Europe 2017: Day #10 Our 2019 Holidays Decided

Saturday, 12 August 2017

Yet another day in a sequence of warm and sunny days - at least during the period up till the early evening.

After yesterday's sitting around I decided it best to actually walk around a bit.  I also had my one and only program item in which I was a participant - the Worldcon chairs' photo.  This is an annual event where past and sitting Worldcon chairs have a joint photo and video session.  It's mainly an historical thing, keeping an eye on who's died it during the previous year I suspect.

But first was the announcement of the winner of the Site Selection race for the 2019 Worldcon.  This, as they were unopposed, was officially announced as Dublin, to great applause.  Jim Bacon, the chair of the bid and of the convention, is a much loved character in sf fandom and everyone is looking forward to the event he is going to put on. So that meant our 2019 holidays were confirmed, well, at least the centre-piece. Now we just have to work France, Iceland and Scotland around it.  I'm sure Robyn will tackle that with great enthusiasm and inventiveness.

After the Dublin announcement I went for a wander as I thought I would, and ran into someone I knew, as I also thought I would. In this case a look-alike.

Mike Walsh

Mike was chairman of the 1983 Worldcon and we've met over the years and laughed about the fact that he looks like an older and taller brother.  And also as expected, others walked past and stopped off for a chat, only for me to discover, as I would throughout the day, that people I had known in fandom for 35 years did not know others that I have know for the same length of time.  "I know the name but don't think we've ever met," seemed to be the major refrain of the day.

But I couldn't sit with Mike forever, so I moved on the fan lounge and met the Harveys where we decided on dinner.  Then through the dealers' room where I picked up some things for the kids, and past the signing area where the queue for George RR Martin's signing session was already some 75 people long almost two hours before the session was due to commence.

George's signing queue - starts top right, and continues clockwise

Any thought of getting anything signed there went straight out the window.

A further wander round and it became clear that food and a beer were in order.  I dropped past the cafe where we had been sitting for the past few days and found Rich Coad in attendance.  Before long old friends were chatting around me and I was reminded that this was the real reason why I come to these conventions - not to go to the program but to catch up with people I hadn't seen in 7, 10 or even 15 years.

Andrew O'Rorke, Nick Price and Mark Linneman (Pat Cadigan at the next table)

We met the Harveys in the foyer and none of us could initially decide on where we wanted to go.  Only think for it was to retire to our room with a glass of ice from the hotel restaurant and drink some Aussie wine for a bit.  As we sat down the rain that had been forecast for this time started.  But I'm not sure that the weather forecasters indicated that the rain would be immediately preceded by a wind squall that blew over rubbish bins and tore branches off trees.  We decided that wine does have some saving graces.

Dinner was decided to be in The Woolshed, an Australian themed bar, down by the railway station. On the way we had to take a detour to avoid a street where some glass windows/cladding had come off a building.  We might have been clobbered by it if we hadn't stopped for a small drink.