lizwilliams: (Default)
lizwilliams ([personal profile] lizwilliams) wrote2007-04-10 12:52 pm
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Back from Eastercon

We had a smooth run down from Chester yesterday, taking the roads through the Marches rather than the motorway. The countryside is beautiful right now. We stopped off at my parents' for dinner and then caught up with a friend in Bristol, before returning to a household of indignant animals.

The general consensus (geddit?) seems to be that Eastercon 07 was a great success, and my formal thanks to the con com will be going off shortly. This was a rescue con, after the collapse of the Liverpool E'con, but it seemed well organised and efficiently run. It was also laid back and we loved being in Chester. I won't out the friend in question, just in case, but fully concur with her summary that 'there were only 3 things wrong with this hotel. The microclimate, the lack of beer, and the unfeasible number of ground floors.'

The air conditioning was indeed Saharan. I have shed an entire layer of facial skin, something I'm sure you really wanted to know, and everyone has sinus problems. Apart from that, we were really impressed with the Crowne Plaza.

Personal highlights:

- the sudden appearance of a 7 foot high SPIRITED AWAY demon behind the audience during a heated moment during the 'gender imbalance' talk. If I appeared momentarily stunned, this was why. Later, the demon came and stood in front of the Witchcraft stall for some time and eventually a very little voice came out of it. "It's very hot in here!" it said.

- the person who very kindly offered their hall costume award to a friend of ours, who unfortunately was not in costume: she just dresses like that.

- and seeing swathes of Milford folk, as well as many other people.

[identity profile] pigeonhed.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Good to see you there.

'unfeasible number of ground floors' Yes! And the strangely appropriate fact that the hotel was clearly much bigger on the inside than the outside (where its chameleon circuit had disguised it as a car park.)

[identity profile] mevennen.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, and wasn't it hard to get into? Someone said that they'd never seen a hotel which made less of its entrance.

[identity profile] major-clanger.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yes, the micro-climate. It seems that the Big Room was perfectly OK when the partition down the middle was folded away, but as soon as it was split up then one half turned into a sort of pulp-era Venus whilst the other started to resemble Pluto, only a bit chillier. I did programme items in both and I wouldn't have been surprised if bits had started to flake off from thermal stress.

[identity profile] greeneyedkzin.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
If you want weird geography, do come to the Escher Hilton for Lunacon. There's a reason we call it that.

[identity profile] mevennen.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 02:06 pm (UTC)(link)
What IS it with hotels??

[identity profile] pennski.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 03:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I can't wait to go back to the Radisson Edwardian and get caught in a maze of twisty-turny passages!

No-face was stunning - especially when it just lurked around the dealers' room for a bit.

I am very excited about the fab dress I ordered from you.

(Anonymous) 2007-04-13 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
HAven't got a clue, but this one's a standout. It was so good to be back after three years away.

[identity profile] tanngrisnir.livejournal.com 2007-04-12 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, I found it bizarre that the hotel had two ground floors and neither of them was the floor with reception!

And my sinuses are not at all happy...