So, here we are - the end of the con. (Well, I say that - I'm writing this on the Thursday and I'm now firmly in the middle of Post Con Blues...)

Another late morning, although this time I wasn't woken up by Sarah 'phoning me. One rather bizarre (not related to the convention) moment was that at one point I'd opened my hotel room window to let in some fresh air whilst I read a book. Finished chapter, closed book, turned round to see loads of snow falling outside the window. Closed window.

There's been a lot of snow this weekend, but sadly none of it's settled. If it had, I think we all should have been outside building snow robots or something.

Anyway, breakfasted, showered, checked out of the Ibis and trekked down to the Radisson, too late for the We Could Write Heroes panel, so I had a final wander round the dealer's room. Had a chat with entorien about her novel that she'd been selling over the weekend, and more specifically her experiences of self-publishing. Which has given me Ideas.

Saw this on the staircase:



Am rather ashamed (especially in light of the panel I was heading to) to admit that it took me a little while to get the reference. *ahem* Oh well. Thank heavens I've got one of those newfangled mobile 'phones with a camera, or I wouldn't've been able to take that pic...

Then went into the main hall for Hitchhiker's: How a Radio 4 Comedy Series Took Over the World, which told me nothing I didn't already know, but was entertaining anyway because I've always been fond of H2G2, and it was fun to be reminded of a.) it and b.) how much of a fanboy Neil Gaiman is. Can we have him as fan guest of honour at a future EasterCon??! Also, one of the panellists (I think johncoxon) said that when he first saw the TV series he thought it was going to be a documentary. Oddly, that's not too dissimilar from my initial reaction when picking up my stepdad's copy of the book and thinking it seemed incredibly po-faced and likely to bore me to tears (I'd've been about nine at the time), and also coming across the dialogue:

"And the bug-eyed monster?"
"Is green, yes."

...and assuming that because it sounded so clunky it was probably either a.) a translation or b.) written by someone whose first language wasn't English. These days, of course, I just recognise it as Douglas's quirky use of the language.

Anyway, yes, a hugely entertaining panel (I've already blogged some of Neil's comments about the TV series and the fifth novel), and it's given me quite an appetite to re-listen to the first couple of radio series.

Said goodbye to blazingskies and her friends before popping over to McDonald's for lunch. Then back to the main hall for Darker than Potter: The Disturbing Side of Children's Fiction. Although the subject matter wasn't wildly of interest to me (except when it touched on Potter), Neil Gaiman was on the panel so it was entertaining. Also, Steve Vander Ark was on the panel, and he's good fun to listen to.

Then we had the closing ceremony, after which I headed down to the lobby to await huntingospray who took me home via South Mimms where she stopped for some food (and I had a KFC despite having lunched fairly recently).

I seem to have been re-bitten by the convention bug (having only been to two cons last year, I've got nine that I've pencilled in for the next year or so, including LX in Bradford; whether I make it to all of them or not is another matter entirely, but if I start saving now I might just manage it...

David.