Catherine's Redemption'05

Friday

Ran about all day sorting out last minute packing, taking the cats to their cat sitter and fighting through the traffic so of course we arrived late, just as Man of Iron would have been finishing. Odd really, we got to the hotel just as Man of Iron was finishing up last year too, hmmmm perhaps it's safer that way.

Ran to the car to dig out the first load of bags and then dashed to the stewards meeting, ran back to the car for more stuff, attended opening ceremony and played fun mixer games where people didn't seem to mix very much then changed into outfit one with enough time to race back to do some stewarding in a draughty corridor (with Bear Travis as my personal guard) glad of the opportunity to sit down for an hour.

Found the right room for the New Zines panel only to find there there weren't any. Chatted instead then wandered around the hotel stopping for coffee and a chat with Oleg Gan in reception until I slopped coffee all down my cream dress and ran off to wash it out before it set in. Slunk back to find my coffee was now cold but made the most of it and eventually sloped off to bed and collapsed for the night.

Really thin uncomfortable pillows they give you at the Hinckley Island, must remember to take my own next time. Other half has a cold and snores loudly all night long, complains about the bruises in the morning.

Saturday

Don dress two and a pair of shoes that unknown to me at this point will strip all the skin from my heels and little toes after an hour or so. Amble about today rather than run. Attended second stewards meeting to get badge (oooh shiny!) then Bear Travis and I went back to the draughty corridor for a bit more stewarding where we met Kerr Bear, had to watch Travis carefully in case he tried to shoot him in the back as he was leaving but he resisted the temptation which got him an extra hug for good behaviour. Foraged for food for a while then spent most of my money in the dealers room, lurked and chatted until Blake's Junction 7 - which we got to watch twice - loved the film but was a bit disappointed there wasn't more Servalan in it if only because Mackenzie Crook makes such a fabulous Servalan.

Realise that since I stayed to watch the film again I'm now late to run the Space Hopper Racing, turns out that that isn't a problem since after 15 minutes I still only have three people willing to play. Tom (Baskerville?) was a little star and beat all comers before they'd even arrived. I eventually managed to get a second team but I couldn't have a race off because everyone else had left by then. Ah well.

Spent the next hour or so with Simon and Sarah trying to figure out the rules for Witch Trial but with five minutes left to play we hadn't got very far. Watched the paper plane competition for a while and laughed at people getting bombarded from on high by bits of flying paper.

Went to comics panel Steve R conned me into hosting and much conversation was had by all. Nipped off to the restaurant to eat before they stopped serving then went off to do my next bit of stewarding and watch the cabaret. Very good entries into the fancy dress followed by a variety of excellent cabaret acts. Many people comment that this was the best cabaret they've seen yet.

Give up trying to find space on the rotunda ground floor to play SF Cluedo so go up a floor to be out of the way, our game overruns so much that Harriet has to abandon us so she can organise Wobblevision but we managed to finish in enough time to join in.

Hang around the rotunda chatting until sloping off to bed again. Swine snores worse than last night!

Sunday

Struggle to wake up and get out of bed and have ten minutes to wolf down breakfast before stewarding has me lurking in the auction. I've spent all my money now so I don't buy a single thing no matter how tempting. Roam off to Room 101 to watch Steve K interrogate Mat, Jason and Jim about their least favourite things. Mat & Jason cause a small riot to break out in the audience over a chocolate egg. Who got the egg in the end? Watch Harriet rounding off the Blake's XI v Babylon XI cricket match and slop coffee down this dress as well, run off to change after only wearing it for a couple of hours.

Went to watch how the '07 reg desk was being run prior to my shift there and got to meet lots of lovely people who'll be at the next con. Lurked in the dealers room until my time slot came around. Grabbed lunch and chatted to Ruth and my other half for a while then placed my vote (what do you mean 'how many?')

Got debriefed by Ivan and Colin then went to watch the closing ceremony where Jason completely failed to strip but Londo gave it a good go. Staring up at the very bright lights of the stage gave me a splitting headache and I went in search of asprin. I got asked at the last minute to run the Charades but no one appeared until the last five minutes when Judith walked past and reckoned that five minutes was enough time for a couple of goes. Chatted about the things we might like to see at the next con then came across Simon, Sarah and Helen in the bar about to give Witch Trial another go so joined in and did much better this time, Richard P joined us before we got too far and much hilarity was had by all.

We went along to the last filking session where I murdered some innocent songs in the name of fandom and everyone else just sang them. One day I might sing well but it certainly wasn't last night. Apologies to all listening. Londo came in from the snow, Centauri look very odd with a snowy crest, and we all hoped that the weather wasn't going to turn nasty on the last night.

Chatted in the bar until late-ish then sloped off to bed again. He's still snoring but I resisted the temptation to suffocate him - just.

Monday

Pack some of our junk away then go for breakfast while the staff try to set the tables for lunch around us - at 10am. We get joined once more by Simon, Sarah and Helen and hang about until we have no choice but to finish the packing, pay the bill and go home tired but happy and ready for Redemption '07.

Collect two extremely disgruntled cats and subject them to further indignity by taking them for their booster shots on the way home. They're so glad to be home that they don't even seem to mind.

Thanks to everyone who made my weekend so much fun, which is everyone really. See you all in two years time!

Cath

PS. I would like to point out that I am usually perfectly capable of drinking a cup of coffee without wearing it.

Hot drinks at the hotel were served in such thin paper cups, they obviously didn't want to go to all the expense of providing a second cup or a cardboard sleeve to protect anyone's fingers, that I ended up constantly moving my hot cup from one hand to the other when I didn't have any table space available to me and it was in this shuffling process that I ended up wearing my drink and dashing off to wash before staining set in.