The C8 report (part the first)
Jun. 9th, 2002 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrphTime to dredge my so-called brain and try to put my memories in order…
Tuesday night was The Calling, and (having suddenly realised that a suitcase isn't the perfect fashion accessory for a goth night) I persuaded the ever-helpful![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dmh to give me a lift from P'boro to Cambridge and let me store the luggage in his car (AKA 'Blixa') while we were in the club.
The Calling was quite fun, but I really didn't have my dancing head on - so I spent most of it talking togothslut, zotz, eviltwinemma and grahamb. Someone mistook me for razornet, someone else mistook me for zotz. Do I look like a Graham, or something?
imago at Heathrow airport.
Foolishly decided to check e-mail / LJ on one of the airport phones, but was fortunately dragged away just in time to get the flight. It was nice to fly on a big plane for once (as opposed to the Buzz ones I usually end up on for flights to Germany), and it was all quite comfortable - and they were showing The Fellowship of The Ring as the in-flight movie, so I'm no longer the only person in England who hasn't seen it. :-)
The Canadian customs forms were a surprise. I wondered whether or not to declare the Meltdowns, and eventually decided in favour - as it turned out, they just shrugged and let me through, so no hassle there. So, welcome to Canada. The first thing we encountered was a very francophone taxi driver, at which point my brain fell out and I decided to letimago do the talking (as it's been sixteen years since I really used my French, and it's really very rusty).
So, with this resolved, we got to the Delta Montreal, somewhat knackered, and headed to our rooms. I think my initial reaction to seeing my room, up on the 20th floor, was "wow" (swiftly followed by "and I'm not touching the minibar":). I was late booking, so I didn't get one of the designated C8 rooms - but I did get a huge room with a king bed, so I felt it was worth the extra few dollars.
Then I sawimago's 'normal' C8 room, and it was exactly the same. I felt a little less happy after that - the difference seems to be a bench on the balcony, a phone in the bathroom, and a sliding scale of temptation for minibar goods (iirc most C8 attendees had to ask for a minibar key. I got given a key on arrival, and also had the snackfood left out on display, to weaken my willpower. I'm told that sexbat's presidential suite went the whole way, with all of the drinks out on display…). But I was still on the 20th floor, which was fun - it meant that I didn't have neighbours holding room parties, I didn't get uninvited guests and I had one hell of a view of downtown Montreal once night fell and all the lights came on …
Then, in a rare sensible moment, I decided to get some sleep.
Went for a mid-morning wander 'round the block withimago, mostly just to get our bearings. Noticed an alarming lack of black. Where were all the goths?
This was the point when I grabbed a lobby seat and decided, in a fit of laziness, to spend the day there and see who turned up. Lots of people turned up, unsurprisingly. One of the very first ones there was Edvamp, which was fortunate - as he was one of the tiny number of American goths I knew by sight. Sat around and chatted some more, met Corinne, Derek and other fun folks. Witnessed the arrival of a less than happysaiira and sexbat, without their luggage (last seen in Pittsburgh. Ooops).
Somewhen in the early evening, people (Edvamp,kest, Corinne, rat_bastard, James, Jack and possibly a few I've forgotten) decided to go out and actually Do Something. This was just after we'd been told that the official pre-C8 Thursday venue was packed, and advised to go to Les Foufons Electriques instead.
Which we did. It took us a little while to realise that there was an upstairs and, in the interval, we sat about in the downstairs metal night, drinking (I was slightly amazed to discover that they serve Newcastle Brown Ale…:-), chatting and being ever-so-slightly worried by the strange people playing pool. Upstairs was, it seems, Ladies Night. So we came back to the hotel again, thinking room party thoughts and grabbing alcohol on the way. Good plan.
Well, ok, good plan except that (an hour or two later) all but two (…) of the people at the room party ended up back down in the lobby, and my bottle of 'Fin Du Monde' didn't end up leaving the room (thanks are due torat_bastard for a valiant attempt - the hotel staff don't like open bottles outside rooms, it seems).
This was the point in the weekend when someone compared my accent to LLB. I didn't really register that at the time. My mistake...
Tuesday.
