Vickie's report (Extremely long-please forgive me!)

[katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)]

Vickie here. Chris & I got home very late last night (Thursday) and have
spent the day resting and recurperating! What a long strange week it's
been! We haven't completely caught up with reading Love-Hounds but I'm
sure that the highlights have been gone over multiple times. I'll just
start typing and see what happens.

Our trip to England was wonderful. We flew to Miami and our connecting 
flight was on time. A particularly wonderful thing about the second part of
the flight was that the plane flew up the entire length of the eastern
seaboard, just off the coast. I sat on the left side of the plane in a 
window seat so I was able to see and recognize most of the major cities 
we flew over. Washington, Baltimore, New York, Providence and Boston-at
night too! Boston is especially beautiful from the air at night. I slept
a little but not much. Chris didn't get any sleep at all. It was light
when we were getting close to London and the clouds parted to let us
see the beautiful countryside. We were overwhelmed at how GREEN it is.
Seriously, we honestly didn't expect it to be so colorful this late in
the year. We held hands as the plane began descent and kept sqeezing 
harder and harder the closer to the ground we got. When we touched down
I started crying. England! (OHMYGODI'MINENGLAND!!)

The first thing I bought when we got off the plane was a Kit-Kat (Kate's
favorite snack) and I was suprised at the red packaging. If I'd known
that they look different over there I'd have brought some American Kit-Kats
with me to give to Kate. They taste the same though-yum!

We met up with Ed & Larry and rode the train into Victoria Station. On the
way there we were joking about how EVERYTHING looked wonderful ("what a
beautiful embankment" "what interesting brick" "what a fantastic ditch")
even though we could see why Prince Charles is so pissed off about the
ugly Bahaus architecture. :-)

At Victoria station Larry spotted a couple of Katefans who were on their
way to the convention. The guy was from Manchester and the woman was from
London. They both had tons of Kate buttons on. 

We took the tube to Earl's Court and went to our place of abode for the
next week, the Ann Elizabeth House. There we met Jorn, Phil, & Footah (aka
Gregory Bossert). It's so GREAT to finally meet people whose names I'd
been seeing for months now. We cleaned up and hopped on the tube to
Hammersmith. It was raining lightly and the line was already long. We
hadn't gone very far when we spotted other Hounds. ANDY!! Yay! We hadn't
seen each other for years! It was a very emotional moment for me to see 
Andy again but I didn't have time to let it get to me because then we were
being introduced to lots of other Hounds. Meredith! Pablo! Graham! Justin!
Mark! We met more inside (Jem! SO glad you were there! Neil! Stephen C.!
Colin! Sakari! Thanks for the tape! Christer! Ryan! Chris Ridd! Stephen T.!
Kimon!) and some of you I didn't meet until after the convention was
over. Evan! I'm deeply, sincerly sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to
you or even say good bye. Andy Semple-I agree with you about how great
Kate gatherings are! I'm sure I missed meeting some of you altogether.
Declan-were you there?? Michael Butler-were you there?? Walter Roberson-
were you there?? I'm going to post my list again to update those people 
who did make it.

When we finally got inside and bought our tickets they were giving away
free Kate posters (a shot from RUTH) and buttons. I spotted Peter Morris
and had another very emotional moment. We've been friends for about 10
years and we finally got to meet in person! He was the first Katefan I
was ever in contact with and has always been very special to me. I'm the
first American Katefan he was ever in contact with so he says that makes me
special to him too. He was very busy handing out programs so I let him get
back to work. I wandered over to the merchandise booth and stood in line 
for nearly an hour. The people working the booth were swamped but it was
fantastic that no one was impatient, no one was upset or anything of the
sort. Everyone was as nice as could be. The merchandise there was amazing!
Stuff that I'd thought was rare and priceless was being sold for extremely
reasonable prices. The original tour booklet sold for 3 pounds!!!! It
wasn't complete (I have an original and it came with folded posters) but
a collector could have sold it for a hundred times more. Posters, T-shirts,
buttons, old KBC newsletters, all kinds of things were available and all
very cheap. The most expensive thing was the T-shirts at 8 pounds. Well
worth it! They definitely did a wonderful service to the fans.
Krys later told us that most of the people working the merchandise booth
were not Katefans because they wouldn't be as likely to get into time-
consuming conversations with the fans. Plus they wouldn't feel like they
were missing everything by having to stay in the lobby while the program
was going on.

I missed the first part of the program because I was still in the merchan-
dise line but I heard David Cross say that there were fans here from all
over the world, including America (lots of cheers at that!).

The three-part video presentation (put together totally by David Cross)
was wonderful. The live performances I could have done without, except
for a group of dancers who did a routine to This Woman's Work that was
great. There were two breaks during the day that allowed people to talk
and wander around without fear of missing anything. That was an especially
nice touch. During the first break an announcement was made that all the
Love-Hounds were in one place and we all cheered! That helped some people
find us anyway.

I was worried about the giveaways when I found out that the "winners"
had to answer a question before they got a prize. I was terrified
that my number would be drawn and I'd get a question that my mind would 
go blank on. I shouldn't have worried because everyone was shouting
out the answers anyway. I was SO happy that Jorn and Neil won prizes!!
Good for them!! 

Kate was (of course) the highlight and when she walked on stage I got
goosebumps and tingles went up my spine. I was fairly close to the stage
and I took as many photos as I could. I haven't had them developed yet.
I have to make a confession. I had a recording walkman with me and it was
all ready to go, but when she came out I was so excited and flustered
that I completely forgot I had it! About halfway through the q&a session
Chris reminded me and I turned it on. I feel so stupid! I just can't
BELIEVE that I forgot all about it! I hope someone else was recording.

