Where’s Cheryl?

An Expedition

~ Cheryl

I have been away from my computer for much of the day. An author friend of mine has a Significant Birthday coming up and I got invited to a party, along with a number of other folk I have known for several decades.

Getting their involved trekking into the deep heart of Darkest Somerset, across treacherous Sedgemoor, through wyvern-invested swamps, and around the fabled cider lakes. The party took place at an ancient temple whose exact location is known only to a few expert native guides. I spent a pleasant afternoon sipping champagne with authors, journalists, media people, aging rock stars and the like. It being Darkest Somerset, it rained rather a lot. At one point we thought we might have to call for helicopters to get us home, but thankfully the trackways stayed open, so here I am back at my desk.

In answer to a question on Twitter, no, I did not see any actual vampires. However, I did get to converse with Britain’s foremost expert on vampires, which is close enough.

Relocating (Again)

~ Cheryl

As Twitter followers will know, I am back in Darkest Somerset for a while. I’m not sure for how long, and I do need to make excursions to Finland and Canada in the not too distant future, but for now I am here. If I learn any more I’ll let you know.

Travel Almost Done

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

Airport security rules continue to confound me. Every other country I have visited has removed common cosmetics such as lipstick and mascara from their “dangerous terrorist weapons” list. Not so Australia. And yet their screening guys do not require you to remove shoes or even coats. Go figure.

The trip back to the UK was not nearly as convenient as the one going out, sleep-wise. After a domestic transfer from Melbourne we left Sydney at 5:00pm. That’s too early for sleep. We arrived in Bangkok at 2:00am, Sydney time, by which time I had got a few hours of sleep, and then had to be woken up to get off the plane. Sleeping on take-off was so easy I actually missed the food service (which was a Thai fish curry), but somewhere over Pakistan it became morning in Sydney and I was wide awake, even though it was midnight in London. That was BAD. Thankfully I have managed to sleep a bit more on the rest of the journey.

Bangkok is a weird experience. They encourage you to get off the plane while it is cleaned, but also encourage you to leave all of your cabin baggage behind due to delays at security. I guess if any of the cleaners tried to open one of the overhead bins it would be very obvious to the cabin crew. Anyway, all of my stuff was still there when I got back.

And now I am in London. There is a Tube strike on today, but thankfully I don’t need that service. I booked a midday train from Paddington, giving myself plenty of time for the flight to be late, but now have several hours to kill. As the toilets are Paddington are not accessible to people with luggage I’m staying at Heathrow. Starbucks has its uses.

QANTAS had Watchmen showing on their (very excellent) on demand movie service. Given what I have heard about movies cut for aircraft, I was rather surprised to see that most of the sex and graphic violence had been left in. Unfortunately the screen is much to small to allow you to look for interesting things in the background. That will have to wait for the DVD.

I also re-watched the music documentary, “The Roxy Music Story”. This reminds me that that the new album, which the boys were working on back in 2006/7, is still not out. Anyone know what has happened to this? Also has anyone else noticed that Eno is now the best-looking of the lot of them? Funny how age works, isn’t it.

Heading North

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

I’ll be heading out to the airport shortly and will be on planes and trains for the next day or so. Don’t expect anything from me until Thursday evening, UK time (Thursday morning US time). I’ll tweet when I can.

The trip has been great fun. It has, of course, been a financial disaster, but I hope I’ve managed to avoid wingeing too much about that. The last few weeks have also been very bruising psychologically, often for things not connected with the trip. And of course this amount of traveling is very tiring. However, I have got to meet, or re-connect with, a whole bunch of wonderful people, attended two good cons, and see a lot of two very beautiful countries. I have eaten too much good food, and got a fabulous new coat at a bargain price. I also, very unexpectedly, got to laugh at Australians about cricket. I can’t ask for more than that.

Hopefully the information I have been gathering about travel down here has proved useful, and will encourage more people to make the trip next year. There is a lot more to come, and it will appear slowly over the next week or so as I get time to write/edit/post it all. If you do find it useful, please link to it. There are lots of fans who don’t read my blog and who have no idea I’m doing this.

I’d like to give special thanks to Carolyn & Tasha, and Daniel & Kelly, for being so kind to me in NZ; to Terry, Sally & Alan and Medge & Bean for making me welcome in Melbourne & Adelaide respectively; to Donna, Russell and Julie & Roger for being great company at both conventions; and to both convention committees. Also a huge thanks to Hilton who gave me free upgrades for all four stays I had with them.

