Michael's Meanderings

Friday
Left work exactly on time at 12:30 and caught the ThamesLink to St Pancras international, then got the fast train at 2:15 for Cambridge and Congenial. Arrived 45 minutes later, and since it was a fine day decided to walk through the city centre to Edward Murray, which took about 45 minutes. Met K & A on the way, they were looking for food.

Got my registration and badge, then got the key to my room (C7) from the porter. Discovered that the committee didn't add wifi as a feature, so no online updates. Or at least I'm writing this offline to post when I get home.

Unpacked and read until 6:00 when the con officially started including introduction to GoHs Phil & aja Foglio, this finished in five minutes then up to the dining room.

Bought pork in black peppercorn sauce, with new potatoes and carrots, with apple juice. Pudding was a small but tasty banoffee tart with whipped cream topping. It was very tasty but overpriced, especially in a university environment at £10.55. I suspect I will be eating out more frequently than anticipated.

Read in main corridor until 8:30 when Phil & Kaja presents: The Girl Genius Radio Plays. Various parts played by members of the convention. Agatha Hetrodyne and a) The Weasel Queen, b) gets a Date. Both well performed, especially as their was no practice prior to the reading.

After I went to bed an an early night at 10:30

Saturday
Woke up before 7:00 showered then read until 8:00 went to breakfast, cereal, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, beans and mushrooms. Chocolate croissant and tea to finish.

Back to bedroom to read until 10:00 slept til 12:00 half of Prof Yaffel
Lunch was Sweetcorn soup and roll, with lemon meringue pie and juice for £6.80.

Went to Archery in Fantasy and Reality by Mike Shevdon. Which was a fascinating tale of the physics of archery. With examples if getting it wrong and right in TV and film.

Back to my room again, then read during bits of City of the Mind.
This was followed by a Q&A with GoHs Phil & Kaja.

I then went looking for food and wifi and found both at The County Arms (the Castle Inn didn't start serving food til 6:00).

Ordered Steak And Ale pie, mashed potato and green veg with half of scrumpy for £10.95 (wifi at con is nearly this price!)

Sunday
Up at 7:45 then to breakfast, cereal, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs ( overly salted), beans, mushrooms, hash browns, juice, tea and toast.

Read then bought Don't Panic t-shirt from ZZ9.
Gaming Reboots panel discussion, got tagged to gopher so read until...

12:00 - 1:00 on front desk with Daizil Brown and John Dallman DCM. Didn't have much to do but keep an eye on the desk and games.

Lunch leek & potato soup and roll, juice and cold rice pudding £6.00.
All very tasty but still over priced.

Then we discussed that three pages ago. Stories in different media

Read in main corridor, for an hour or so.
Spent a while in session
Spent an hour in the bar reading, had half of lager.
Closing ceremony at 5:00
Read then went to the Castle Mound and read there to 6:00 when I went to Castle inn ordered Ribeye steak & chips + desert (apple tart and ice cream) and half of cider for £8.00. Since they had free wifi too I checked my email and LJ to read offline later.

Wandered around Cambridge taking photos for an hour and a half.

Back to my room by 9:00, read, caught up on email and LJ, then to sleep.

Monday
Got up 7:30 packed and read until 8:00 when I went for breakfast, I was the first one there. Had cereal scrambled eggs (again salty) bacon (well done), sausage, beans, mushrooms and sliced fried potatoes, with tea and chocolate croissant.

Returned key and key card to the porter's lodge and ordered a taxi gem Panther Taxis. Arrived at the railway station at 9:00 at a cost of £8.00, the same price as last nights dinner. I'm glad I decided to walk to the convention on Friday.

I had to wait 30 minutes as my ticket wasn't valid for travel prior to 9:30.
Got to Kings Cross just after 10:30 caught the train from St Pancras International to Farringdon, got out to see the new structures and station built since I was last there. Then got 10:59 to Gatwick Airport.

Arrived at work just before noon so worked exactly half a day as planned, (a lot of catching up to do!)

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