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<\/a><\/p>\nToday was also a day of thinking about Three Men in a Boat, as they start out on the river in Kingston, and pass through the maze at Hampton Court Palace with hilarious results. I didn’t do the maze, mostly because I wanted to get back in time to shower before the “So grim. Much serious. Wow.” panel, because not showering wouldn’t be fair to anybody. \u00a0Also I figured I’d suffer the fate of Harris and get lost in there, a gaggle of tourists waddling behind me. Also it hadn’t opened for the day when I got there.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Actually 2 women and a man in a boat, to say nothing of the dog, specifically because there wasn’t one<\/p><\/div>\n
The walk today was easy and pleasant. I spent much of my time thinking about the book, giggling whenever I saw three men rowing upstream in a skiff, and enjoying the atmosphere of the area. Many anglers lined the path, some with many poles in, some with enough infrastructure to support a fishing industry. They focussed on their lines with the intensity of Billy Crudup in Stage Beauty. As such, not one of them said hello. Between Hampton and Teddington almost everyone else did. Very nice.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold, and my legs felt like the very latest model, so I made good time. This time I moved to the south bank as soon as I could (in Kingston). \u00a0Took some pictures of people in skiffs, because, you know. The Teddington lock seemed to go on and on. I feel like it must be the place where all those Victorian era photos of hundreds of skiffs and rowboats and the like all jammed into one lock were all taken.<\/p>\n
Along the way I passed a wild bird refuge and saw many instances of this little guy:<\/p>\n
It’s impossible to see in this picture, but it has a black head and tail, with white in the middle and blue markings on the wings. Hmm, I should be able to look that up. It’d be funny if it’s a nuthatch, since I’ll be using Olsen’s Standard Book of British Birds (expurgated).<\/p>\n Huh! It’s a magpie! I thought I knew what magpies were but I guess not. Now I have the magpie theme song in my head, as interpreted by Death by Chocolate<\/a>. There could be worse things, I suppose.<\/p>\n I started hearing gunshots, but I had read in my handy guidebook that a rifle range could be found on the Ham Lands, which I had passed into, \u00a0so I kept calm and carried on. Before \u00a0I could imagine it possible, the Richmond bridge appeared around a bend in the river. My quest had come to an end.\u00a0I did a restrained jump for joy, and looked for the pub.<\/p>\n I had a Sunday roast and a Young\u2019s Special at the White Cross in Richmond. A massive meal, but I polished it off enough to make Mr. Lieff proud. I had considered sitting in the garden by the river, but I had gotten fed up with the wind so I sat indoors. Good thing. By the time my food came, a tempest crashed against the countryside, the wind setting the drops on a horizontal track, leaving no sanctuary, not even under the generous-sized umbrellas. It was a wonder they stayed up, I thought.<\/p>\n I had a talk I wanted to go to, so I zipped up my raincoat and put on my hat and stepped out into the storm. The rain immediately stopped, and the sun came out, baking me in my wet-weather gear.\u00a0No matter, I thought. Bake away, the rain will come again if I take it all off, so I won\u2019t tempt fate! It didn\u2019t rain. But! When I approached the railway station (NB: I originally wrote train station there, but I\u2019m in Ennnnngland, dammit! Railway it is!) a woman offered me a sampler of Foster\u2019s Radler. Now you might not know me personally; you might, for instance, have come here to hear what I had to say about LonCon 3 (don\u2019t worry, I\u2019m getting there). The number one hit on my blog is a review I did of this Slovenian radler called Union Red Orange Radler. Go take a peek, I\u2019ll wait. Back? I have a soft spot for these drinks. The Red Orange, not so much. The Foster\u2019s? But I\u2019m getting ahead of myself. So I have this can of radler, in the middle of this square. Can I drink it? Hm, maybe I\u2019ll stick it in my raincoat pocket, as I\u2019m feeling kind of awkward walking around with it now. I reach the other end of the square, and another can is proffered to me. Automatically, I take it (long walk, big meal, and beer will do that to a fella) and stick it in my other pocket, and carry on. I ended up drinking them at the hotel before going to the con, as this is a budget hotel, and they have no concept of ice.<\/p>\n I had my first panel at 3! I rushed and rushed and rushed and thought to myself, gosh, wouldn\u2019t it be nice to try out that gondola? This tube will be stopping in North Greenwich, it\u2019s the only time where I wouldn\u2019t be just taking it and going back immediately. I can use it as a transit alternative! I convinced myself and got off at said station. Only then I realized my mistake. Twas quite a hike to the gondolas, and they aren\u2019t the turbo ones like at Mont Tremblant. No. This little detour added an extra 20 minutes to my return trip. Oh noes! Might I get to the panel and find all the seats taken, and then miss it? A calculus occurred then. Fortunately for all my fellow con-goers, I took the shower that I considered skipping to make up time. A cold one; I didn\u2019t want to be George Costanza, and dressed and out and rush rush rush, Oh, there\u2019s Connie Willis. She was part of the panel I was on my way to see, and she was on her way into the hotel. Now, I can\u2019t remember if I related the whole \u201cOMG, Connie said good morning to me! I have goosebumps all over!\u201d episode of a few days ago, but I guess that fuelled some level of boldness.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I guess I shouldn\u2019t be rushing off to your panel so quickly,\u201d said I (though I have to admit while that sounded haha and dashing in my head, I twisted my tongue around while I said it, because, you know, I\u2019m kind of teasing Connie Willis (!!!) ).<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry!\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019ll be there!\u201d<\/p>\n I smiled, relieved that she actually understood me, and I waved and carried on. I managed to get to the queue for the room at 2:30. More than 30 people already stood around, waiting to be let in. I had arrived, it seemed, at exactly the right moment, for not five minutes later, the line stretched behind me to the end of the hallway. I exchanged pleasantries with my line mates, made terrible queue-based puns that don\u2019t need to be repeated (so DON\u2019T ask!) and eventually got in and sat and waited for teh awesomes.<\/p>\n The panel, \u201cSo grim. Much serious. Wow\u201d, featured Connie, Mur Lafferty, Tanya Huff, Darren Nash, Simon R. Green, and Ellen Klages. Everyone was late. I had expected that what with Connie not only at the far end of the convention hall (it\u2019s a big hall) but actively going into her hotel. No one was really late, except Ellen, who, of course, was the moderator. The panel, if you can\u2019t guess it from the cast of characters named, focussed on comedy in genre fiction. It was quite good, with anecdotes, good advice, funny jokes, a not so funny joke by Simon that he got called out for, and mostly a good author-based discussion of the pitfalls of being known as funny (I say it like this because Nash, the digital publisher for Gollancz, faded into the background once everyone got started). Well worth standing around for 20 minutes.<\/p>\n Bundoran Press hosted an event in the fan village. Being a proud Canuck, I went to support them and give a \u201cGo Canadian Small Press!\u201d cheer and all that. It was great fun, and I had many intelligent\/silly conversations, so much so that when I went to my next panel, the room had filled up already. I had a sad, but then continued on with intelligent\/silly conversations until my blood sugar level said, \u201cHey, eat something you hockey puck!\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Untitled\"](\"https:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5578\/14964273911_86f5dd5cda.jpg\")
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