And now, it is time to finish packing and check out. After that: Sydney, Singapore, London.

Melbourne Again

~ Cheryl

This is the final stop on my southern hemisphere tour. The Melbourne Airport Hilton doesn’t have a executive club (I suspect it assumes that most of its guests are QANTAS Club members), but they have upgraded me to a beautiful suite with a magnificent view south towards the city. When I arrived it was pouring with rain in Melbourne, but the squall appears to have moved off east towards the Dandenongs now.

I’ll deal with outstanding email now, and then head out into the airport again to get lunch and do some more checking of the facilities.

Adelaide

~ Cheryl

As reported on Twitter, my flight to Adelaide was a little delayed, but nothing serious. I am now safely settled in to the Adelaide Hilton where I have once again been granted an upgrade to the Executive Club. More free breakfasts. Yay!

The convention hotel is the Holiday Inn. It is a few blocks walk away, but there is a tram service that is free within the city center that goes most of the way. That’s just as well as it has been raining fairly heavily here today and that is apparently set to continue throughout the weekend.

I have caught up with a number of Australian fans (including Janice Gelb who is now officially an Australian resident). Julie has made it here from New Zealand, as has Russell who has clearly got the taste for conventions. For this evening, however, I have returned to the Hilton where I plan to take things easy and try to get my body onto Adelaide time.

Trudy arrived after I did. She’s apparently in the middle of deadline hell at the moment and doesn’t have time to tour chocolate factories. I’ll therefore have to find someone else to steal samples from. In the meantime, however, I have discovered the Central Market. Just outside my hotel is a vast underground market. There are over 250 shops, most of which sell food. There are several butchers (several specializing in sausages), several fishmongers (one with a fine selection of fish heads), and more cheese shops that I could count. I found at least one chocolate shop, and also managed to invest in some new Tim Tam varieties. More on that after I have done some tasting.

Back Online

~ Cheryl

Hooray! I have a proper Internet connection at last. Thank you, Sydney Hilton. I had a great time in New Zealand, but next time I go I am going to make sure that I tell everyone I will be off email the whole time I am there.

Auckland to Wellington

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

Much of yesterday was spent buzzing around the hills around Auckland looking at absolutely amazing views. For the benefit of Australians, it was very like the Dandenongs, only much closer to the city (and without the wildlife); for the benefit of Californians it was very like the road from Willetts to Fort Bragg, except with vegetation out of The Lost World. And then there were the sea views. Fans of Xena and Hercules may remember this beach, which got filmed lots because Lion Rock is so photogenic.

After that it was back on a plane. Huge thanks to Auckland airport for being the only place I have found in NZ so far with a decent Internet connection. Sadly I wasn’t there long enough to clear my backlog and still have some 200+ messages to download.

I’m now in Wellington, in a small Mercure which is very nice except for the cost of Internet access. The city is build on the side of a cliff – in fact it may be inside a giant caldera. As a consequence the harbor is fabulous but there airport runway is very short and once you get a few streets away from the sea things get a bit steep. My hotel is on a street called The Terrace: the front door and reception is on the 5th floor, and my room is on the 3rd. This is normal for Wellington.

Last night Daniel and Kelly took me to nearby Cuba Street where the hotel where next year’s NZ Natcon is being held can be found. This is down on the flat, you will be pleased to hear. It is also crammed with interesting restaurants, bars and shops. We had a great meal last night, and there are lots of other interesting places I’d love to try. It really is a fabulous location for a convention, and I’ll get some photos and video today.

You will note the occasional sex shop and brothel in the area, and over the weekend one concerned NZ fan cornered me and told me that foreign visitors might find the area a bit scary. However, you should also note that prostitution is legal in NZ, which makes the whole process much safer, and also NZ is apparently the safest country in the world in which to live. As long as you don’t do anything silly like wear an Australian rugby shirt or insult a large and muscular drunk (of whom there may be quite a few) you’ll be fine.

Auckland – Day 4

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

I spent yesterday looking around Auckland harbor with a friend. It was a bit cold due to the wind, but clear and bright and absolutely beautiful. Hopefully I have lots of good photos, but it was kind of difficult to keep the camera steady in the wind.

Finding a decent Internet connection continues to prove difficult. We tried a few free wi-fi places yesterday, but they all proved to have really poor connections that would not allow me to download the ton of email I have piled up on the server. My apologies if I am not answering something important.

