Making It Up

Aug 18, 2016 00:58

I've decided I'm going to WriterConUK next month ( Read more... )

rl, fic, awards/noms, spike, buffy

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Comments 37

gillo August 18 2016, 14:48:31 UTC
Awesome news! Could you spare the time to stay over with me (ten minutes or so from Coventry) so I can show you Warwickshire - castles, Stratford, green countryside...

PM me to discuss it?

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rebcake August 18 2016, 18:14:35 UTC
How kind of you! You'll be at WriterConUK, won't you? Being one of the organizers and all...

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gillo August 18 2016, 22:56:19 UTC
Yes, of course, though I'm merely hotel liaison these days, not part of the top team - so much less to worry about!

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eurydice72 August 18 2016, 15:25:20 UTC
Someone recommended a scotch egg because of bacon? I'm not getting the connection. It's a hard-boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, breaded, and then fried or baked. I never saw or heard of one made with bacon before. I don't even know how that would work.

That being said, I actually recommend them, too, lol. Because they're delicious if you like the ingredients. They're also great to have as picnic/traveling food because they're so portable and yet filling.

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rebcake August 18 2016, 18:13:37 UTC
This friend is from Wales, so maybe they do it differently there? A Scot friend I know makes sausage rolls pretty often, even though she's a vegetarian. I like those quite a lot, though they aren't exactly health food. I read that Scotland has the highest rates of cardiovascular disease in the UK. Wonder why?

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eurydice72 August 18 2016, 20:22:29 UTC
Hm, maybe. I've only been to Wales three times, so I'm far from familiar with regional differences. The bacon could be a twist thing, or maybe even something new that's been done with them in the past ten years. I haven't been back since 2012 so that very well could be.

Mmmmm, sausage rolls. My absolute favorite. I've been making those ever since we moved back here, and any time the kids have had to do some type of British food for a school project, we always do the rolls and they go like crazy. I mean, what's not to love about puff pastry and sausage, lol?

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rebcake August 18 2016, 20:32:32 UTC
Or, it could be that she said "sausage" and I heard "bacon". Always a possibility...

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brutti_ma_buoni August 18 2016, 19:12:56 UTC
Paddington is not awful (scruffy, not worse), and transport links are good. Food options mostly not that thrilling, though. But you could get around easily enough. Kensington nicer, maybe a tad less convenient ( ... )

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rebcake August 18 2016, 20:49:17 UTC


Thank you for all these helpful comments!

I was all set to book the hotel you recommended in Edinburgh, but a friend intervened and insisted that I stay with her family near the university. So I've got instant connections! Your suggestions are fabulous. Depending on timing and weather, I may take a day trip out to the highlands and Stirling, or I may just stay in town. There is plenty to do there! And I am on board with smoked salmon AND with haggis, which I find surprisingly comfort-food-like. Will definitely check out Cafe Royal.

If you're tired of tea and girly things

Not bloody likely. Heh. This is absolutely my "gal's tour". Next time I come, I'll probably have MiAmor with me, so if I want frills, now's the time!

Deb also mentioned that the Austen Center is to be avoided, but I like the idea of doing the pilgrimage to Her House. *genuflects*

I can already tell that this trip is not going to be long enough. I'm already determined that it's just the first one!

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gillo August 18 2016, 23:02:58 UTC
The incredibly posh Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh is mostly outrageously expensive, but you can have a cup (pot, in fact) of tea there for a fiver and it's worth it just to be escorted in by lovely young Scotsmen in kilts or tartan trews and sit in the Palm Court. You get a home-baked shortbread with it too. It's a silly price for a cuppa, and I wouldn't pay the outrageous cost of sandwiches there, let alone a full Afternoon Tea, but the experience is worth the fiver. It's right next to the Princes Street exit from the main railway station, Edinburgh Waverley.

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rebcake August 19 2016, 00:03:05 UTC
You had me at "escorted in by lovely young Scotsmen in kilts". Yes, I'm sure I'll be ready for tea by then. Whenever "then" is.

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rahirah August 19 2016, 02:53:33 UTC
Oooh, I am deeply jealous!

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rebcake August 19 2016, 04:46:00 UTC
You could come, too! The pound is down, they say! The place is lousy with Americans!

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rahirah August 19 2016, 05:20:58 UTC
Ah, I wish. Looking at flight prices, I could probably just barely swing it for myself, but if I went to England without Kathy, she'd never forgive me, and I wouldn't blame her. I could probably get away with taking a week off on a month's notice, but she couldn't, and even if she could, on such short notice we really can't afford for both of us to go (in addition to flights and hotels and food, we'd have to board all the animals, which is not cheap.) If we'd known six months ago that the pound was going to tank, we could have managed it, but alas, it's too late now.

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rebcake August 19 2016, 06:14:14 UTC
I hear you. MiAmor and I were sort of planning to go next year, together, but the stars aligned for me to go NOW. I'm trying to frame it as an exploratory trip: when we go together, it will be EVEN BETTER. He doesn't get as much vacation time as I do. We sort of joke that we took separate honeymoons, as I went to Italy to visit my year-abroading sister a couple of months before we got married. I saved Venice for him, though, which I thought was big of me. We finally made it over there last year, 20 years later. He liked it.

But when we were rehabbing the house, I turned down a trip to Hawaii with a friend, because it might have led to a nasty divorce if I left in the middle of all that horror.

Some of our UK pals are glumly sure that the pound will stay down for years. Start planning for next year!

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thenewbuzwuzz August 19 2016, 05:26:40 UTC
Have fun in the UK! :)) I don't have any other relevant advice.
(There's also a nomination list on the LJ account of the awards. Eventually, the story title(s) should be visible there.)

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rebcake August 19 2016, 06:17:46 UTC
Thanks! Fun is a virtual certainty!

I am enjoying the mystery of my stealth nomination at the moment. I have so few mysteries in my life.

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