Orbital - what I did for the last few years... Years ago
Some years ago many of the people behind Redemption decided they would have a go at an Eastercon. I am not a fan, I have only ever gone to one Eastercon before, though I like fans.
So I setup the mailing list, and when asked the domain and website and got the booking system ready to take members.
I sat back and did as little as needed to support the booking system and let Judith get on with the work of Con Chair. However I also got to here of all the problems, suggest a few answers, fix/tweak/modify/extend the membership database and get on with life.
Six months Ago
I decided to give the charity book stall another outing - I have run it at most Redemptions and the Eastercon I attended. I also dreamed up the idea for a panel on the Clangers.
One to Two Months Ago
Hearing of the problem with the scaffolding and the lack of progress in this area for tech I volunteered to take over the problem, then realised they didn't want scaffolding, what was needed was a tech tower and a stage built - scaffolding was just one way to do it. For the tech tower - why not hire a scaffolding tower. And for the stage - buy some cheap timber and build it ourselves to meet our own specifications.
Tech upgraded their van spec so it could carry all the timber, I ordered a scaffolding tower - full credit to HSS, they queried why given I lived in Dorset why did I ask for it from their Heathrow depot. I did design 1 of the stage - assuming you could walk behind the pillar. A few weeks ago some committee and staff went and measured the commonwealth and I had some real measurements to work with - that pillar was probably too tight a fit the stage right entrance had to be at the back, also we discovered the hotel did not have as many steps as we needed (design 2 of stage).
Monday before con - Day off
Tuesday before con - Got a ton of books down from the loft, packed up 4 crates of tools, started losing the lounge to 4 separate piles - Tools, Books, Our stuff, Other con stuff.
Wednesday before con - Packed the last stuff, Kelvin hired the van, we went to B&Q and bought a lot of timber, nails and stuff and started filling the van. Kelvin went home to load his stuff in the van. He came back with people, and some junk, we unloaded most of the junk and repacked most of our stuff and his into the van and our car. After a lunch we set off for the Radisson. Arriving mid afternoon to find they expected us on Thursday... After a short while Kelvin arrives and we go and hire the scaffolding tower. This was an easy evening spent nattering and socialising. I looked in the Commonwealth and noticed that the space behind the pillar is enough for people to get behind and that the measurements were wrong anyway. Worry about that in the morning.
Thursday - Up early and by 7:30 we had the van at the loading bay for the commonwealth and unloaded all the tower, tools, wood and a few other things. Shortly afterwards Stage Electrics arrived with the Tech stuff. First task, assemble the tech tower. Second task assemble stage. When the screen was setup I said it was too low, but was ignored. The projector/screen distance required us to build the stage about a metre forward of where we had planned. (Stage design 3 began to take shape).
First we built a table for the tech tower. Then start on the stage surround - this was built as three substructures (left, back, right), then the rear entrance and the top front. Most of the time Henry and I worked together, but eventually others arrived and helped - Oscar built steps and then a separate sub team started adding the fabric. Other than a break for the evening meal for an hour I worked from 7:30am to 11:30pm. My (educated) guess for materials was pretty good - I only had one unused sheet of chipboard, and half a dozen lengths of wood.
Friday - Start setting up the Charity book stall, a few interruptions from Tech, to fix things and modify bits, a request for this and that. The book stall filled all four tables - 1 of Tapes, 1 for hardbacks and non fiction, and two for paperbacks. A couple of boxes of donations are added as I setup. The tables are well placed (in the middle), but Redemption is unfortunately in a corner, not next to me as I had asked. By the time the dealers room had opened I had already taken 30 pounds. Trade on Friday was comparatively slow, but adequate. There was a plan to have a video feed from the Commonwealth to Newbury 2 for popular items, but the cabling provided rather than one long cable was three separate cables without connectors, In the 4 crates of tools I didn't have my cabling tools, first attempt at joining the cables using what was available didn't work - we decide that we had to have a drum of cable and proper connectors at the ends only - we left this for today. I did attend the opening ceremony and the Celdih but missed everything else.
Saturday - Busy day in the dealer room, many more donations, at one time I had book stacks at the ends of the rows as I could not fit them all in. Periodic calls away to fix things, one "ten minute job" took nearly two hours. Rather than finding a cable drum, all that we gained for the data link was some proper connectors, a cabling tool and tester - this did not work either after several hours we gave up again - we must have a drum. Just after 6 I got into my chaos "Librarian" and with Roger Robinson spent 45 minutes collecting for "Match it for Pratchett" - raising just under £500! I did find time to see the Masquerade and Cabaret.
Sunday - Yet another attempt of the Commonwealth-Newbury connection - this time with a drum of cable. Helped by Colin who was a BT technition we got it to work, pity the equipment we wanted to connect didn't. I did get to see half of Mitch Benn, pity I had to go part way through to get ready for Clanger Physics - it was my only panel item - I had done the research and thought up the idea. The 30odd people had a great session debating gravity, Roche limits, diet, breeding - there is a proposal for a poster session in the future.
Monday - Books did well (I had more donations) - total sales just under 650. Six boxes were empty after packing. Put a little in the van before the closing ceremony and the rest afterwards. Headed back to the Commonwealth just in time for the breakdown. This took many many hours, I finally rolled into the Dead dog party around 10pm.
Tuesday after con - Pack stuff, more stuff, yet more stuff, put scaffolding tower into van but decide to wait before we take it back for the traffic to drop a little. Checkout of the room, put all our stuff in the car and some junk in commonwealth (to go back in the van. With volunteers get the sofas and tables into the commonwealth, and take scaffold tower back - slow due to roadworks. Then load van with furniture, Kelvin and Gaspode take it to Aylesbury. Pack the wood in bundles to make it easier to move and store, sit eat and natter. Kelvin returns, van loaded he leaves about 5:30, I manage to extract Judith and we finally left the Hotel just before 6pm. We get home, unpack the car, have a quick meal and call Kelvin, he will be another hour. About 9pm he gets back to us, we persuade him to unpack on Wednesday, I take Rob home and go to bed.
Wednesday after con - Unpack, mooch around LJ, LI, and GZ, start writing this. Kelvin returns mid afternoon and we reload the rafters with books and tools. Collapse and finish report
Tomorrow I will get back to finding work - If you know of anyone who needs a Telecomms consultant, General Problem solver, Internet Services, Websites, Internet Shoping, Software written (C and/or Perl) then please get in touch - my CV is at
http://www.waveneyconsulting.com (I don't wont to move, happy with contract work).
Richard
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pleased
exhausted
bouncy