This afternoon I am off to Wellington where I will hopefully get to see Kelly & Daniel. However, leaving Auckland is going to be a wrench because my friends here have three young kittens who are absolutely adorable. They are tiny bundles of fluff, but also very energetic and determined to master the arts of killing sofas, swinging from curtains and climbing trees (or in the absence of trees, people’s legs). I have some video, but that will need editing and uploading so in the meantime you’ll have to make do with this picture taken from my iPhone. That’s Polly telling me that under no circumstances am I allowed to move from the sofa without her permission.

Oh, and the cats are all very keen to learn typing. I’m sure they will be on Twitter soon. They grow up so fast.

Auckland – Day 3

~ Cheryl

Progress with the jet lag – I almost slept through the night, just one brief period awake, and then the alarm went off at 7:00am because I need to be up and packed. My friends in Auckland have escaped their work-imposed quarantine and are able to pick me up, thereby allowing me to see some of the local area and saving me a night of hotel bills (yay!).

Yesterday seemed to go well. I don’t suppose we had a lot of people watching the live Sir Julius Vogel Awards webcast, but some people clearly did watch it. Many thanks to Lynne Jamneck for keeping me company through the ceremony. Congratulations to all of the winners, especially my new pal Russell whose books I clearly need to read.

I also bagged three more interviews – the promised ones with Nalini Singh and Norman Cates, plus a bonus interview with Helen Lowe who picked up two SJVs last night. Helen has a YA book out from Knopf and a 4-volume fantasy series due from Eos starting next year. It is great to see all of these NZ-based writers having success. All of them have mentioned the Internet as having helped them work easily with US publishers despite the physical distance.

I’m going to try to find some free wi-fi today so that I can download my email, but I am not sure how much I’ll be able to be online between now and getting to my hotel in Wellington tomorrow night. If you need to talk to me urgently, use Twitter because I can check that from the iPhone without incurring too much in the way of roaming charges.

Greetings from Melbourne

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

Well, here I am on the other side of the world.

The flight from London to Melbourne is interestingly managed. You leave Heathrow late in the evening and spend much of the trip to Singapore asleep. (Or at least you do if you have my amazing “fall asleep in moving vehicles” superpower.) There is then a very short “day” that comprises breakfast on the plane, a short walk around Changi and supper on the plane. After that there is a short “night”, and you get dumped out in Melbourne at around 5:00am. I’m surprisingly awake.

For the benefit of those of you planning a trip next year, there is an ANZ bank ATM right opposite the customs exit at Melbourne airport. I put my US card in it and got AU$, no problem at all, though obviously there will be a fee.

One thing I hope people won’t have to cope with next year is flu panics. Australia is still deep in medical paranoia and there is an extra form you have to fill out. Like most such forms, it is stupid. You are supposed to tick “yes” if you have had any cold-like symptoms recently, including a headache or sniffles or a cough. I talked to the cabin crew in case this was like the stupid question on the immigration form about “animal products” (why yes, I am wearing a leather jacket and a woolen sweater, but those don’t count). Their advice was to confess to “symptoms” even though they were due to pollen allergies and recycled air, and I took their advice because I figured I had no chance of making it through immigration without coughing or sneezing.

So I spent 10 minutes or so talking to the nice doctor and nurse on duty. They were fine, and very sympathetic. I suspect I probably made their morning because I actually gave them something to do, which made it seem less bad having to be up and about for a 5:00am arrival.

A cab from the airport to the convention center is AU$51. You have been warned. There are no trains or trams.

The new Hilton is gorgeous. I admit to being biased as they gave me a room and a free upgrade to the executive floor despite the fact that I was arriving at 6:00am, but it is a very nice hotel. I’m not entirely happy with the AU$30/day for Internet access, but as I got a free breakfast I’m not going to complain.

My job for today is to explore the convention facilities. Hopefully that won’t take too long as I also want to visit my bank and go shopping. After that I’ll be having dinner with Terry.

If you have any questions about Melbourne as a Worldcon venue, please ask in the comments. I’ll do my best to answer them.

Travel Preparation

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

Today I have been busy getting ready to head out to Heathrow. I have a 10:00pm flight to Melbourne. This trip is turning into a bit of a nightmare – no one’s fault, just the way the world is right now. I’ll be glad to be on my way.

Of course the trip to Melboune is very long, so I can’t sleep all the way, much as I feel I need it. I have books, I have the Hugo-nominated fiction on my Asus, and I have METAtropolis on my iPhone. Hopefully I shall be well read by the time I get to Australia.

It looks like I’ll be at Joe’s Garage in Brunswick Street from about 7:00pm on Thursday (28th). Many thanks to Terry for organizing things. Contact him if you want to come along – I’ll be in the air and offline.

