Views from Medina Road

Yeong and I had a rather awful breakfast buffet here at the Moat House, then did a mini-tour of the conference center so he could get his fill of the event, borrowing someone's badget to gain admittance to the dealers' room and art show for a quick stroll. Then we took a taxi to Sauchiehall (pronounced 'suckey-hall', I've been assured) Street where we strolled and shopped our way through the mall and down Buchanan, through Merchant City and eventually back up to Sauchiehall where we had a leisurely afternoon tea at the Willows Tea Room.

Then back to the room to rest a bit before the Hugo Nominees Reception at 6p.m., which had canapes and drinks, and where I chatted with David and Vincent and Geoff (who I realized was the presenter in my category...).

The ceremony itself went very smoothly, and was notable -- I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere -- for being attended by almost all the winners. Only the media winners, and Mike Resnick, weren't there.

Afterwards we were bussed over to the Hilton for the Hugo Nominees Party (not, this year, called the Hugo Losers Party), where copies of the voting statistics began circulating, and I saw that in the Best Website category I'd lost by only a single vote -- had led or tied, actually, until the final round. So it goes. This has happened before, or nearly so, and as I recall a losing nominee in this position made a fuss about it to the administrators, and of course came off as a sore loser.

This morning--Monday--we are packing and embarking for the continent, so there won't be much more here until next week probably. Our parting event will be a panel this morning about whether or not there should be a Best Website category in the Hugos at all...