When my alarm clock went off around 7:30 the next morning, I moaned piteously. It usually takes me a long time to get to sleep at night and, with all of the excitement of Saturday, I didn’t fall asleep until some time after 4:00! I whimpered as I dragged my sorry butt out of bed and headed for the shower. We had agreed to meet for breakfast at 8:45, I believe, since the buses were arriving at 10:00 a.m. sharp.
I arrived in the lounge before the others, so I talked to a couple of other con attendees, who were watching this ghastly children’s show. It seemed to be a cross between Xena and The New Adventures of Robin Hood. The woman I spoke to informed me that the dog was the one with all the brains, and I could well believe it! *g* Fortunately, the others soon arrived for breakfast. However, a sorrier sight you could not imagine...
Everyone shuffled in looking like death! I saw red, puffy eyes with dark circles...I shudder to think what I must have looked like! Anyway, our sorry group somehow made it to the dining room. Some people, like Kirsty, were still missing in action. We could only hope and pray that they would find the strength to eat breakfast...
A map of Leigh Woods - One of two major locations used for Sherwood Forest
My spirits were lifted briefly when I went to the buffet and some people at a nearby table called me over so that they could look at my Hooded Man t-shirt. It was a group of attendees from Belgium (Eric de Bock, Sven and Saskia) and they wanted to know where I had found my t-shirt . I informed them that I had bought it at the British Show in Toronto and, as the t-shirt had a “Made in Canada” label, it would probably be a hard item for them to find. One of them replied sadly that they couldn’t find things like that in Belgium, so I tried to cheer them up by telling them that the amount of RoS merchandise was growing, especially online. Then I returned to my table with a bowl of cereal and some orange juice.
Oh, you brave, foolish travellers!
The forest...the-the trees... The TREES! THE TREES!
As I watched the Kelly sisters demolish a plate full of eggs, sausages and potatoes, I again marvelled at the wonders of the British stomach. I had to work at convincing my own stomach that I was hungry, hence the cereal. However, my stomach did wake up. I even managed some toast.
Soon Kirsty (I learned later that she had driven Magdalena to a bus depot) and our other fallen companions arrived, and we moaned about having to go on the locations tour. Then we looked at our watches and hurriedly left the restaurant so that we wouldn’t be late for said locations tour.
Soon we were piling on the buses. I ended up sitting beside a nice girl from Wales. We chatted pleasantly and watched the scenery roll by. I started to feel happy that I had managed to roll out of bed. My excitement grew as our bus reached its first destination and a tall wall of trees flanked either side of the road. I just couldn’t wait to tramp through Leigh Woods! However, we ran into a slight hitch. The first bus had gone missing...
Now, the truly bizarre thing was that (a) this bus had left before our bus had and (b) was transporting the people who were supposed to know where they were going! Poor Janet tried to maintain order as we waited outside the gate. However, she was soon forced to admit that the first bus wasn’t going to appear any time soon. She found someone to open the gate and we poured in.
One of the first things we passed was this charming English cottage. Anita and I oohed and ahhed, then she took a picture. I waited to find something a bit greener, then went a bit wild. I mean, it’s not as if there are any trees in Canada, right? *g*
Because we didn’t have the benefit of a guide like Phil Rose, who never forgets anything, or Terry Walsh, who can make up a suitable story instead, we could only imagine where certain scenes might have been shot. We passed a pond that I thought they could have used in such episodes as “The Witch of Elsdon,” but I’m pretty sure it was much too small. Nevertheless, I wasn’t the only person who could imagine outlaws suddenly emerging from the trees that surrounded us. I also began to understand where they found all the mud for the mudwrestling scene in “Alan A Dale,” though my shoes fared better than I thought they would.