Last minute packing. Much last minute packing, and other general chaos. At least this time I remembered where I'd put my passport. And you never quite realise how much twenty copies of Meltdown weigh until you try to cram them into a suitcase and carry them for a few hours.Tuesday night was The Calling, and (having suddenly realised that a suitcase isn't the perfect fashion accessory for a goth night) I persuaded the ever-helpful
dmh to give me a lift from P'boro to Cambridge and let me store the luggage in his car (AKA 'Blixa') while we were in the club.The Calling was quite fun, but I really didn't have my dancing head on - so I spent most of it talking to
gothslut, zotz, eviltwinemma and grahamb. Someone mistook me for razornet, someone else mistook me for zotz. Do I look like a Graham, or something?Wednesday
Up (far too) bright and early, and off to London for my flight. More sleep might have been a good idea, but then common sense was never my strong point. Successfully navigated the underground, and metimago at Heathrow airport.Foolishly decided to check e-mail / LJ on one of the airport phones, but was fortunately dragged away just in time to get the flight. It was nice to fly on a big plane for once (as opposed to the Buzz ones I usually end up on for flights to Germany), and it was all quite comfortable - and they were showing The Fellowship of The Ring as the in-flight movie, so I'm no longer the only person in England who hasn't seen it. :-)
The Canadian customs forms were a surprise. I wondered whether or not to declare the Meltdowns, and eventually decided in favour - as it turned out, they just shrugged and let me through, so no hassle there. So, welcome to Canada. The first thing we encountered was a very francophone taxi driver, at which point my brain fell out and I decided to let
imago do the talking (as it's been sixteen years since I really used my French, and it's really very rusty). So, with this resolved, we got to the Delta Montreal, somewhat knackered, and headed to our rooms. I think my initial reaction to seeing my room, up on the 20th floor, was "wow" (swiftly followed by "and I'm not touching the minibar":). I was late booking, so I didn't get one of the designated C8 rooms - but I did get a huge room with a king bed, so I felt it was worth the extra few dollars.
Then I saw
imago's 'normal' C8 room, and it was exactly the same. I felt a little less happy after that - the difference seems to be a bench on the balcony, a phone in the bathroom, and a sliding scale of temptation for minibar goods (iirc most C8 attendees had to ask for a minibar key. I got given a key on arrival, and also had the snackfood left out on display, to weaken my willpower. I'm told that sexbat's presidential suite went the whole way, with all of the drinks out on display…). But I was still on the 20th floor, which was fun - it meant that I didn't have neighbours holding room parties, I didn't get uninvited guests and I had one hell of a view of downtown Montreal once night fell and all the lights came on …Then, in a rare sensible moment, I decided to get some sleep.
Thursday.
Up bright and early. Again. Mostly because I was still five hours out of sync. Despite this, I failed to make it to the complementary breakfast - mostly because I didn't realise that there was one. Ooops. Another perk of the room, it seems.Went for a mid-morning wander 'round the block with
imago, mostly just to get our bearings. Noticed an alarming lack of black. Where were all the goths? This was the point when I grabbed a lobby seat and decided, in a fit of laziness, to spend the day there and see who turned up. Lots of people turned up, unsurprisingly. One of the very first ones there was Edvamp, which was fortunate - as he was one of the tiny number of American goths I knew by sight. Sat around and chatted some more, met Corinne, Derek and other fun folks. Witnessed the arrival of a less than happy
saiira and sexbat, without their luggage (last seen in Pittsburgh. Ooops).Somewhen in the early evening, people (Edvamp,
kest, Corinne, rat_bastard, James, Jack and possibly a few I've forgotten) decided to go out and actually Do Something. This was just after we'd been told that the official pre-C8 Thursday venue was packed, and advised to go to Les Foufons Electriques instead.Which we did. It took us a little while to realise that there was an upstairs and, in the interval, we sat about in the downstairs metal night, drinking (I was slightly amazed to discover that they serve Newcastle Brown Ale…:-), chatting and being ever-so-slightly worried by the strange people playing pool. Upstairs was, it seems, Ladies Night. So we came back to the hotel again, thinking room party thoughts and grabbing alcohol on the way. Good plan.
Well, ok, good plan except that (an hour or two later) all but two (…) of the people at the room party ended up back down in the lobby, and my bottle of 'Fin Du Monde' didn't end up leaving the room (thanks are due to
rat_bastard for a valiant attempt - the hotel staff don't like open bottles outside rooms, it seems).This was the point in the weekend when someone compared my accent to LLB. I didn't really register that at the time. My mistake...
no subject
Date: 2002-06-09 01:10 pm (UTC)2. Was the Newcastle on tap? I generally have quite a fun time explaining to USAnians that it's never sold on tap over here. I'm not really sure whether they believe me.
3. I must show you the Blackened Voodoo sometime. I have a couple of bottles in the fridge. It's fron Ny'Awlins.
Ok, so I'm a Graham in denial...
Date: 2002-06-09 01:23 pm (UTC)The Newcastle Brown was bottled. Odd little bottles, much smaller than the British ones, but bottled. Just as well, really - the main reason I like it is that it's a safe bottled drink on those occasions when you really aren't sure how well the pub looks after the stuff on tap. It's officially "Newcastle" in Canada, too - which was a bit of a culture shock. What, no "Newky Brown"? :)
[I think the Irish pub I went to on Saturday did have it on tap, though]
As for the Blackened Voodoo.. I'm always more than happy to meet new and interesting beer. :-