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howeirdThe only reason I extended my London time until the 19th is because after the official close of the con there was going to be a filk musical with a bunch of people I know or would like to know. The plan was to use my ticket to the London Eye and return to the con by 4 to get in line for the musical. There was a little bend in the plan when BASFA announced a meeting at 4.
The Eye was worth doing once. The setup there is insane. Take the voucher to an ancient building and line up in a very narrow space to have it exchanged for a ticket. Go back outside and stand in the weather for 45 minutes in a line which moves at an decent pace, but is messily divided into two double lines at the end, because for a few bob more, people have bought a fast pass, which get them to into a much shorter queue which merges (WTF?) with the peons.
The Eye itself is a very roomy, solid enclosed room which is lifted into the air ferris wheel style. It rotates fairly slowly, for acrophobic me there was no vertigo at all, the engineering is solid. I think there were 10 per module.
The long line had one up side: lots of people watching and listening. So many languages I did not recognize. In my car there was only one English speaking family. We had Russians, Italians, two flavors of Arabic, and two languages I didn't recognize. And the eye candy! By the dozens.
Because of the cloudy day and the thickness of the window material it wasn't the best photo op, but you get a really good feel for the size of London and the lack of zoning regulations. Okay, one could also call it the charm of ancient buildings being converted to MacDonaldses and pizzerias, with ultra-modern glass structures next door.
Back to the hotel to change, then to the con. Spent 10 minutes at the BASFA meeting and went pstairs to stand in line. The traffic volunteer counted bodies, I was 116, she said I'd get in because there were 130 seats. Then they delayed the show 15 minutes to set up a feed to an overflow room. When I got into the room, half an hour later, the guy ahead of me got the last seat. Traffic lady forgot that the tech took up a row and supidly allowed some camera tripods to set up on chairs. I wasn't interested in seeing s feed, you miss too much and Loncon tech has failed to impress me.
So that part of the day was a total fail.
Got onto a train and went to the Westfield mall which has an impressive two-floor food court, and had dinner at the ribs place. Also shopped some more for a windbreaker, but the XXL sizes run small, and nobody stocks 3X. Also annoying was that each place I went, a gaggle of women were shopping for men's jackets for themselves. I guess there are no plus sized women's outlets here.
Back to the hotel, rounded up what stuff I could, and am all packed except for the insulin bits and the laptop I'm on, and USB stuff. That all goes in the dinopack. Some bathroom stuff goes in the carry-on though. I can expand it, since I'm taking the train, first class.
Time for bed. Looks like I need to check out of here around 8 am to get to the station the 45 minutes early they want.
Plans for tomorrow:
Shower
Take drugs
Last minute packing
Train to St. Pancras International
Eurostar through the Chunnel to Brussels
The Eye was worth doing once. The setup there is insane. Take the voucher to an ancient building and line up in a very narrow space to have it exchanged for a ticket. Go back outside and stand in the weather for 45 minutes in a line which moves at an decent pace, but is messily divided into two double lines at the end, because for a few bob more, people have bought a fast pass, which get them to into a much shorter queue which merges (WTF?) with the peons.
The Eye itself is a very roomy, solid enclosed room which is lifted into the air ferris wheel style. It rotates fairly slowly, for acrophobic me there was no vertigo at all, the engineering is solid. I think there were 10 per module.
The long line had one up side: lots of people watching and listening. So many languages I did not recognize. In my car there was only one English speaking family. We had Russians, Italians, two flavors of Arabic, and two languages I didn't recognize. And the eye candy! By the dozens.
Because of the cloudy day and the thickness of the window material it wasn't the best photo op, but you get a really good feel for the size of London and the lack of zoning regulations. Okay, one could also call it the charm of ancient buildings being converted to MacDonaldses and pizzerias, with ultra-modern glass structures next door.
Back to the hotel to change, then to the con. Spent 10 minutes at the BASFA meeting and went pstairs to stand in line. The traffic volunteer counted bodies, I was 116, she said I'd get in because there were 130 seats. Then they delayed the show 15 minutes to set up a feed to an overflow room. When I got into the room, half an hour later, the guy ahead of me got the last seat. Traffic lady forgot that the tech took up a row and supidly allowed some camera tripods to set up on chairs. I wasn't interested in seeing s feed, you miss too much and Loncon tech has failed to impress me.
So that part of the day was a total fail.
Got onto a train and went to the Westfield mall which has an impressive two-floor food court, and had dinner at the ribs place. Also shopped some more for a windbreaker, but the XXL sizes run small, and nobody stocks 3X. Also annoying was that each place I went, a gaggle of women were shopping for men's jackets for themselves. I guess there are no plus sized women's outlets here.
Back to the hotel, rounded up what stuff I could, and am all packed except for the insulin bits and the laptop I'm on, and USB stuff. That all goes in the dinopack. Some bathroom stuff goes in the carry-on though. I can expand it, since I'm taking the train, first class.
Time for bed. Looks like I need to check out of here around 8 am to get to the station the 45 minutes early they want.
Plans for tomorrow:
Shower
Take drugs
Last minute packing
Train to St. Pancras International
Eurostar through the Chunnel to Brussels
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