Griffish Isles 2019, Friday: The Twibrella Saga

Here's the first part of my con report for Griffish Isles 2019. There'll be four of these: Friday, Saturday, Merch Haul and Final Thoughts.

The Friendship Express!

This would be the first convention I'd attended that wasn't UK PonyCon for almost five years – the last time was BUCK 2014. In fact, that had been the last time I'd been in Manchester at all, other than passing through on the train! For personal reasons unconnected to MLP I knew I'd have to come home at teatime on Saturday, so I was hoping Griffish Isles (hereafter simply "GI") would be worth the effort. I'll spare you the suspense: it was.

I started off in style, travelling the first few miles by steam train! I'd always wanted to head for a Pony convention like this, but I'd never quite managed it: UK PonyCon takes place after the local heritage railway's seven-day timetable has ended, while for BUCK I just had too much luggage. I had a tight connection at the other end, so I was relieved when the train arrived dead on time. Fluttershy certainly enjoyed the view of the animals in the local Safari Park.

Fluttershy travels in comfort

The weather I would arrive to in Manchester was forecast to be wet, so I'd bought a cheap purple umbrella – inevitably dubbed the "Twibrella". I managed to leave this at the station. Oh well, I thought, I can easily pick one up in Manchester. Silly me. There isn't a lot to report about the rest of my (non-steam!) train trip, though I did remember to watch an appropriate FiM episode on my phone: "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone". I quite enjoyed it, and it helped pass the time.

My train reached Manchester Piccadilly station in the midst of a torrential downpour, but I had a nice surprise when I got off – unbeknownst to either of us, I'd been sharing my train with Griffin. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to join him for a coffee, but we did at least chat briefly. I splashed through the puddles to get to the Arndale shopping centre. Considering it was rebuilt only 20 years ago (after the 1996 IRA bombing) the place is horribly designed, with a very confusing interior layout.

You can see why I call them Derpy Trams!

Still, I eventually found Poundland and bought Twibrella 2. Then it was back on the tram for the 15-minute ride to Salford Quays, the nearest tram stop to my hotel. On the way we passed both the Bridgewater Hall (venue for BUCK 2013) and Manchester Central (venue for BUCK 2014), which made me enormously nostalgic. I checked into the Travelodge, which was... well, much like any other budget hotel. Basic but serviceable. At least I was on the fifth floor, avoiding the worst of the road noise.

There wasn't much unpacking to do for a one-night stay. Then I found my plushies (Fluttershy and Octavia) and headed straight back to the tram stop. I wasn't expecting much food at the pre-meet pub, so I thought I'd have a snack beforehand. I had an hour or so spare, so I went to Costa – surprisingly uncrowded for 5pm on a Friday, maybe because it was Ramadan – and had a relaxing cappuccino and the requisite muffin (lemon). Sadly I didn't see any other obvious GI people around.

Scootaloo enjoys the view from my fifth-floor hotel window

Then it was time to head for The Waldorf, handily located near Piccadilly station. The GI people had booked us a function room upstairs, but quite a few of us got there early so had to wait outside for a while. Since the rain held off, this wasn't a hardship and allowed me to catch up with friends and have a good chat. HypnoHooves (the con chairman for GI) was there and kept us pretty well informed, and the mood was pleasant. PrinceWhateverer was also there, though I don't remember seeing him.

In we went at 6:30pm. The function room was fine: a little crowded, but not a total squash. It was noisy inside, but again not unbearably so. Griffin kindly bought me a cider (the beer from Prancing Pony brewery had gone off!) and some of us in Team Custard (yes, I'm responsible for that name) managed to grab a table. Everyone seemed in pretty good spirits, as you'd expect. There was even a free buffet laid on by GI, though with our numbers that meant about two sandwiches each.

The Waldorf (centre)
(pic © Gerald England; cc by-sa 2.0)

After a while, there was a call for quiet, so we knew an announcement was coming. I think most of us thought it would just be along the lines of "Welcome to GI and have a good time", but in fact it was something much better than that. Despite severe jetlag, we were getting an early appearance by none other than con Guest of Honour Lee Tockar! This was his first time in the UK, other than when passing through airports, so he wanted a) to have a good time and b) to listen to our accents!

I didn't take photos inside the pub, but some fun things did happen. I avoided the Cards Against Humanity games (I hate CAH, ponyfied or not) but I was amused to watch the darts – with the dartboard covered by someone's sketch of Chancellor Neighsay. It was also interesting to have Torben Goldmund at the table for a while; he gave us quite an eye-opening insight into the enormous amount of work necessary to be a full-time pro fandom artist.

Twibrella 2!

It was very nice, as it always is when you return to a con, to catch up with old friends and make a few new ones. Still, it was loud, and I was tired and needed at least a few hours' sleep before convention day proper on the morrow. So I bade my farewells at about ten and headed back to Piccadilly to catch the tram back. I picked up a sausage roll and some chocolate from the Co-op next to the station to tide me through until breakfast. Not the healthiest of snacks perhaps, but I wasn't going to worry too much right then.

Back at the Travelodge, although I was very tired I forced myself to get everything in order so that I could check out quickly the following morning. As things turned out, it was a good job I did. You'll see why in the next report. The road noise was constant, but I find this easier than on-off traffic and it wasn't that loud so I didn't have too much trouble getting to sleep. Things had started off pretty well, but it was Saturday that was going to be the really important one. More on that next time!