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