Day 1, Saturday 19th. It's an odd event, unless you are a real genre fan. As I went only to see Claudia, and had not even heard of at least 70% of the celebrities, it was pretty boring for the most part. And the venue is soulless, a big, bleak hangar which the stalls did little to enliven: with a row of celebrities on an autograph production line at the end of the hall, and a few overspill celebrities in another row by the door. Claudia is worth better, imho, as probably are all those other guys I've not heard of. I was pleased to meet two 'scapers' in Aeryn & John costume, saw Bob on the horizon, but never managed to say 'Hi', and hooked up with Katarzyna who'd endured the trip from Poland to be there.

Claudia signed autographs all morning. I didn't notice her even leaving to eat, but I hope she did get fed at some time. She went straight on to the photo session then straight into her talk. This was all of half an hour, barely time for her or us to get warmed up. Claudia seemed as sorry as we were when the MC announced 'final question'.

In the photo queue I had a nice chat with someone who had found Farscape through Stargate, and so was newer to the wonders of Claudia's craft. It was interesting to talk about another fandom of which I know nothing. Claudia was as gracious as ever, how anyone keeps smiling for so long a time, keeps interested in the fans, answers what must be banal questions (once a whole queue of us has asked them) and still looks keen to talk to us, is beyond me.

Very quickly in her talk she realised that no-one beyond the first few rows could see, and stood for the rest of the Q & A.

There were no photos or recording permitted, perhaps our gal's tightening up on controlling her image, so this has to be random recollection. Last weekend she was at the wedding in Cornwall of an old friend, also Australian, but with Cornish roots. I believe she said her own family also has a Cornish connection. So, that had involved a long, long drive with the children, one of them demanding something else to eat all the time. 'Something else' is what he asks for, apparently. Claudia thinks this comes from her asking him if he wanted 'something else' when he turned his nose up at his food at some time, so now it's 'something else' when he's hungry! She and her husband have developed the silent scream for such times.

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