UK 2005 Trip, part 17: London ‘Tun at Walkers of Holborn (01-Aug-2005)

Chaz got a picture of me in London.

Ann trundled off to the airport to catch her flight.

I wasn’t feeling much better and decided to keep a low energy day. I eventually got moving and headed over to the Science Center, on the other side of the Clyde from the SECC and Moat House. I popped in on the SECC and saw the last remnants of the Teardown crew shutting up the con.

The Science center had a lot of neat toys to play with, demonstrating: human kinetics, optical illusions, electro-magnetics, the power of air, motion and time. There was some discussion of space exploration and what is going on in the field. Over all, a great place to spend the afternoon. I didn’t visit the planetarium as it wasn’t open.(I think)

And they had an IMAX theater showing “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and I went to see it.

Very Good movie. I thought Deep Roy as the Oompa-Lumpas was fantastic. A bit darker than the ‘Willie Wonka’ movie. I thought the opening was a bit like “Batman.” I liked how they extended the story line about Willie Wonka and his dysfunctional family. I suppose I shall have to read the book and find out what really happened.

After the movie I found the Glasgow Tower. I had been passing this tower all week on the other side of the river and wondered what is was. Turns out it is the tallest free standing tower in Scotland , 400 feet. And it can rotate 360 degrees on a 65 cm ball bearing, which is why it always looked subtly different every time saw it.

I was inside while it was rotated to face into the wind. It is shaped like an airfoil so they like to move it in increments to put the least stress on the tower. But they could move it in complete revolutions if they wanted to.

I took the ride to the top and got a bird’s eye view of the surrounding city. They also included an historical retrospective of Glasgow over the past several centuries. I thought it was a bit tedious, myself. Glasgow helped conquer germs and promoted clean water, as well as build a lot of ships and engines and pollute the environment.

From here it was back to CairnCross and a nearby Moroccan restaurant for dinner. I ran across a few fans as I passed by the Moat House but nothing was planned.

I ordered a lamb dish at the Moroccan restaurant and have now decided that I don’t really care for couscous. It reminds me too much of grits or something similar. But the meat was tasty.

Monday was the day to slowly wind down. I worked at the table for a bit, took one last run through the dealers room and couldn’t find the Blakes 7 DVDs. Guess I’ll have to try Amazon.co.uk. Went over to closing ceremonies with Bob MacIntosh. Funny, I was wondering how they were going to get around blasting the Armadillo into orbit. The Pirates stole the ship. Figuring that everything was over; I then went over to the Pirates lair, otherwise known as the Real Ale Bar at the Moat House, and started saying my
goodbyes.

Chatted with a couple of Brits that were planning to visit aunt and uncle next year in West Texas, either before or after LACON. I suggested that they land in Dallas, drive to Aunt and Uncle, then go to Bubonicon in Albuquerque, then drive to LA and fly back home from LA. This would give them a chance to see the American SW and to enjoy that unique heat it is so famous for in August.

I didn’t know that the dead-dog didn’t actually start until 9 PM., I didn’t quite make it. I suddenly discovered that I wasn’t feeling very well. My sinuses were clogged and I started to feel like I had been run over by a fully loaded grocery trolley. I made my goodbyes and departed for CairnCross.

Sunday was another Party Day and I needed to make another shopping run. Ann had been colluding with Mary and they decided that soft cheeses were appropriate for our party. So, we found a taxi and headed back to the ASDA in Govan for another round of shopping. Based on our Thursday experience we increased our supply allotment a bit, loading up on the Cider. We got additional small cakes and stuff that went with soft cheeses and ran up a bit more than we had the previous shopping round. We didn’t get any Red grapes this time. Our carts continued to go straight down the aisles when we wanted to turn. And then it was time to leave.

We couldn’t find a big black cab. They should normally be queued at the stand, but there wasn’t anything to be found. So, I went inside and used the courtesy phone to call a taxi. Surprise, surprise, the private hire taxis are not big black cabs, they are small civilian cars. We finally got all our goods into the taxi and headed to the Hilton. There some porters helped us schlep it to the party room and we started setting up.

We were able to use the Hotel walk-in fridge to keep our supplies cool until needed. Dennis and Pat Virzi were busy preparing the Friendly Texans party foods. Keith Kato was working on his chili somewhere in the kitchen. Several other party groups were making full use of the kitchen.

The Hugos were being held Sunday night, so we weren’t too worried about opening early. There weren’t many fans around at 9 PM. They started getting to the Hilton shortly thereafter. You figure that after three nights of solid partying, the crowds would start to slow down.

