Eurofurence 5 was a small con, only 120 attendees, held at a lakeside camp just outside Berlin. My friend Helen Lofting and I arrived at Tegal Airport in Berlin about 9.30 pm to be met by Cheetah, Tabalon, Pangur and Jumpy. Bless them, they took me at my word about the coffee and our first stop was the coffee shop in the airport. We'd no sooner arrived at the site than once again fresh coffee was in mugs for us! Half an hour later we were sat round a campfire chatting. A great beginning as I love campfires. I decided since it was only a few yards to walk to the fire rather than use the electric wheelchair they had very kindly hired for us since the airline from Amsterdam to Tegal wouldn't carry an electric chair on a Fokker 50 aircraft. Our UK one would, but not the 2nd leg folk.

Friday morning was as overcast and gray as in Norwich so it really felt like home! But it was warm. We had a floor show too - a garbage truck decided to turn round on the camp land not on the roadway and promptly, and predictably, got stuck in the sandy damp ground. It dug a deep hole for the back 2 sets of tyres before finally accepting what we all knew ten minutes earlier - that it was stuck.

As everyone got out their cameras, the crew lost what little patience they had left and growled at us. Well, can you blame us for wanting to photograph it? One nice con-goer got his 4 by 4 out but it was a small vehicle and its towing chain was too light for the job so he left them to call their depot and get another truck out to tow them. We didn't see it but apparently when it arrived an hour later, it went on the grass and got stuck too! Ah, well. Finally they got themselves out of the holes they'd dug!

The day progressed with several Special Interest Group sessions as this convention was what in the UK we'd call a Relaxacon - a con at which to relax. I have to say here that because of Helen and myself being there, everyone spoke English not German. Not for the first time has my lack of a good 2nd language been put to shame. Nearly everyone we met knew English and their command of our language would put some of our native born English speakers to shame! We went to one SIG on Role Game Playing which resulted in us playing a game on the Saturday though I only played for a few hours, a Big Cat one run by a fan called Bagheera which led to us visiting the Tiger Ranch where rescued tigers live out the rest of their lives in safety and comfortable surroundings, and then there was meet the guests.

Cheetah was crafty, he sneaked an interview with me! Nothing to worry about, it's just informal he said - well, it was, but when you sit facing all those folk wanting to hear you answers the questions put to you it can be a little daunting! However Cheetah had judged me rightly - had I known, I'd have panicked, as it was, there I was with my exits all blocked! Actually, joking aside he was very good at interviewing and seemed to ask questions people wanted answers to, mainly about my books. And as the audience was very friendly, I quickly got over my stage fright.

Next came my reading - a bit from the new novel, Stronghold Rising. Finding a section that would interest the people at EF5 and yet not give too much about the plot of the new novel away was not easy, but Helen helped me find a section in Chapter 1 for them . Despite the fact I am not very good at reading aloud my own work, they seemed to enjoy it.

Most of the day was spent sitting on the verandah meeting people, which for me made the con. It also meant folk could find me easily. One pleasure among many was meeting the folk I'd spoken to on the MUD's or had built up friendships with over e-mails. like Tabalon and Cheetah, and Miavir and Kai Silvermane.

Here he is in his costume which is a pun on Java coffee and was made for the week before when a group of them had been at a Live Action Role Playing convention. Every time I turned round and saw him I kept thinking it was one of my Sholans, especially as he wore black robes!

Saturday dawned as dull as before with added drizzle but no dampening of spirits from any of us. I had my writers' workshop which I'd chosen to do on how I construct a plot and how I use Mind Mapping - or flow charting - to examine my plot from every angle before deciding on who the novel is about and what happens to them in it. It's a great method for me as I can look at each character and each scene in this way and really examine as many story lines as possible before deciding on the one I want.

An excellent chef called Akeela did a barbecue that evening and once again before we could turn round, our meals were there for us without having to queue. For us this characterized the whole con - we met with the most wonderful friendliness and kindness from everyone and were really well looked after not only by the committee but everyone we came into contact with.

That evening was the Lottery draw and they chose me to pick the tickets. Apparently I did a wonderful job of picking the numbers! I got all the tens like 40, 50, 60 and so on in sequence, and the 100, 110 etc. too! Jokes about me being telepathic were flying! This was followed by the costume contest when the costume fans wore their fur suits. I only took a few photos which don't do them justice but here is another picture showing two of the many wonderful outfits.

Sunday dawned sunny but muggy and I woke with the Mother and Father of sinus headaches. Luckily it lifted just enough to go on the trip to the tiger ranch and meet up with Bagheera.

This is a picture of myself and Bagheera taken on Monday night in Berlin as the other pix I took are still waiting to be developed! Bagheera has been helping at the Leuzingers' Tiger Ranch, a Tiger Sanctuary for the last 4 years and has an amazing collection of pictures of these wonderful creatures. If you've seen my front page you'll know that Mr Leuzinger offered me the chance given very few folk, that of stroking one of the tigers. It has to be remembered that had I gone and stroked Tagil by myself, I would have had no hand left. It was only because Mr Leutzinger was there and told Tagil that it was all right for me to stroke him that I could, so don't anyone go thinking you can stick your hand in a cage and survive unhurt, you cannot. It takes years of working with them to do this alone, I was just very fortunate to be given the opportunity to meet Tagil up close.
 
 

Here you can see me being snuffled by him. What struck me was his size - his head was at least twice the size of mine, and his nose was dry not wet, yet cool when he rubbed it across the back of my hand which is what he's doing in this picture. It was an unbelievable experience.

The tigers are rescued from circuses and zoos who would have destroyed these healthy animals because either they were old like Tagil, or like Heidi who'd lost her tail because a keeper hadn't made sure her tail was clear of the panther cage when he was leash walking her. She had to have her tail amputated and was no longer cute enough for the zoo. Thankfully the Leutzingers took her in. The Ranch depends on donations and I hope to have a link for their page put up here soon so you can go look at them yourself.

Sunday and Monday nights we stayed in a hotel in the center of Berlin and were taken out to visit the sights and shops. This was our chance to spend some time with the committee, Tabalon, Cheetah, Jumpy, & Pangur, who had worked so hard to put on the con. Berlin is a lovely city which because of its size, they said 20 miles across, the Berliners put their forests in the city so they could be sure of plenty of trees. Flying over Berlin this is even more obvious. Squares of houses surround large areas of trees everywhere. And their climate means they can have pavement cafes and restaurants. A really lovely place.

We saw the new dome of the Reichstag and the Brandenburg GAte and the bricks set in the road where the city had been divided only 10 years before by the Berlin wall. All the statues had been regilded and glowed against the bright blue skyline. We visited the Cafe Mohering which has been there at least 100 years and watched Cheetah eat amazing ice creams while we drank amaretto flavored cappuccinos. And watched him fall asleep on his new plushy half life sized tiger in the back of the car!!

Here we are at the airport about to go home - well, I took the picture and Helen is in front. From behind Helen you have Bagheera, Tabalon, Shir Khan, then Cheetah on the seat and Pangur in the middle.

We had an amazing time in great company, met lots of nice people, ate some great food and drank some good coffee! If you get a chance to attend a Eurofurence Convention, my advice is go! You couldn't meet a nicer group of people.
 
 

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