All the six programme items I was on: enjoyed doing them, felt they went well, had good feedback.
Looking forward to following up some new ideas, particularly those coming out of the Naomi Mitchison panel and the Short History of British Fandom talk.
New people and old friends: met lots of new people and old friends and enjoyed talking to them. Hope to see some new people in my flist over the next few weeks.
Dealers Room chat and Art Show viewing: Especially SMS, Jim Burns and a new-to-me artist [edit to add name] Dominika Klimczak whose work I saw for the first time - four panels, each a different base colour of a woman's face. (A friend bought one so I'll find out who she is by-and-by.)
Watching con being tweeted: Fun, and an extra dimension.
Watching friends winning awards and being feted in various ways.
Programme items I got to see that I wasn't on: Not the Clarke Award, Worldships, Whatever Happened to the Eighties, Bringing Up Fannish Children, No Country for Old Men.
Daughter mostly being very, very good, and her friends among the children also.
Being able to thank the Con Committee, Staff and Participants for an excellent and enjoyable convention.
Being able to get to and from the Radisson in an hour.
Not so good:
Hotel breakfasts: poor quality ingredients (sausages, bacon), and/or poor presentation (dry scrambled eggs, stale pastries); though table service of coffee/tea was good.
Hotel bar management: staff were helpful and willing, and the real ale was fine, but the ordinary bars were badly stocked and staff undertrained.
The BSFA Awards making lots of people unhappy.
Not seeing or not having time for conversations with other friends.
Not having time to get to the many excellent programme items I would have liked to see (Andrew Wilson's Last Man in Space Chat Show, Death of the Internet, How Not to Suppress Women's Writing, and A History of Feminist SF, Oliver, the Ceilidh and no doubt more)
Not having the energy to stay up even later.
Seeing good friends suffering poor health or economic difficulty.
My family is having a good year this year, and I went to Olympus in a good state of physical and mental health, so I would probably have enjoyed the weekend even at a less good convention. Olympus was an excellent convention, and it is no reflection on the last few Eastercons, to which I went in generally poorer state, to say that I had my best Eastercon for some years.
Hope to write more later, but the next three weeks are so busy it may never happen. I hope you all had a good con.
Comments
Last time around I recall there being a fairly good carvery and plenty of salad for both meals, can't remember if the meal times were any better.
I think the meal timings were better this year. In previous years I seem to recall having to sprint to catch them before they closed and/or forego a panel I wanted to see.
Dr Bob
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