writes:By that time, I had to head back to my stall where my wife Maureen and our Baldric had been experiencing steady, if not spectacular, sales. Some coffee fortified everyone, but it was on that day when Mrs Pumblechook fulfilled a promise in return for using our stall. Armed with fresh bread rolls suitably stuffed with nice things, she soon had us all smiling at having something really nice to eat. Considering the quality of what she produced, I vote that Mrs Pumblechook get the contract for next year's canteen!
Wargamers kept coming up to say hello and introduce themselves. I intended to mention some by name, to illustrate the vastness of the area CanCon draws its visitors from, but by the end of Day Two they were so numerous that this report would have looked more like a roster. So instead, I will just pass on a big 'hello' to everyone, thank them for making themselves known, and assure the readers that just about every corner of Australia was represented. Of course, in addition to faces I had not seen before, there were many familiar ones. I think meeting up and saying "G'day" is one of the best things about a major convention. Despite having had a couple of strokes and losing some memory, I was pleased to be able to recognize nearly all the faces - even if to me, the flashbacks were often to much more youthful ones.
Top-selling item on our stall was General Quarters III. It broke all records for anything I have had for sale before, and other traders were impressed enough to obtain copies for their own shops. I had intended to put on a demonstration game at CanCon, and asked for a table to be provided, then emailed for confirmation that this would be provided. Unfortunately, no answer was received. On arrival, I had put the question to the person in charge while Tim was away, but nothing helpful was offered. In fact, by the time we left on the third day, nothing had been said about a place to put on the game I had planned, so the ships and aircraft travelled back to Adelaide un-used. I know this was disappointing to some who attended, as they had wanted to see the rules in action. It was pretty obvious that space was at a premium, though, as the hall was crowded throughout the weekend. One group that had wanted to host a game complained to me that they were offered an area of blank floor (which they had naturally declined). I do not blame the organisers for being unable to provide space - there obviously wasn't any - but they could perhaps have communicated that a bit better.
We stopped off for a visit to a supermarket on the way back to the cabin, preferring to get some real food than subject ourselves to take-away varieties. Our Baldric toddled off to the bar, but it was still light enough, so Maureen and I set off on a bit of a tourist drive. Canberra is a lovely city with wide roads in excellent condition. But after a life time of living in places that work on the traditional square-grid layout, the circles and curves of our National Capital can be a bit confusing for visitors. In fact, it can be downright annoying at times - however, I've now been there enough times to get about in most areas without getting lost, so it was a pleasing drive through leafy streets. I had also started to get used to the large number of roundabouts with 'give way' signs instead of traffic-light-controlled corners, so the number of near-misses declined rapidly by that evening.
On previous nights, the light in the cabin toilet had proved very dubious - flashing off and on, affecting the other lights, and making the TV unwatchable while anyone was in the loo. However, it outdid itself that evening by emitting loud electrical 'cracks' and a discharge of sparks. Needless to say, we switched it off and left it off. Fortunately, I have a good sense of humour. But as I was the one on the loo at the time, I can assure the reader that it was rather disturbing to have it happen when sitting in such a confined space! With only one day to go, I again opted to get some sleep early - and after being tossed out early, even our Baldric wasn't late.