I drive upstream one station, and catch the train into the city. This year the convention is in the Rydges hotel, right in the city centre. The hotel is a former office tower, converted. The exterior of the office building was ugly late 70's architecture, but they've cunningly slapped a new facade on the ground floor, and a new balcony on the first floor, which conceals the building's origins quite well. Registration opens late, and then it's the opening ceremony.
Several fans make jokes about the similarity with the passenger cabin of an aeroplane.
The opening ceremony has a multimedia bit, made by cleverly splicing together trailer material from the forthcoming Lord Of The Rings movie, some footage of the con committee, and some homegrown CGI titles. The balcony turns out to be a good spot to socialise. I go to a panel, attempt to go to another panel which is displaced by a book launch that has overrun its time slot, and then it's time for Raw Cordial. When drunk straight, it's a big sugar rush, and generally a great excuse to run around being an aeroplane. It's part talk show, part game show, and part video sketch comedy.