Hugo, London and Stuff

Posting in the AM (my time) because the wifi was wonky last night. Besides, none of the tourist venues open until 10 AM anyway.

Hugos

I did not end up attending the awards ceremony. This meant that when the award ceremony was over and 3,000 thirsty fans hit the sadly understaffed convention bar, I had already gotten a drink. I checked the results vs. my votes, and generally I was on the money. I think the expansion of voters (over 3,000 ballots cast) meant that we got a slightly less refined view of fandom. I also note that the "sad puppies" slate got largely spanked. John Scalzi is, as usual, wise on this.

London

The nice thing about coming to London in August is that it is as warm and dry as England gets. The bad thing is that British kids also have the month off of school, so locations like the Imperial War Museum (yesterday's main venue) can be bedlam. (In joke - the museum is on the grounds of the old Bedlam mental hospital.) But the museum was worth the trip, and they had a special exhibit on WWI. I also got to see Westminster Abbey, which I missed on the last trip, and the Churchill War Rooms, which were open but not as well set up. Today I think I'm trying Buckingham Palace.

Stuff

The mess in Ferguson Missouri is all over international news. I note with some irritation that (by and large) the same people who were all for Cliven Bundy pointing guns at Federal agents to get out of paying rent are upset about protests over somebody getting shot.

End of Day, London

It's the end of the day here in London, and I am tired. I've seen everything I wanted to see, so that worked out well. Tomorrow it's train and ferry to Dublin, Ireland. Two items of note:

1) You should definitely go on the tour at Buckingham Palace. It's not cheap and only offered during the Queen's summer vacation in Scotland, but damned is the Palace impressive! The place is huge, heavily decorated, and comes with it's own art gallery! That gallery alone is worth the trip.

2) When I bought my ticket, I ended up with 90 minutes to kill. I walked into the lobby of the Rubens at the Palace, an older (1912) hotel. I had a snort and a light lunch at The Cavalry Bar. It proved a great place to kill some time.