I’ve also booked my flight to Montreal. I’m flying Air Canada from London, but I decided not to wait for the discount coupon from Anticipation and I was afraid the flights I wanted would sell out quickly once those were available. I think I was right to do so, as there were not a lot of seats available when I booked. Obviously people who can jump in and book as soon as they get the coupon will be better placed to take advantage, but I have no idea what my email access will be over the next 2 weeks.

Anyway, time for lunch, and then off to Paddington.

Melbourne Meet-Up

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

In less than a week’s time I shall be in Melbourne! May 28th to be precise. Anyone up for dinner? Suggestions for a restaurant to meet at? I am staying in the Hilton over by the new convention center so that I can check out the facilities for 2010, but I know how to catch a tram.

The Origins of Comics

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

I’m currently back in London, but this morning I visited the “museum of images” in Epinal. I’m finally starting to understand what all the fuss is about, and why the town loves us so much. In the 19th and 20th Centuries Epinal was home to Pellerin & Co, one of the originators of story telling using sequential art (what the French call Bande Dessinée and we call comics). Working through the Humoristic Publishing Company of Kansas, Pellerin was apparently responsible for the first comic ever to be published in the USA. There’s not much on the web about them in English, but you may find this interesting. I’ll have more to say about this in my con report, but right now I need sleep.

Epinal!

~ Cheryl ~ 5 Comments

Well, I am here. Epinal looks to be a lovely town, and they are really taking the convention seriously. When I walked out of the station I was greeted by a large poster advertising Imaginales. There are posters in the streets, and in my hotel. It is wonderful.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Thanks to being able to stay with the Clutes (thank you, John & Judith), it was no problem getting to St. Pancras for a 7:30 departure. The Eurostar was very comfortable, and I slept most of the way through the tunnel. France is very overcast today, and it was pouring with rain when I had to walk from Gare du Nord to Gare de l’Est. Fortunately it isn’t far. The TGV was also very comfortable, and the on-board food was very tasty. It is wonderful to be in a country that likes cheese to taste of cheese.

I’m rooming with my new friend, Gillian, who is co-editor of Galaxies magazine, one of France’s leading SF publications. She has promised to introduce me to all of the French writers. She’s also done most of the talking for me. Apart from ordering my lunch on the train I haven’t had to speak French at all. I’m sure this will change, and then I will embarrass myself.

Also here is Jean-Louis Trudel from Canada who is doing a panel on Worldcon this evening. I’ll go along to that to answer questions.

The only small snag I had had thus far is that the wi-fi signal is too weak in my hotel room so I have to come down to the lobby get online. Fortunately I also have the iPhone and Twitter. That’s the best way to keep up with me while I’m here. I don’t expect to be able to answer email more than once or twice a day.

Home from Home

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

So, here I am somewhere else in the world. Still in the UK, but elsewhere. A rather interesting elsewhere. Because for the next few weeks I shall be living in Heather Shaw.

Tim, calm down please. I did not say I would be living inside your wife. I shall be living in a street named after her, that’s all. I’m willing to bet that she didn’t know there’s a street named after her in Wiltshire, but there is. I shall photograph the street sign tomorrow to prove it.

There’s not much to add to that, save to say how happy I am to be once again in a house that is festooned with bookcases. And there’s a cat too. Very civilized.

Update: The photographic proof is now on Twitpic.

Hermit Crabs R Us

~ Cheryl

I’m moving home today. Temporarily, again, of course. One of the times when not having a home of your own really hits home is when you are trying to pack everything you’ll need for the next couple of months into two suitcases and a rucksack. Of course it doesn’t help that I’ll be doing a lot of traveling in that period, and I need clothes for places than will be both much warmer and much colder than the UK. But that’s my own fault.

Anyway, I shall be out of Darkest Somerset for a while, and hopefully I’ll be able to do something about trying to sort my life out. I’m closing down the office now, and will be offline except for Twitter until this evening.

Who Needs Sleep?

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Last weekend I was in Montreal for a Worldcon committee meeting, on Tuesday I was back in the UK for the London Book Fair, and tomorrow I have to be in LA for the Nebulas – well, virtually anyway.

Details of our Nebulas coverage have been posted on SF Awards Watch, which is where the actual live coverage will take place. Basically we are just packaging the official SFWA tweets in an easily accessible format. But someone has to be online to host the show and approve comments, and as Kevin is traveling that means me. Yawn.