Crossroads Convention

[dizzojay]

So that was Crossroads. sasha_dragon and I booked it almost a year ago, as soon as we knew the British Men of Letters were going to be there.  And they were accompanied by convention stalwarts such as Mark Sheppard, Ruth Connell and the gorgeous Kim Rhodes.  There were also a few much smaller guests, such as Erica Cerra who plays Duma the angel and Magda Apanowicz, who was only in one episode of Supernatural, but has the enviable title of being the only woman to attempt tentacle sex with a tied-up Jensen (well, that we know of, anyway!)

I arrived at the Hilton around 2pm on Friday after a two and a half hour drive.  I met sasha_dragon in the bar, and while she very kindly went and got the drinks in, I availed myself of the little girls room.

As I was walking back from said room, I heard a man's voice say 'Hi Jane'.  When I looked up, it was Adam Fergus sittng at a table with David Haydn-Jones and Kim Rhodes having a drink and a spot of lunch!

I had a brief friendly exchange, then I left them alone to have their lunch in peace.

Shortly afterward, we were joined by chellexxx and then the fun began.

There was nothing going on until the opening ceremony at 7.30pm, so we checked into the room and grabbed some dinner.  This gave us a great opportunity to catch up, and the conversation mainly revolved around life in general, Supernatural (well, duh), and ideas for fangirl verse stories.




And here we are, the three Amigos ...

Friday night, waiting for the opening ceremony



Saturday night, walking across the NEC grounds from the restaurants back to the hotel.




The Crossroads event is run by an organisation called Starfury.  There is a feel of the old Rogue Asylum conventions about them except that they are smaller, more civilised and WAY better organised.  There is a comfortable familiarity because there are so many familiar faces, people I remember seeing way back when I cut my convention teeth on Asylum cons, and that's nice, really really nice.

The queues were miniscule compared to asylum and controlled brilliantly.  I didn't feel as if I was in a Black Friday scrum, I felt I was in a nice British queue, where everyone smiles, chats and says 'excuse me'!

And the guests, as always, were charming.  Mark did his usual routine of acting like a grumpy, taciturn git, then made everyone cry with a truly beautiful speech of tribbute to fans and the Supernatural family.  Kim Rhodes was her usual fabulous, sweary, sparkling, motivational self.  Honestly, if anyone wanted a female role model, you could do a hell of a lot worse.

The British Men of Letters were hilarious and adorably risque; apparently in the UK they feel like they have more freedom to 'plumb the depths' than they feel they have at some other cons they do.  Jensen's musk was mentioned, in reverent tones, more than once, as was a Ketch/Dean ship.  Apparently David is not only aware of AO3, he's familiar with it!!!!  Yikes!

So yes, all in all, a lovely weekend to round off my Supernatural cons for 2019!

As promised, here are the mugshots...
In the end, I decided not to go with the signing sheets I'd made and got my photos signed for a change!

Mr Ketch is rocking that biker jacket!



Love my British Men of Letters



Adam looking very dapper!



I never miss the opportunity to cosy up to Crowley!



And gorgeous Kim Rhodes - a truly magnificent woman!



I did get Ruth to sign my artwork and she really liked it - she was asking about the medium and the process, and that's bad news for the person behind me in tthe queue because I can yak for hours about it!!!

Comments

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Aw so nice to see Alison and Michelle! And go on, admit you were screaming inside when Adam not only recognised you but remembered your name! LOL

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

I might have done a little internal somersault or two :D

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

What a lovely time❤️ So envious.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

It was very lovely. There's no time so well spent as time with friends :)

[fanspired]

You're on first name terms with Adam Fergus? O_O Cool! I love the BML boys, too. They were delightfully risque when they came to Oz, too. Or, to put it another way, downright dirty! :P (And, I suspect, a little bit pissed after a long lunch :P) I note that all the strict rules the convention organisers impose on fans, about not mentioning sex religion or politics, don't seem to apply to the guests :P

I must confess, even though I didn't truly believe it, when I first saw something about a Crossroads convention in Birmingham, I did idly wonder if it might be a convention for Crossroads fans, and whether than was still going. My mum was a big fan back in the day. It was quite funny, but the one I really miss is Acorn Antiques :P

[sasha-dragon.livejournal.com]

LOL! a Crossroads convention what a thought! I can see a room full of fans all wearing those green woollen hats going on about Miss Diane. My mum was a big fan, it was the best comedy on TV, with it's wobbly sets and Amy Turtle blundering around. They don't write em like that anymore, thank god.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Heehee, could you imagine it - a Benny-con! :D

[fanspired]

I'm not sure they ever wrote them like that. The actors got their lines wrong too often to tell :P

I loved Jasper Carrot's meditation on Benny:

"He troubles me. I mean, is he really like that? Cos, if he's not, he's a bloody good actor . . . And what's a bloody good actor doing on Crossroads?!"

:D

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

I remember that JC skit. I remember it practically word for word! :D

[fanspired]

You get bonus points if you can perform the mole sketch :)

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

With the swivel chair and the miners' lamp? XD

[fanspired]

Kaboom!!! :D

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, delightfully risqué sums it up perfectly!, and I think everyone in the room slunk down in their seat just a little bit when David H-J indicated that he'd been snooping around A03!! XD

Ah yes, Crossroads - we're showing our age now. I remember it well, with that twangy guitar theme tune, and the scenery that was more animated than the actors!

[fanspired]

I loved the Paul McCartney remix, but I may have been the only one :S

[sasha-dragon.livejournal.com]

Thank you for putting up with me all weekend *G* and what a wonderful weekend it was. It was a small but perfectly formed convention, and I can't wait for Crossroads 3, and you needn't have worried about the person behind in in the queue for Ruth, I really enjoy hearing you talk art with the guests.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

It was a brilliant weekend, I really did enjoy it. It was just busy enough to be fun, but relaxing as well.
It was great to see you and Michelle - I hope we can catch up before XRoads 3!

[a-newdream4xmas.livejournal.com]

The pictures are lovely. I am glad that Ruth enjoyed your art of her. I also love your Scooby shirt.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)
Yes, it was a great event!

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

So cool that Adam remembered you. I would be doing internal somersaults as well, while trying to remain unaffected on the outside. I finally get to meet the BMOL guys this year. Looking forward to it.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Ah, lucky you - have fun!
They are delightful - you will fall in love with them, exactly the same way I did!