Finally, some of my BiCon impressions
Jul. 26th, 2006 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhialtoBy now I have read everybody's reports in the BiCon community and it occurs to me that, compared to previous years, I seem to have lots of trouble to match people to their LiveJournal names. Not that I am normally any good at recognising people from their descriptions, but all these people who have "red hair" (were there really that many?) or "gothy"... It's just too hard. So I'll turn it around: if you recognise me and want to friend me, go ahead and I'll likely friend you back.
Many people apparently felt a less sexually charged atmosphere. I must admit that that was a bit of surprise to me actually, since I had not (consciously at least) noticed that. But looking back, I did feel more relaxed than last year, when I had some particular strong expectations and I was badly disappointed. I did try to flirt a bit though; I may eventually even get the hang of it and not be either too subtle or too blatant. I did wear a flirt-blind sticker though but I don't think these things really work. Later on I discover someone had invented a "I see flirts where there are none" sticker (the opposite of flirt-blind). I'm not sure if it was supposed to act as a warning against overcompensating flirt-blindness (which works like this: "I know I am flirt blind, yet sometimes people later tell me that someone tried to flirt with me. So apparently sometimes it happens, and maybe now is another such time, even though I'm actually not sure about it")
There were lots of people I didn't get to chat as much with as I wanted; partly because by the time there was opportunity to chat, I had used up my socialising energy (or perhaps I should just call it spoons) and I felt more like lying on the grass in the sunshine and enjoying the warmth of the sun and the touch of a person, which doesn't need any thinking.
When I left for Glasgow, I went from weather of about 25 degrees to about 16 (as they claimed on board the plane). So I was kind of under-dressed and cold when I arrived. However Glasgow warmed up nicely to 25 degrees or more, and when going back I went though the reverse temperature differential: getting out of the freezing cold airplane[1] I stepped info a heat of 35-40 degrees. I caught a cold fairly fast. Maybe it was the BiCon bug that others suffered from. It may seem strange to have a cold in the middle of summer but I always seem to have one, to varying degrees.
Returning home on wednesday, I had to catch the 12:00 train from Glasgow Central to Ayr (calling at Prestwick Airport). The service was announced in the station as "on time" but no platform was given until just 2 or 3 minutes before scheduled departure. Of course it appeared while I wasn't looking, too. I got to the train inside of a large crowd, and it didn't get smaller either, since the doors of the train would not open. Groups were gathered expectantly around the doors; I made my way forward (a big advantage of traveling by yourself) and in the first part of the train the doors had opened, but it was full. Completely full. Lots of families with small children, in fact. A few doors further it started to get a bit quieter, actually allowing one person to get in without falling out again immediately. So nearly at the head of the train I squeezed myself and my suitcase inside and in fact even found an empty seat, next to a mother of two. It remained extremely crowded until the first station near the sea, after that it was a bit less but still many people were standing.
Finally, I put my public pictures up.
[1] in Dutch I would have punningly written "vriestuig" instead of "vliegtuig".
Many people apparently felt a less sexually charged atmosphere. I must admit that that was a bit of surprise to me actually, since I had not (consciously at least) noticed that. But looking back, I did feel more relaxed than last year, when I had some particular strong expectations and I was badly disappointed. I did try to flirt a bit though; I may eventually even get the hang of it and not be either too subtle or too blatant. I did wear a flirt-blind sticker though but I don't think these things really work. Later on I discover someone had invented a "I see flirts where there are none" sticker (the opposite of flirt-blind). I'm not sure if it was supposed to act as a warning against overcompensating flirt-blindness (which works like this: "I know I am flirt blind, yet sometimes people later tell me that someone tried to flirt with me. So apparently sometimes it happens, and maybe now is another such time, even though I'm actually not sure about it")
There were lots of people I didn't get to chat as much with as I wanted; partly because by the time there was opportunity to chat, I had used up my socialising energy (or perhaps I should just call it spoons) and I felt more like lying on the grass in the sunshine and enjoying the warmth of the sun and the touch of a person, which doesn't need any thinking.
When I left for Glasgow, I went from weather of about 25 degrees to about 16 (as they claimed on board the plane). So I was kind of under-dressed and cold when I arrived. However Glasgow warmed up nicely to 25 degrees or more, and when going back I went though the reverse temperature differential: getting out of the freezing cold airplane[1] I stepped info a heat of 35-40 degrees. I caught a cold fairly fast. Maybe it was the BiCon bug that others suffered from. It may seem strange to have a cold in the middle of summer but I always seem to have one, to varying degrees.
Returning home on wednesday, I had to catch the 12:00 train from Glasgow Central to Ayr (calling at Prestwick Airport). The service was announced in the station as "on time" but no platform was given until just 2 or 3 minutes before scheduled departure. Of course it appeared while I wasn't looking, too. I got to the train inside of a large crowd, and it didn't get smaller either, since the doors of the train would not open. Groups were gathered expectantly around the doors; I made my way forward (a big advantage of traveling by yourself) and in the first part of the train the doors had opened, but it was full. Completely full. Lots of families with small children, in fact. A few doors further it started to get a bit quieter, actually allowing one person to get in without falling out again immediately. So nearly at the head of the train I squeezed myself and my suitcase inside and in fact even found an empty seat, next to a mother of two. It remained extremely crowded until the first station near the sea, after that it was a bit less but still many people were standing.
Finally, I put my public pictures up.
[1] in Dutch I would have punningly written "vriestuig" instead of "vliegtuig".