DWCon - catching old friends, making new friends.

by Gemma

*_Friday_*

We arrived at the Birmingham Hilton round about midday, checked in and found our room, which was much nicer than the one we were given last time, and since that visit (the one In Which Gemma Broke Her Ribs Getting Out Of The Bath) the bathroom has aquired a rubber slipmat! Yay!

On heading back out of Registration (where I was given a sticker for my name badge meaning I could whack people with my cane if they got in my way jump queues) we found a Ssirienna, who was walking with a crutch after falling in the shower and badly spraining her leg. Ouch, that looked colourful and the bruising hadn't even started to come out properly! We joined her in the bar and chatted, watching wonderful costumes drifting by on numerous amazing people. Well, in the case of Butcher and Heather it was more *lack* of clothing, but they still both looked wonderful.

As the evening went on, our little table became The Table Of Cool, with Gid stopping by to serenade us, an Eric joining us for a drink and an Adrian, among others. We met a Taz, who turned out to be very sweet and funny, and then Tiggsybabes finally had the chance to join us and stayed for most of the evening until she had to get the kids to bed and rest up herself before the Opening Ceremony. Some Bloke In A Hat Who Writes Books was drifting around talking to various folks and Gid made me sing Summertime.. When I was done I discovered that I'd gathered a highly appreciative audience, and Gid had attracted a telling-off about public performance from the main organiser - oops! But how can you have a Convention without a bit of impromptu caterwauling singing?

I didn't make it to the Opening Ceremony; I had to go to bed early. Bah.

*_Saturday_*

We woke up nice and early and headed downstairs to the dining room, where we enjoyed a lovely fry-up in the company of Jan and Eric, before I headed off for a swim. I was joined by Ciciaye a little while after Dom decided to hop out.

I hadn't banked on just how out of practice and unfit I've become. I swam like a demon for two solid hours and am still paying for it! I still want to start going once a week though, after I've recovered from this whole weekend!

After the swim I found Jan and Eric in the bar, and Eric joked that all three "shower victims" were sat together (at the last Con he fell getting out of the shower on the same evening that I fractured my ribs getting out of the bath - thank heaven they've improved bathroom safety). Dom eventually joined us, and Anna texted to ask if I was downstairs before joining us herself. Tessa and MP also arrived for a little while, along with Adrian and Lisa.

A lady in the Dealer's Room decided that I needed to have a procedure to remove some unwanted money as a matter of emergency, and I swapped the annoying bits of paper in my purse for a cute little Orang-Utan. On seeing him Jan had to have one too, and returned with one that looked extremely shy compared to mine, who has a cheeky grin. I later went up to our room and discovered him humping my bedside lamp...

In the evening there were three events that we wanted to go to, which clashed with each other! So, we decided to do the Hedgehog Party first, then go to Affordable Graham's talk, and then I could do the music thing. As we were making these decisions a Kian bounced into a vacant armchair at our table and declared that he'd like to borrow one of my ukes, please! So this is how I met Kian.

On my way to get the ukes I bumped into Jan in the foyer, who was resplendant in an enormous but beautiful gown ready to take part in the Maskerade. I later discovered that she won!

Mary came down from her room to say hello, catch up and Share Gossip (very interesting Gossip it was too). She barely left her room, as she and Stu were amongst those lucky enough to recieve a free upgrade to an executive room - and so they had a lounge and a free bar. I think that next time we shall make use of the opportunity for a discounted upgrade too!

The Hedgehog Party was in full swing when we got there... as were Gideon's pants. The only way to describe Gideon's pants is... indescribable. Lurid is an understatement and they apparently broke The_Hunter's camera! There was also the Mysterious Case Of The Migrating Beard, which was sometimes a beard, sometimes a merkin and sometimes a wig. Mary and Anna reappeared, both on their umpteenth Pimms and both extremely giggly, which was fun and made me grin.

Dom, Kelly, Cat and I made a break for Graham's talk in a bid to try to unsee Gideon's shiny pants (not happening) and afterwards we went to the music thing. I eventually ended up in the bar with lots of other people, and Gideon's pants followed me! After a while I went back to the music thing - which wasn't anywhere near as much fun when organised as it was in the bar when it just sort of happened, and dragged myself to bed round about 2.30am. The Hedgehog Party was still going strong, but even Anna (who was tiddled and making everyone try a sip of this drink that tasted like After Eights!) had had enough by then.

*_Sunday_*

If you're an AFPer then it's a given that you were hung over. Dom, Lisa and I were sat in the bar after breakfast sipping tap water, when Gid swung in at about 10am. The conversation with the nice young lady on duty went like this:

Her: Good morning sir, may I help you?
Gid: *Grins broadly* Want beer!

How does he do it? How???

Had a text from Anna saying that she was feeling a bit fragile and tried desperately not to laugh. Then I went into the Dealer's Room, where I was divested of yet more annoying bits of paper which were replaced with a Greebo mug and fridge magnets of Nanny, The Librarian and Susan. Good trade!

Everybody was rather subdued today; I spent my whole time in the bar, quietly sipping white wine spritzers, sewing and watching the world go by. I also went back into the Dealer's Room to meet the lovely Gaspodia, who was running a stall and had *the* most adorable interactive Dinosaur! Frank The LJ Bear was officially handed over to Anna for further adventures too. Countertony turned up for T&J, but unfortunately I was in bed long before T&J happened!

*_Monday_*

Lady Kayla swapped me some funny looking round gold things for a pretty little choker, and another lady swapped me some other pieces of useless metal for two lovely, delicate pairs of earrings.

Came home. We're already suffering from SPWS (Shiny People Withdrawal Syndrome) and we're not enjoying the peace!