Worldcon 2014 (Loncon3) - Summary

Thoughts and feelings on the whole Worldcon experience, at Loncon3

The badge design was double sided so (unless you were a program participant) your name was always visible. This was a very good idea. However the font size selected could easily have been somewhat bigger.

The newsletter was always easily found and news-stands usually also had all back issues.

The fannish village was a great idea & putting the parties there worked well (even though I had to catch my train by 10:30 each night)
The bar (in the village) was reasonably priced with real ale and cider at £3.95/pint, however the food was over priced

The library (also in the village), was a great idea, where you could get a book and sit down to read. Also one of the few places to charge electronic devices (which with my iPods battery life I needed)

It would have been nice if there had been a few more book stores, in the dealers area. There were however dozens of small presses / self publishers.

Nice to see young people at a Worldcon (apparently about 10% of attendees were under 16).

I actually spoke to people, both people I knew and total strangers. From "Hi how are you?" To over an hour conversations.

The LMB list curry was a highlight; S & M invited a bunch of fans back to their house, where JB made traditional curries. Good conversation ensued.

The wifi in the ExCel (and my hotel) was excellent. Related to this, the electronic program guide was excellent and kept up to date. Even my old iPod worked fine.

Mostly didn't go to any program that I initially picked from the program guide, (apart from opening & closing ceremonies, both Hugo Awards and the Masquerade). There was much more queuing than at any previous Worldcon and some items should have really been in bigger rooms.

All events were held under one roof (even the late night ones) though the size of the ExCel meant it took awhile to get from one panel to the next.

August 2014 (excluding Worldcon)

Very busy month, with Worldcon (see earlier posts).
Also got hair cut to shortest it has been in over forty years. Took part in MORI poll relating to radio listening (even though I don't actually listen to radio live much)
I've also been playing on pottermore.com in preparation for going to the Harry Potter Experience on 11th Sep
Updated the SD cards for my old eeePC and got triple booting linux usb hard drive working. Started LFS101x Introduction to Linux online course.
New fencing installed on one side of back garden, planted both a new apple tree and a grape vine
Brighton SF Reading Group discussed Lightbourn, which again I didn't finish (I really need to finish all these books I start).
Finished editing my 2013 Diary and sent it off to be printed (A5 size)
Used up all my eVouchers (from train delay) to buy ticket to London for Worldcon
Saw Guardians of the Galaxy at Connaught Cinema in Worthing (£3 Wed)
Checked my Oyster Card (London Travel Card) in preparation for Worldcon visit. Need to add £20 to it for journeys in London.
Picked a fair number of black berries at different times during the month (even in my garden)
Second weekend in the month was Crawley Juggling Festival - on the Saturday I did some balloon modelling, read, Kettle of Fish Cabaret in the evening was excellent as always.
On the Sunday I joined the Knife and Axe throwing workshop, actually turned out to be pretty good (should have taken a photo of my excellently matched axe throws).
Worldcon - Loncon3
Tuesday after Worldcon I was still in London and went to the British Library to see "Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK" last day, bought book of exhibit.
Saw the first episode of the new Dr Who at the cinema (with only 25 others - not well advertised)
My dancing partner C decided that she was unable to continue ballroom dancing (not a major issue as I normally dance with J), we'd been dancing a year and a quarter.
Bath started to leak, (dripping through the light fitting - blew the circuit breaker!) so had to get a replacement organised. (2 weeks so far without bath / shower). Washbasin has been replaced.
Managed to mung my Windows 7 PC at home (over wrote MBR with Grub2) though I also managed to recover from the problem ;-)
At work after nearly a year I got a new Windows 7 PC and found it a generally good experience.
With my Kobo Mini damaged and no longer available I have ordered a Nook ereader (so I can access my Fictionwise.com archive).
Renewed my monthly season ticket.
Dancing with J every Tue evening, but no dancing first two weeks as school closed. First Tuesday back after Worldcon. Social dance at the end of the month, we danced all the dances.