So. The Vancouver trip went well... then it was on to Denver by way of LAX... good job I like flying (or at least getting to new places eventually).

Denver was warmer than I thought it would be in October and though not quite as hot as LA it was in the late 70s most of the three days I was there (It seems I bring good weather with me whenever I go somewhere, so ya boo sucks to the naysayers ;) )

Holly picked me up from the airport late on the Wednesday and we went to her new house which, like a tardis, is humble on the outside but is much bigger on the inside. There's a lot of work to do, but it's already looking fine. A brief chat and a beer and then Holly headed to bed as she had to be up in the morning to speechify to up-and-coming journos at the college (My advice to them: 'Don't bother! the pay is lousy, the hours are terrible and, frankly, I don't need the competition!' I stayed up a bit, unwound and then went to sleep watching TV shows on my laptop.

Thursday and the aforementioned speech apparently went well and I got to meet more of Holly's editorial team on the now famous (nay infamous) Collegian - for which she acts as official advisor and which has had its time in the national (US) spotlight recently when their editor ran the following headline "Tazer This. Fuck Bush!" (*Holly - as advisor - ironically not being forewarned of such before it happened)

Holly had the rest of the days I was there off, so they were spent exploring the local scenery - that even Holly was new to - and chilling out. I rode her new horse Mariah (a lovely animal and very tolerant of me) and we had a few drinks with friends Kit and Ariel who swung by to see the new place. Kit especially helped with the removal and remodelling of one of the bedroom doors. My favourite line of the Friday evening was when we met several of Holly's friends in a bar and, upon meeting Kit and Ariel, one said matter-of-factly: 'A stuntman married to a ballerina... boy, your sex life must SO not suck!' Priceless.

After too short a stay I was back on a plane to LAX and then the UK ( good job I...see above etc etc). Made it home late Sunday and slept for ten hours straight.

Dammit. No space left to mention the Minature Sicilian Guard Donkeys or the Dogs of Unusual Shaving. Well, apparently, just enough.

Check out a wider range of pix at: http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q146/JohnMosby/Americana%20and%20Canadicana/

Well, in the way that trips often do, time has flown and I'm only a few hours away from leaving Vancouver. This past weekend I was eMCeeing the HLWW8 event here. Eighteen months of planning and much like Christmas it's ages of anticpation and then it's all over again so quickly.

Being the eMCee is something of both a fun and thankless task. Fun in the sense that you get a completely unique insight into the event both before and after and thankless because... well, really the same reason - you aren't there as a paying fan nor a guest, so you have to balance deftly between the two. However according to most people I talked to, I did a decent job. My only moments of frustration were the od times when the panels didn't flow too well into each other and that was often only because the guests were stull en route to the backstage area - such is the way of cons and the fact that we ran almost to time every day except Sunday (when we lost the final panel to accomodate leaving guests and thus got back on schedule) is somethign to be proud of.

The Jim Byrnes concert and guest cabaret were quite amazing. Though I had the outline of a new skit - as discussed with Carmel - David A had been persuaded to write a new Duncan/Amanda scene and so that was used instead (no problem... I'd rather see David's work over mine anyday!). Equally, as carmel wanted to introduce some of the acts herself, I relinguished the role of eMCee for a few hours and enjoyed the event as a nomral con-goer. Rick Faraci and partner Sharon joined us for the evening show and as mentioned, it went down really well.

It as strange doing a 3-day event and I felt totally drained (in a good way) by the time it was all done. There were moment sof drama when Adrian's sword slipped from his hands and caught Sue's camera, but the fluke accident wasn't as bad as some people initially reported - still it was a wake-up call as to how dangerous swords can be.

There won't be another HLWW con for a long while now. That may be no bad thing as this event set a new standard that it would be hard to surpass in content and number/quality of guests. Give it a couple of years and we'll all be refreshed. Hopefully the mutually fun and reciporocal relationship between HLWW and me will continue and I'll be back to eMCee whenever that is...

Now staying at actor/stuntman/really big guy Rick Faraci's house, I'll be off on a plane in around 12hrs and on to Denver via LAX...
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

(Above photo courtesy of Sharon Smyth)

I never knew it was so hard sending things throughthe post. To save suitcase space I decided to send some clothes back to the UK -being greener than the Hulk on environmental issues, I decided to use the same box that John Bierly had sent me some stuff from Indiana in the day before.

But noooooooo.

Seems while the industrial tape he secured it with was okay from Indiana, the LA post office didn't like it one bit. So had to get a whole new box and send this morning. Except.... they didn't like where I'd put my return adddress, so had to write it out again. And fill inanew form. All this to send MYSELF someting.

*sigh*

Now typing this atLAX en route to Vancouver. Hope I don't have similar problems to my parcel!

Yes, I'm off again. I'm on one of those jaunts that leads the uninitiated to muse 'If he gets paid so little, how can he afford all these trips???' I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Fair to say that it's totally legitimate, that I earn my keep and the closest I get to espionage is to watch a special sneak preview of the upcoming series of 'Spooks'. In all seriousness, I don't know how I do it either. I think having a very small, but wonderful set of friends who I can pay back in kind if not always in $s, working my ass off and praying to St Christopher all probably helps a little...

I'm only in LA for a few days this time. On Wednesday I continue the trip up to Vancouver for official duties at the HLWW con, so this particular leg is the less work-intensive. In fact Saturday night saw Kerry and myself invited to one of those beach/bonfire parties that would be ridiculously impractical in England but are just lovely in California. There was beach, bonfires, guitars a moon and the ocassional VERY low-flying jumbo-sets which were so close I'm pretty sure I saw someone waving. Nothing quite like singing 'Free-Falling' in chorus as the marshmallows burn slowly (actually quite spontaneously) on the fire.

Sunday was a day or rest. 'Day of rest...' meaning I got up late and then we headed down to the Robin Hood pub near Sherman Oaks. Mark Ryan had kindly sorted out a couple of mates to join us for Sunday Lunch (Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Beef, peas....yum!). These mates were (drum-roll, please) Ray Winstone (currently filming Indiana Jones) and Jason Connery. Cult TV fans will know they all starred in Robin of Sherwood together many moons ago and they've remained firm friends. The resulting chat, covering bears, rhinoseroses (rhinosceri?), CGI, stage-school, Doncaster, pink shirts and Yorkshire Puddings was absolutely ysterical and was taped for posterity... and will feature in an upcoming issue of Impact. All great stuff.

Next couple of days should be fairly relaxing. No major interviews planned for LA, hopefully some may work out for Vancouver.

LA. I am SO meant to live here.