go see reception if you want to find out about the special rate. The girl at reception said $15, which she quickly upped to $17 after a phone call from the café manager. But it was only $10 if you booked it with your accommodation. Well, our accommodation bookings had been pretty much last minute. The receptionist said we could have the special rate if we paid for all the nights we were staying, including the day before when we hadn’t had breakfast. There’s never a Tardis around when you need it, is there? We ended up back at the room eating biscuits and dried fruit for breakfast.

 

It was Market Day at the con. Andromeda Spaceways had its own table (on the other days of the con ASIM was sharing a small press table with a number of other publishers.) I had the chance to get my huckstering “fix” sitting behind the ASIM table, selling books and magazines, and also flogging raffle tickets for my Easter egg raffle.

 

I also went to Rob Shearman’s reading. He chose a clever, witty, poignant story from his “Tiny Deaths” anthology, and I was inspired to buy the book and get him to sign it for me afterwards.

 

Brendan Carson, a talented Australian writer, who I’ve chatted to over the years mostly via the Eidolist e-mailing list, was at Swancon introduced himself and his lovely wife, Catherine Gunson to me. It was nice to meet him in person, and just as nice to talk to his fascinating wife. I didn’t notice her walking stick until Brendan mentioned her spinal surgery, showed me her scar and suggested she sit down.  We occupied a few spare chairs behind the ASIM table and continued our conversation. Catherine breeds cats! Brendan endeared himself to me by saying he liked donkeys, and I think they still own a couple of horses. I have the temerity to ask Catherine what she knows about cruciate ligament injuries and tell her about Keely. She tells me they once had a half-greyhound, half-mareema. My mind boggles as I struggle to come up with a mental picture of that!

 

Lucy had suggested we go shopping prior to my meeting Brendan and Catherine, and she keeps going away and coming back, but I’m really enjoying my conversation with these two people! Finally, I apologise and cave in to the desire to see what lies beyond the hotel as I haven’t really been outside since arriving on Thursday evening.

 

Ian Nichols tried to give us instructions on how to find a shop that sold wonderful chocolates. He’s been using the chocolates to bribe people to buy books, and he’s running low on bribes. He seriously underestimates my navigation skills in a strange city! I’m willing, because there’s chocolate involved, but it doesn’t seem so easy once we’re out on the street. I peer apprehensively down the first cross-street in his direction. Lucy, with better eyesight, also peers and isn’t too confident about following the rest of his directions either. She points out that we’re on foot while he drove, so it could be a lot further than we think it is. I accept defeat. Probably just as well, because I suspect I would have got lost trying to get back to the hotel.

 

On coming back I make a detour to the art room, and it’s uplifting to discover that all three pieces I’ve submitted to the artshow have bids on them! Emma Hawkes, bless her, has bid on my silk evening purse with the silhouette of a witch flying her broomstick in front of the moon!

 

With the promise of money coming in, I go and bid on a lovely framed print of two seals I’ve been admiring since I saw it. I’ve since become the happy owner of that piece.

 

I return to the Dealers room and count the number of raffle tickets sold. Tehani (who has sold many of the raffle tickets in my absence!) takes the initiative, does a round of the room and sells off the remainder of the book. Then she organizes someone to draw the raffle! The lucky ticket holder is Lucy Zinkiewicz! She promptly demands a re-draw, saying the whole thing will look like it’s rigged if she accepts the prize, and she already has chocolate. (Lucy has obviously never encountered the “There’s no such thing as too much chocolate” principle!) On the second draw, Blake Battersby is the lucky winner, Dave Luckett helps me spot dad, Lee Battersby, and he’s happy to take the prize. Blake even shares the chocolate around. The raffle has raised $55 for NAFF! Combined with the $5 from the book I donated to the auction, that’s $60 I’ve raised!

 

I politely dodge a couple of invites out to dinner. It’s not that I don’t want to be sociable, but there’s food in the room, and money I don’t spend on dinner can go on something more tangible. (Who am I trying to kid? Just about everything I eat sits around my stomach or hips for years and years, if *that’s* not tangible, what is?)  

 

This evening there’s a book launch for Sean William’s new book, “The Changeling”, as well as Karen Miller’s new book. They’re both very tempting, but I’m slightly more loyal to Sean Williams; my loyalty forged back in the days when he had time to engage in e-mailed “pun wars” that I approached with all the seriousness and preparation of a professional athlete. (That’d be hard to believe for anyone who’s ever seen me.) Anyway, I still have a soft spot for him, but that puts me in the majority. He seems to have the same mystical charisma Harpo Marx had: you can’t find anyone who has a bad thing to say about the guy. Or his writing!

 

Lucy buys a copy of Karen’s book and gets it autographed, so we’re yin and yang between us.

 

I seem to be collecting books at a great rate! Someone gave me a copy of “Escape By Sea” a YA historical novel set in Roman times by L.S. Lawrence. I’ve since read and thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I’m wondering in retrospect if I’ve met the author?

 

The pre-costume parade, post dinner plans get drastically altered when Lucy receives a SMS from Sue-Ann saying she’s just been scammed out of $50 at the autoteller.  At 6pm. In broad daylight. (We’d heard warnings about this neighbourhood, but until then, I’d thought someone might have just wanted to scare us a little.) She’s okay, unhurt, but a little shaken up. (Who wouldn’t be?) Lucy goes off on a rescue mission.

 

The masquerade Saturday evening had a “Come as your favourite hero or villain” theme. People for the costume parade and people for the audience mingle before the main con room is open.

 

Great to see there were a *lot* of costumes! Among my favourites were Big Scary Monsters (the costumes apparently made in the last 3 days!), Danger Mouse,

The 3 Angels from the Dr Who episode, “Blink” and Jarrod, the Goblin King and Sarah from Labyrinth, from the same two costumers who were dressed as The Doctor and Captain Jack posed in front of the Tardis in the lobby earlier in the day.

 

I have long lusted after David Bowie in *that* outfit! And here was a very good replica in front of me, down to the tell-tale bulge in the skin-tight pants! I wasn’t giving up this golden opportunity, so after a polite “May I?” I fondled the bulge. The costumer told us the bulge is a bust enhancer. Jarrod and Sarah dance to “It’s in your eyes” in the masquerade and they steal the show.

 

Craig Macbride wanders past in black cloak and pencilled-on moustache. I tell him he’s come as my hero, Groucho Marx. He points to my “Legolas Is My House Elf” T-shirt and say I’ve obviously come as a slash writer. (Well, he’s got Groucho’s wit, even if it *is* a Zorro costume he’s wearing.)

 

Sean Williams is D.J-ing the post costume parade disco.

 

Shy, quiet, retiring wall flower that I am (not!) even I get up and dance despite being nervous about bumping into people. I especially appreciated it when Sean played Ant Music!!! Wonder if I could bribe him to play a bit of Big Country next time?     

   

Tags: swancon naff iv
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: The Village People

 She's off gallavanting all over Europe at the moment, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lucy Z!!!

Tags: lucy z's birthday!