"AndiCon"


This is Alison's report of our little get together in October - now to be known for all eternity as "AndiCon"...

Enjoy!!

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All Hail Max!!!

Right then peeps, here's what you've been waiting for with baited breath for the last week or so...

Andicon: The Real Story

Friday:

Andicon actually began on Friday in Liverpool with me having hysterics. Why? Because I was late from work, had to get home, get changed, get packed, do my hair and go pick up the hire car. Aaargh!!! I'd also forgotten about rush hour.

I finally managed to pick up the car about 16:45 which was about the time I was supposed to be picking up Darran and John from Manchester Picadilly. Oops. I rang Andi from the hire place to tell her I was running late in case either of them decided to exercise their brain cell (communal) and check with her to see if I'd said anything.
[Note:- this has been returned to it's original and unexpurgated state due to the demands of Da Chief. Sorry Guys, but she's got a whip - actually she's got more than one...]
The car was OK, a VW Golf (I'd been expecting an Escort but I wasn't really bothered), and the main thing was... it went!

Why did I hire a car? Well, Andi's place is really in the arse end of nowhere, and getting there would have involved innumerable changes of train and bus and things. Not only was the car more convenient, it was cheaper too!!! It's beside the point that I knew travelling up there would be a damn site more fun in a car with 3 occupants than on a train with just myself.

So, I finally left Liverpool on the Motorway heading toward sunny Manchester. It usually takes half an hour *max* to get to Manchester the way I drive. Not that day. I also forgot about the fact that although I know Manchester pretty well, it's all been done by foot and *not* in a car. I got to the station all right, having previously scouted out the route, the fact that it was nearly 17:45 was another thing altogether. I spotted John straight away - there aren't usually that many guys with long black hair, a long black coat and lots of bags loitering around outside stations. Darran was nowhere to be seen. Apparently he'd gone to ring up Andi to see if I'd let her know anything...

We all piled back into the car after stashing all the beer and stuff away and then decided to try and get out of Manchester. Not the easiest thing to do as the signposts curiously tend to disappear. If we'd been going back to Liverpool it wouldn't have been a problem but we needed to be on the *other* side of Manchester.

It was Hold on to your Hats time as I pretended to be a tram and also tried with great diligence to avoid running over the incredulous pedestrians who were *not* expecting a VW Golf to come hurtling down the tram lines. I waved very nicely at everyone I only *just* missed... Yes, getting out of Manchester was an experience to say the least.

Eventually we hit the M61 which was to take us North, but we couldn't make that good time as it was too busy and it was also lashing it down with rain. Really good driving weather. Still, with A Wedding Anniversary and MELT in the stereo, we didn't mind *that* much, especially when I dug out the ultimate Goth sweets... blacurrant and liquorice.

I'd previously agreed to ring Andi about 19:00 so we could work out where we were going to meet each other. Seeing as we were only just past Preston at the time, with another 3 hours or so journey ahead, the pub seemed to be the best option. Instructions on how to get to the pub once in Gatehouse were duly given and we all piled back into the car to brave the rain and the road. The rest of the journey was fairly unremarkable from my point of view, but Darran was *awfully* quiet.

We eventually arrive in Gatehouse about 22:00 ish, following the directions to the pub (one of many in Gatehouse, even though there is only a population of 900) with no problems at all. Funnily enough Andi and Alis were immediately obvious, so there were lots of squeaks and hugs and stuff before we went the bar. I was still driving so I couldn't have anything to drink at that point. Waahh! (Believe me, I made up for it later)

After arriving at Andi's we managed to just about dump our bags before attacking the alcohol supplies. Andi has some *weird* stuff in her house. Mind you, I'd also brought the trusty liquid liquorice. We managed to fit in eating at some point, me using prawn crackers instead of cutlery... Fun! It didn't take much before John was persuaded to mix up Dragons for everyone (including James, who was looking rather dubious about the whole proceedings) and we picked up where we left off at Homeland.


TOJtG in his element with his beloved 'Dragon'

Only *this* time we had Popcorn.

Apparently it was Banoffee flavoured popcorn, but I sure as hell couldn't taste the banana.

It was Alis who started the food fight, I think. It doesn't really seem important as what transpired after that was a popcorn free-for-all. It's amazing just how much popcorn sticks to long hair and curtains and carpets and stuff. The cat was very sensible and steered well clear of us the whole damn weekend. I *still* can't remember who first thought of Andi's cleavage as a suitable receptacle for any remaining popcorn (at this point the bowl had been two-thirds emptied) but I sort of remember sharing an evil kind of grin with Alis; you know the one that says 'we probably shouldn't do this, but what the hell, it'll be fun' and you know what? It was... Everyone joined in - except Andi. Mind you, if she started shoving popcorn down her own cleavage, I might get worried. Then again, knowing *one* of the mental images that was floating round that weekend, maybe not.


Hmmm.....

Details will be made available on request...:-)))

Funnily enough popcorn dissolves if it lands in a Dragon, by the way (cue rousing chorus of 'Why am I not surprised!').

After we ran out of *decent* popcorn to throw at Andi, we decided to watch the Highlander blooper reel, which still made us laugh despite all of us (I'm not sure about James, as we had this tendency to ignore him) having seen it at least twice previously. Everyone decicded then that they were drunk enough to read my little offering that I'd written for the weekend. They even laughed! Soon after, Alis managed to regale us with the first instance of,

"Oh look....Popcorn!"

before she died, and had to go to bed. Then Darran finally died. James died on the couch where John was supposed to be sleeping, and Andi put this film with Stan Kirsch in it on the video. Then *she* disappeared, leaving me and John wide awake and in sole possession of the alcohol. Heh heh heh.

We got bored with Stan, (cries of 'Sacrilege!' will be ignored) and decided to play Sisters of Mercy and Mission videos instead (which I just *happened* to bring with me) 'til about 5 or 6 in the morning. At which time we had the 'is there any point in going to bed' conversation and decided no.

On to Saturday...if you dare!