When Kate was asked about touring I could feel a collective groan because
she's had to answer that question so often and you'd think Katefans would
know enough to not even bring it up. Silly me. When she said they were
hoping to do some dates at the end of next year the NOISE in that place
probably shook the foundation! 

It truly was a magic day and it was an indescribable feeling being with
over a thousand other people who all felt the magic too. 

When it was all over I found out that Jorn hadn't gotten the video he'd
won signed. I told him to take it back to get signed and he started to
walk away. Thinking that he'd actually get to meet Kate I gave him one of
my Suspended In Gaffa flyers to give to her, not expecting to get it back.
He didn't get to meet Kate but someone took the video and flyer backstage
to Her. When Jorn got back his video it was signed and with it was my
flyer--signed! She'd obviously read it because it says "Programmed by Vickie"
and it was signed "To Vickie-Lots of Love-Kate Bush"! I'd just wanted her to
have it. I'd never had the nerve to write her about my show. I'd always been
afraid to tell her because I thought she'd disapprove of me using the name.
Well, now she knows about it and if she disapproved, I doubt that she would
have signed the flyer and given it back. I'm so HAPPY!! We were also able
to get Neil's prize signed. I guess none of the prize winners actually got
to go back and meet Kate. Not even the quiz winners, because they were
standing where Jorn, Neil, Justin & I were, waiting to get their signed
Box Sets.

After the convention was over 21 of us went to eat at an Italian restaurant.
Neil had to go back to Oxford but what happened to the rest of YOU???
Pablo? Steve Fagg? Chris Ridd? Stephen Thomas? Cynthia?
I'm sorry you couldn't stick with the rest of us. After eating there was a
mix up, and half the group went to a pub while half of us were left standing
outside the restaurant talking. Andy, Chris and Meredith were going to
go to Peter & Krys' house but it didn't quite work out. It was too late and
the trains were about to stop running. It's too bad because Andy and Meredith
had to go leave the next day. I was going to stay with the Love-Hounds, but
as it turned out most left to go home before we could meet up again. I didn't
get to say goodbye to a lot of you. I feel so bad about that. We then went
to the hostel that Graham and Meredith were staying at and talked until
the place closed. Those who had to make the last trains out left and the rest
of us found a wonderful little restaurant where we were allowed to sit by
ourselves downstairs and talk and eat and play Kate's music on my boom box.
I don't even know what time we finally went to bed. It had been one of the
very best days of my life and I'll never forget it.

The next day we got up and went to Peter & Krys' house. I'm glad we went
but I'm sorry we missed seeing and saying goodbye to the Love-Hounds that
left Sunday and Monday. Ed has already written about the visit but I wanted
to add that Monday morning we did NOT get to go to the Farm, just in case
some people are wondering. It was very nice of Peter & Krys to put us up
for the night and we didn't want to put them in an awkward position of 
having to say no if we asked them to take us there. We came back by train
and later that evening met Krys, Peter and David in Leicester Square to
see a movie. We saw Ghost, of all things, but it was interesting seeing
it in such a HUGE theater (the Empire) and seeing the big differences
between English and American movie theaters. For one thing, seats are
reserved which is the strangest thing I've ever seen. Odd! Later that
evening we went record shopping with KP&D. We spent nearly the last of
our money buying a PAL version of The Whole Story in anticipation of
the day when we'll get a PAL VCR. 
Chris and I found a wonderful fish & chips shop in Leicester Square. I've
become addicted to fish & chips-now I have to find a place in Chicago
that makes them English style.

Tuesday Larry, Chris & I just went walking and walking and walking. A high-
light was strolling alongside the Thames listening to Happy Rhodes. Later
that evening we went back to the hostel and had the enormous pleasure of
watching Episode 1.5 of Twin Peaks. Watching TP in England was definitely
one of the major highlights of the trip! I'm certain that Kate watches it.
It's exactly the kind of thing she would LOVE!!!!

Wednesday Larry, Jorn, Chris & I went walking. We went to Oxford Street
and visited the most wonderful store in the Universe (almost)-the Virgin
Megastore! I could have spent two days and very large amounts of money in
there-if I'd had either. Jorn was very kind to us and lent us the money to
buy three things we lusted after (One From the Heart soundtrack on CD and
two Mary Coughlin CDs that I'd never seen before-Neil, I don't need those
tapes now, thank you anyway). We hit a few more record stores and a bookstore
that was very large. In one of the record stores we found cassettes of the
Castaway soundtrack and Larry and Jorn bought the ones they had. Luckily,
Chris and I had bought the album when it first came out. I'm very happy for
Larry and Jorn. According to the guy at the shop the soundtrack is very
rare now. 
 Jorn wanted to try to catch a very strange circus so we parted company.
Since Jorn, Chris & I had to leave early Thursday morning the three of us
decided to stay up all night so we'd be sure not to miss our flights. Larry
was tired so he stayed at the hostel while Chris and I went to eat. We met
up with Jorn on Waterloo Bridge at 11:30 and walked for hours. We walked
from Waterloo to the City of London and across the Tower Bridge. We had to
take a cab from there to Trafalgar Square and then a bus back to Earl's
Court. We washed up, packed up and left. Larry went with us to Victoria 
Station.  Our flight back was uneventful. It was nice to get back home but
we'd go back in a second. Chris and I both fell in love with London and
it's a shame we had to leave just as we were starting to figure it all out.

I'm sorry this is so long. I've edited it down quite a bit already so it
could have been worse! I just had to get the major things down. We had
a great time! Attending the convention and meeting the other Love-Hounds
was a dream come true! I'm sorry I couldn't spend more time with all
of you who were there. You're all very wonderful indeed.
To those who couldn't make it, I know most of you would have gone if you
could have afforded it &/or had been able to get the time off work or
school. You were in our hearts.

She Really Is!

Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
katefans@world.std.com