The hordes swarmed once again. It was almost comical how we started a careful minuet for replacing the food platters, the ones with the soft cheese and bread as well as the fruit trays and the cookie trays and then the ginger bread cakes with whip cream. But we paced the distribution better, moving new trays out every half hour or so. The food and drink actually lasted to 12:30.

The Cider and wine were under constant attack. As well as the soft Drinks. We had stocked up on extra Ginger Beers (sort of like concentrated Ginger Ale) and they were going quickly. I wasn’t worried that we would be leaving much behind. The Australia 2010 bid had given us some of their leftover cups from the their party the night before and that certainly helped serving the drinks. I don’t really like having glass glasses loose in a fannish party.

So, it was another good party that slowly came to an end as the food and alcohol went away. We passed on some leftover sodas to the con for a dead dog but that was about all we had left. I finely got a chance to visit the Friendly Texans/Moscow party but all that Fine food was long gone. The Finns were still going strong. They were evidently sponsored by a vodka company and there kept going strong until the hotel shut everything down about 3:30. I think I took a cab back that night. Cost ₤ 5 with tip.

Friday and Saturday are a bit of a blur. I spent most of the day times at the bid table. Took a few preambles around the Dealers room. Never did make it to the Art Show or any Programming.

Friday night, I tried the parties at the Hilton and found them to be a bit of a bore. I hung out in the Hotel bar for part of the evening and watched the fans go by. The Real Ale bar reduced its prices from the night before but I didn’t indulge in many over the course of the night. Maybe I am beginning to burn out?

Saturday Night was the Masquerade and Kent and Mary were going to be in it as GNOMES. A symbol of the Denver2008 Worldcon Bid. Our other symbols are Winged Buffalo and Hershey Kisses. I figured the Masquerade would be late as normal so I popped in on a re-showing of “Gamerz”, a Scottish movie of about D&D Gamers. I only saw a short bit of it and found the half I understood to be very funny, very well done. But I had to run to the Armadillo to catch the Masquerade and so left. I really would like to see the whole thing on DVD some time.

The Masquerade was running smoothly and on time, so much for Fannish Tradition. I arrived for the half-time show, “The Iron Costumer”, which pitted NA and EU teams of costumers against each other to make the best costume from a pile of scraps in 45 minutes. I have seen an episode of “The Iron Chef” so I realized what they were trying to do. I still think the NA team’s costume was better but the judges awarded the prize to the EU team.

And the Masquerade results were announced shortly thereafter and Kent and Mary actually won the Audience Appreciation Prize so I did get to see them in the little gnome costumes cross the stage to collect their award.

I caught a double-decker shuttle bus over to the Hilton afterwards and wandered through the Saturday night parties. I had some interesting conversations with people in passing but didn’t really get that party buzz going.

Chicago is the home of Tootsie Rolls, so they had a lot of Tootsie Rolls in their party. Maybe I will vote for them. I should at least support them to pay for my Tootsie Roll habit.

I lasted longer Saturday night and then wended my way back to CairnCross.

I made my way to the exhibits area and found the Denver2008 Bid team sitting at our table. With little Hershey kisses sitting in a bowl. We set up a plan for the day. We were hosting a bid party that night and needed to get some supplies. I was the runner. Fortunately, Ann was willing to help since she supported our Denver2008 bid.

So, we set off for the local ASDA which was on the other side of the river. At first we thought to reduce our taxi fare by walking over to the Science Center on the other side of the river (there are pedestrian bridges across the Clyde right there) Unfortunately, all the taxis were queued up in front of the SECC or Moat House, so back across the river we went, found a big black taxi and said we wanted the ASDA in Govan. And off we went. Those taxis are so spacious, so big, so comfortable. Why don’t we have them here in the States?

British Supermarkets are very similar to American markets except for one critical thing, the shopping carts. The British shopping carts have 4 omni-directional wheels whereas American carts have just 2, the front wheels. 4 free-spinning wheels is a great way to learn about the laws a motion and inertia, especially if you have a cart loaded with a hundred kilos of supplies. You can’t turn the cart without using the display cabinets or other carts as a stopping point. Very Awkward.

I was using a predetermined shopping list to select our supplies and Ann insisted on using experience and common sense. But I did get my three bags of Red Seedless Grapes into the cart. We weren’t too worried about over-buying supplies on today’s trip since we were also hosting a party Sunday night and we could store any leftovers in the Hotel’s walk-in fridges. We ended up with two large shopping carts overloaded with cookies, crackers, cheddars, colas, candies, Ginger Beer, fruits, Hard Cider, and wine. We had enough to party for a week.

