catspaw

The auction was held in Wells Cathedral. Apparently it had been meant to be in the Town Hall or somewhere, but a change of dates to fit filming commitments had forced a change of venue. It was weird sitting in the Cathedral nave and waiting! Something that AT remarked on too - it felt almost sacreligious! Also, the stewarding of this bit was done by Cathedral staff, all elderly gentlemen, all completely bemused *g*

Finally Thomasina Gibson came out front and announced that we were starting, and introduced AT and -- Dan Shea. AT got the mike and apologised for RDA's absence - he was still eating (pizza and chips from the local pub, we found out later: we can do 'haute' when it comes to cuisine in this country *g*) and signing photographs, but he'd sent along his body double instead LOLOL. Ah. Hollywood (I'll maybe try that one next time I don't want to go to work. Any takers for the job? *g*). The bit that I thought funniest though was the fact that the sound system wasn't working all that well, and the guy that was fussing around with it was dressed in full canonicals LOLOL. I have no idea why that was so funny, but it tickled me immensely ;-)

Anyhow, the auction got started - and this was where AT really shone. She was amazing at geeing folks up to bid! She wasn't just stuck on the podium at the front either, she was right there in amongst us all, running up and down and central aisle, running round into the side aisles, lauging and joking and carrying on. She was a complete hoot. Then she started heading, with the lot in question in hand, towards the highest bidder. At one point there was a bidding war going on between someone at the front of the Cathedral and someone at the back, so she was up and down that aisle like a yoyo. It got to the point where the bidders were deliberately waiting until she was at the end of the church opposite to where they were before they made their bids, and she hammed up the running up and down beautifully. It was very, very funny to watch - she made it very, very funny to watch. I was extremely taken with her, can you tell? *g* She does seem to be a genuinely lovely person.

Eventually, we all twigged that RDA was on the premises when AT raced up to the back of the church to get him to sign one of the auction articles, and it wasn't that long before he came down and joined in the fun as well. He was looking kinda tired by this time, I have to say - but it didn't stop him. And he didn't stay on the podium either, he was trotting up and down the centre aisle with the auction lots like a good 'un :-)

The lots were the usual stuff - photos, a set of dvds, a Sea Shepherd tee, SG toys - pretty much the general run of stuff you could get in the dealer's room. But man, they went for silly prices! This actually is my one gripe with all cons: why an auction? Why rely on just a few people being daft enough, or carried away enough, to max out their credit cards? I really, really wish that they would organise a raffle instead so that everyone had some kind of a chance at coming away with something, not just the ones with more money than sense. And I'm certain that everyone in that Cathedral would have chipped in at least a tenner or so into the pot for the smaller lots, they could have then auctioned off the set visit (SGA) that was the last lot, and they would have made far more money than they actually did. Although the total did come out to around £3 000 for that session and I dare say would have been more had it not been so late and it had gone on longer.

At one point, RDA pulled a power bar out of his pocket and autographed it :-) That went as a lot too. Although I'd have asked him to take a bite out of it for me if I'd been bidding and won ;-)

There was a lot of 'business' between all three of the stars: RDA and DS seem to be genuinely fond of each other too, teasing and joking. At one point RDA had to read something and couldn't, and DS was larking about putting whatever it was further and further away from him to try and get it into focus, with a muttered 'he spends thrity grand on his eyes and he still can't see properly' - laser surgery, I'm guessing. In which case he's a braver man than me *g*. And DS referring to RDA as 'Big Boy' was very sweet too :-)

So the auction was pretty much cut short: I think it was slated to go on for about an hour and a half, but I'm pretty certain it was nowhere near that. Still, can't complain - it was only short because we all got so much quality time with RDA and AT earlier in the day - and who in their right mind is going to complain about that? At the very end, all the attendees were given their souvenirs: not just the individual pictures that had been taken earlier in the day, but also the official picture, a lovely shot of RDA and AT taken outside the Cathedral and signed by them both, and a lovely little pottery chalice with the Avalon logo on the front. Very nice indeed and it now has pride of place on my mantelpiece :-)

I know I keep on bashing on about this, but I can't compliment GABIT highly enough on the con. The limited numbers, the tight stewarding, the fact that they actually communicated any problems to the attendees and thus defused any possible grumblings - the whole thing was very well done indeed from the point of view of the attendees. Compared with any other con I've been to or heard about, it was a real Rolls Royce experience. Kudos to them all. I'm just hoping that Himself enjoyed it as much as possible, wasn't too exhausted by the end of it, and might be persuaded to do another one at some point in the future. Because it certainly raised a pile of money for a cause dear to his heart.

After the auction - we were starting to stress again. We were expecting

historyterry to stay with us for the remainder of the weekend, and it was already way later than she said she'd be arriving. So - off to find the carpark and the car. And guess what? It was raining. Actually, it was doing better than raining, you couldn't possibly dismiss that as mere rain, that would be like saying Krakatoa was 'a bit of a bang'. It was lashing down, howling winds, massive puddles, the works :-( So we all plodded through it, tired, hungry, anxious - and stumbled upon (apparently) the only carry out place in Wells. The Ho Ho Chinese. All hail the Ho Ho Chinese! Thoughts of curry forgotten, we reorganised the supply situation, figuring it would please T more to be met by late people loaded with readily available food than it would to be met by wet hungry grouches. The Chinese was warm, though roughly the size of a broom closet, but we soon had to go out again - and the road back to the car seemed neverending :-( First thing we all did when we got back was strip off and get dried, then heaven! Food :-)))

The rest of the weekend will follow for anyone interested :-) Highlights include 'Glastonbury Tor, the Hard Way' and 'How to Avoid English Heritage Entrance Fees' *gg*