Eastercon Diary Easter Monday 17th And 18th April 2017

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Eastercon Diary Easter Monday 17th April 2017 The final day of the Innominate Eastercon Convention, and the busiest for me. Having already performed in two poetry events, I now had my solo pub signs in science fiction presentation to present as one of the opening events of the day. I was well organized for it, and I felt quite awake given that I’d been drinking until well into the early hours in the bar after the Sunday events concluded. I had my laptop and a flash drive bearing my photos with me. I arrived in plenty of time, and got a member of the marvellous volunteer tech crew to help me set up. It was fortunate that I did as my computer decided to reboot itself and install umpteen updates right as I started talking. Though a Powerpoint slide how I ended up starting the talk without the pictures and fully expected to see the audience leave en-masse but tech soon saved the day and the talk went smoothly from then on. In the hours after my talk my exhaustion caught up with me and I slept through most of the afternoon, even missing the closing ceremony that I had hoped to attend. Various friends were heading home, though I was staying until the Tuesday morning. I got some food and made the best of the closing hours of the soon to shut down real ale bar. Later, the informal Dead Dog party began with lots of drinks, and sweets and chocolates generously shared around. I stayed quite late and headed for my bus back to my hostel for my final night’ sleep in Birmingham. Diary Tuesday 18th April 2017. My train home wasn’t due out until late afternoon, so I stayed at the hostel until quite close to the 11 am latest check out time allowed. Then I headed to a quiet pub by the railway station until close to my departure time, and came back on a very crowded train. In Gratitude As ever after an Eastercon there are many people to thank. In no particular order, my friends from the FONT science fiction group in Manchester, Alan and Anne, my namesake ½’ur, Malcolm, the whole Innominate Eastercon organizing committee, the tech crew, ops, and all gophers and volunteers without who these conventions are impossible, the guests of honour, writers, publishers and artists, Dawn Abigail, Shoreline Of Infinity, all the wonderful poets and entertainers who I performed alongside, the staff of the Birmingham Metropole hotel, and also the staff of the Birmingham Backpacker Hostel, everyone who attended my own three presentations, everyone kind enough to share ale, wine, spirits, sweets, kind words and chocolate, and everyone I met in Birmingham, Digbeth, the NEC and no doubt many forgotten heroes too. Next Eastercon is Follycon in Harrogate, Yorkshire in 2018. I can hardly wait. Arthur Chappell