We caught a black taxi in the parking lot, filled it up and headed for the Hilton, slightly slowed by the rush hour traffic. The porters helped get our stuff up to the Glenfiddich room and we prepared to set up for the party.

The rest of the bidders showed up and we decorated the room with silver and gold and all those other things gnomes dig up. Along with maps and Denver Literature. About 8:30 we were ready and, so, we opened the doors.

Now a word here about a major difference between European and American Conventions. In America, conventions have a Con Suite, a hospitality suite, that provides a meeting place for fans to sit down and relax and it also provides some munchies and refreshments. In Europe there is no Con Suite. Typically, the fans gather at the hotel bar and buy rounds of drinks for each other. There is no expectation of munchies or refreshments provided by the convention. And there are no room parties at a European convention. The hotel corkage rules are such that it is not worth the expense or hassle to get them waived, so, a bid party at a typical convention may consist of the bidders buying a few rounds at the hotel bar.

Here at the Glasgow Hilton, the convention had arranged for the corkage waivers in the function rooms; the bids, and other groups so interested, could throw parties galore serving whatever they wished. And many did over the course of the weekend. We were the first to open.

There should be a word that describes the descent of fans upon an open party with food and alcohol but I’m not sure what it is. A swarm is too genteel, a horde is too pleasant. It will come to me once the shock of remembrance has worn off. It was a rather frenetic three hours until we ran out of food and drinks, even the red grapes were gone. Then, strangely, the crowds disappeared.

The Convention got the Hotel to set up a Real Ale Bar in the function area (this is why we didn’t try to supply any beer at our party) It was a good place to get a tasty bitter.

As our party started to wind down because the cupboard was bare, I tried to wander into some of the other parties where the crowds were still jumping. Over time, I appear to have became shy of large crowds. I find them antithetical to what I am looking for in a party, this may also be why I a not an obnoxious drunk any more, just obnoxious.

Eventually, things at the Hilton died down, I found Ann and we walked back to CairnCross, only a few miles down the road.

I left East Ham/ Upton Park and made my way to Kings Cross. There, I planned to catch the Highland Chieftain at noon and go to Edinburgh, stop off for an hour, pick up my clubs from left luggage and catch the train an hour later to Glasgow Central.

It was very important to catch the train to Glasgow Central instead of Queen St because there wasn’t a direct connection from Queen St to the SPT line that would take me to the SECC.

And things actually went as planned. The weather was bright and sunny most of the way and I had a good chance to catch the sights passing by and to read a bit. I picked up the clubs and hung out in the station pub while awaiting the next leg. The train came in on time. I went to Glasgow Central and caught the local to the SECC stop. It was nice that my rail pass for the day was valid on the SPT line as well.

Then the wheels fell off the plans. Always check the maps first and print out a copy, especially if you haven’t been in a particular neighborhood for 10 years. I am heading in the general direction of CairnCross House because I remember where it was from the last time I was here. Last time I wasn’t dragging a rather heavy set of golf clubs with me. Even on wheels, that golf bag was a pain to maneuver.

I went down one street and it was a dead end, I went down another, it was a dead end. And I can practically see the place. Fortunately, I ran into some fans who had printed out a map and they quickly got me pointed in the right direction and I arrived at CairnCross House.

Ann had already checked in and gone, so I dropped off my stuff and headed over to the SECC, taking the way I remembered from 10 years before; walking under the rail line and over the M8 into the back parking lot of the SECC. It was still there!

I picked up my registration and started looking for people. I found the Real Ale Bar at the Moat House Fan Lounge and ran into many familiar faces, some of whom I hadn’t seen since last Monday. But I didn’t find my fellow Denver2008 bidders and began to wonder what our plans were for the next day.

Ann showed up with someone else who was staying in the same place and we headed back to CairnCross, this time using the pedestrian bridge to the train station.

I should explain that Ann and I first met at a convention more than 25 years before. We didn’t really get along with each other back then. She thought I was an obnoxious drunk and I thought she was rude. Then she gafiated and I moved out west and many years later she de-gafiated and we met at a Worldcon and started talking about mutual friends and we found that we could be civil with each other. And we continued to meet and say hello at Worldcons.

When I realized that Elaine wasn’t going with me to Glasgow and I had booked a double room at a very low rate (compared to what the hotels were charging), I asked a fan list if anyone wanted to share a room. Ann responded, along with several others. I did know her and I didn’t know the others, so what the hey.