My sat nav arrived on Friday morning, so I made the late decision to go up to Chocfest in York. This meant spending a lot of time on Friday night wrestling with the windows installation disk in order to transfer the maps on to the unit, and also baking a cake for the Chocfest Chocolate Cake Challenge.

Oh, one other thing it involved was getting up really early on Saturday. The plan was to leave at about 7 to allow four or so hours to get up there. I ended up actually leaving at a quarter to eight because it took so long to defrost the car, which was frozen both inside and out. The roads were clear though, and I made it to the site by about a quarter to twelve (having hit the outskirts of York just after eleven and getting stuck in traffic). I had “fun” parking and headed in with the cake to surprise people (since I had been adamant that I wasn’t going).

There then followed the usual things that happen at conventions: lots of catching up with people; sitting around; eating; drinking; eating some more; a bit of juggling (but not too much); I actually went to Ian’s workshop (it was good); a bit more food then the show.

The theme for the show appeared to be black; with all bar one (very bright exception) of the performers dressed in black. Against a black backdrop. I suspect many photos will be of the “spot the head and arms” variety. There was some good stuff in there (The Hit Men, David Leahy, Erik Borgman, Rachel’s hula, Speed Kendama) and some OK stuff which didn’t blow me away. Serious props go to Plumsie for coming back in the second half and getting through it, I don’t think I’d have had the guts. The highlight (other that the high vis clothing) was definitely Erik, not just for the skills, but for the patter and timing. Obviously a well seasoned act, but still fresh and enthusiastic, and above all funny.

My cake didn’t win, but I liked it, so that’s the main thing, and after the show it was back to Anna’s house for the watching of Japanese game shows and eating of more chocolate.

I slept well in a proper bed (yay), but everyone still got up way too early for Sunday lunch, so we went juggling in the cemetery first, had fun with air vents and generally mucked around a bit before heading back to the pub for food.

Dragging myself away for the long drive back was hard, and tiredness did kick in en route (long week), but sugar sustained me back to open up juggling before getting a sugar crash at about half eight. Went home, half unpacked, editing photos and went to bed. The router was playing up yet again, so couldn’t upload photos until this morning, but can now be found here https://www.fakoriginal.com/fak’s_fotos/Chocfest_2008/index.html