Home again, home again...
Eh, it has been a hectic few weeks!
Canada was good, after the first day and a bit. I got to Montreal, with a migraine that had developed on the plane, to discover that my bag was still in Amsterdam. This does not make me happy. The weather was grey and miserable, and so, it seemed, was Montreal.
The bag turned up at 10pm-ish the next day... so just about enough time to panic about having to buy a week's worth of conference clothes without needing to in the end. Luckily I'd split my holiday week 3 days before and 3 days after the conference.
I explored a fair bit, and began to enjoy it more, but was still very glad when the conference registration started and I actually had people to talk to who weren't shop/hotel/train assistants! Much to my surprise, I re-met someone I'd spent some time one evening with at the Switzerland conference last year, and it turned out that not only was he in the same hotel, he had the room right next to mine! (It then turned out that Lisa, in his group, is a gamer, Lovecraft fan, and the book I was reading was by her favourite author...good company was found!)
My talk was terrifying, but seemed to go ok! I got some positive feedback on being clear etc., and some interesting/interested questions.
Post-conference, LBS came across from Toronto to meet up, which was lovely! It had been far too long since I'd last seen her (wrong side of the pond and all that), plus it meant I had company on my birthday!
There were Marmots! Like this one, that chased me.
.
Canada was good, after the first day and a bit. I got to Montreal, with a migraine that had developed on the plane, to discover that my bag was still in Amsterdam. This does not make me happy. The weather was grey and miserable, and so, it seemed, was Montreal.
The bag turned up at 10pm-ish the next day... so just about enough time to panic about having to buy a week's worth of conference clothes without needing to in the end. Luckily I'd split my holiday week 3 days before and 3 days after the conference.
I explored a fair bit, and began to enjoy it more, but was still very glad when the conference registration started and I actually had people to talk to who weren't shop/hotel/train assistants! Much to my surprise, I re-met someone I'd spent some time one evening with at the Switzerland conference last year, and it turned out that not only was he in the same hotel, he had the room right next to mine! (It then turned out that Lisa, in his group, is a gamer, Lovecraft fan, and the book I was reading was by her favourite author...good company was found!)
My talk was terrifying, but seemed to go ok! I got some positive feedback on being clear etc., and some interesting/interested questions.
Post-conference, LBS came across from Toronto to meet up, which was lovely! It had been far too long since I'd last seen her (wrong side of the pond and all that), plus it meant I had company on my birthday!
There were Marmots! Like this one, that chased me.
.