On the road again: London, day 7WorldCon, day 2

LonCon 3, this year's WorldCon, was in full swing all day today.  I had worked until very, very late last night, so I slept rather late today and missed all the morning activities.  I also spent a big chunk of the late afternoon and early evening working, but I managed to fit some con activities into the day as well.

Before I talk further about today, however, I have to show you Mr. Whippy.  (Don't blame me for where your mind just went.)  Mr. Whippy, a staple of multiple old British comedies, had a truck at the convention center yesterday. 

Click an image to see a larger version.

The product Mr. Whippy serves is somewhere between soft-serve ice cream and heavy whipped cream, reasonably tasty but lighter than most Americans would expect.

The ExCeL center, which is hosting this con, is enormous.  To reach some of the function spaces, you have to cross this enormous open area. 

Then, you have to go up this staircase (this shot is from its top). 

After that, you walk down a single long hall for a city block or two.  Amazing.

All the parties here happen in a common fan activity area, which I shot here from above. 

In Wednesday's post, I showed the main long hall of the convention center.  At that time, it was fairly empty.  Today, it was a bit busier.

In the course of today, I hung with several writer friends, attended the Chesley awards ceremony, went to the ASFA reception in the art show, ate a Cornish pasty, wandered by some of the parties (all of which were in the common fan area) for cities bidding to host future WorldCons, and talked with some young writers.

Not a bad day, though filled with way more work than I had hoped.

Tomorrow, more con!