Interaction 2005:
Press Office at Work
Here I am with the Press area head, Irish fan Dave Stewart. Dave is a professional journalist, and had great contacts.
Wednesday, Jim and I figured out it was cheaper to eat breakfast back towards the train station, then take the train to the SECC, than eating in the Mariott, which was quite expensive. We ate breakfast two or three times at Weatherspoons, which was something like a British version of TGIFridays (except that they did serve breakfast). I got the Press Office opened. We had a great location in the main hallway, just past Ops, but we had a smallest Press Office I'd ever worked in. Luckily, we did have a quiet interview room tucked in the back. Some members of the press dropped in on Wednesday, and Vince Dougherty (Worldcon co-chair) had a series of interviews on Wednesday and Thursday. I got to meet Simon Wills of the BBC (Newsnight Scotland) while Dave was on a phone call, so I wound up showing him around and giving him a brief history of Worldcons.
Margaret Austin and Martin Easterbrook organized a dinner at Bouzy Rouge for Wednesday. We took a cab over with Stephen Boucher and Janice Gelb (congratulations, folks, but does Janice really need to move another 6,000 miles further away????), and ate with Joyce Scrivner and her friend from Australia. The Westons and the Oldroyds were at the other end of the table, so we didn't get to talk to them too much. But, it was a fun dinner with good food.
We were back in the Moat House again on Wednesday night, but this time for the convention-sponsored party. I know many people love "real ale," but I'm not one of them. I don't remember if I found some cider that night or not.
Photo by Keith Stokes