[F] Elf Fantasy Fair Report (21/4/2002)
A small impression of a lonely afper and girlfriend visiting the strange worlds of Fantasy...
As is usually my luck, in one of the few weekends that I have to be transported over a distance to big to be covered by bike [1], the trains weren't running due to track works. So, we had to do a large part of the journey by bus (Gouda-Utrecht, for the lesser-informed of my locationary wherebouts). It didn't take much longer than by train, surprisingly. It did, however, manage to be just late enough for the train to Breukelen. We did arrive there, however. Which was nice.
Coming out of the station[2] we walked to the buses to the terrain, Park Haarzuylens around castle De Haar. The bus went through that great dutch flat landscape with narrow roads. To enter the terrain, an impossible corner needed to be taken, which went just right.
The site was magnificent, the castle De Haar standing centrally. It was built in the Middle Ages and restored (together with surrounding buildings and gardens) about 100 years ago. The fair itself was held in tents around the building. That turned out to be rather hot, as the weather was unusually nice. In the train I had already been forced out of my coat [3] by my girlfriend Astrid. We weren't dressed up, as a lot of people had. It gave the whole place even more atmosphere.
Within 5 minutes after walking onto the fair, a not very tall man with a beard and a black hat appeared, beng very interested in the "Wyrd Sisters" stall, asking questions like "so how long are you using that name, then?". The carefull observer could have noticed his lips moving as he read some of their leaflets.
We walked around the terrain, just looking around in the various tents. Apparantely, I looked at some books as if I were in love, or so I've been told. There were various stalls selling DW books, and there was also a stall with Bernard Pearson's DW figures. My wallet screamed out in pain when I looked at the prices, however. A sweet smile to Astrid didn't have the desired effect.
To stop the voices going *wantwantwant* in my head, we went over to
the tournament. Some knights on horses approaching eachother with
large sharp-looking objects. We looked for about 15 minutes, but still
no-one had lost any (vital) organs and no blood had been spilled, so
we walked of to the tent where Terry was going to do a speech. It was
very good, very entertaining, though at the end he got a bit irritated
by people making noises behind the screens. A tent-pole strategically
placed just before the middle of the stage (!) gave him an appropriate
spot to hide for us a few times. He spoke about Discworld, about his
time as a nucleair spokesman, about the Good Omens movie, about
up-side down star signs, about Tolkien, about Orchids, about
everything really. A lot of quotes were a bit familiar though.
The tent was full, and among this gathered crowd I had spotted some
friends that I didn't even know where there. Meeting up with them
after the speech meant I got a bit behind in the signing queueueue. We
entertained ourselves for an hour and 15 minutes, before I got my copy
of The Tuth 
signed , and a card
with a urang-utang on it with just "ook". As there were still quite a
few people behind me, waiting and half-listening to George R.R. Martin
talking about how magic is a bit like anchovis, I didn't get to talk
to him. Not that I could say more than
"'owareyouthenmisterpratchettireallydolikeyourbooks" whilst slightly
dribbling...Astrid had brought her Small Gods, which had been signed
by me (if you can handle vomish stuff: [4]). That rather surprised
Terry ("who signed that?"). He took another page to draw a turtle and
sign it To Astrid, The Turtle Moves. So I had to hear the rest of the
day "he drew a turtle for me! yay!" ;-)
After this we spent some time resting in the sun. A quick stroll through the market resulted seeing that bloke in the hat again, but I got dragged away by Astrid. At the end of the afternoon, we watched a LotR battle re-enacted, which was fun if you don't like blood. It did have special effects, so the Nazgul could wizard down a few knights with fireworks, which looked nice. After the good guys had won, we rushed to the forum with Terry and Bernard Pearson, with a bit more Terry and not really a lot of Bernard, but he smiled approvingly as Terry was talking.
Tired but satisfied we left around 6pm, back home, where food happened.
Photos by other people:
Form the organization
From another visitor
(Guess which geeky item I had forgotten...)
[1] ie, more than 9 kilometres. and even that is *just* for my
girlfriend. and I don't have a driving license. yet.
[2] read: concrete platform next to railroad.
[3] My old faithful Drizabone. Long, brown and definitely not meant for
this kind of weather.
[4] "For my own goddess". Ah, we were young and madly in love... :-p