Birmingham - AVIT UK 2005 Day -1

Awoke to a whole new group of roommates. Gathered up all my gear and headed over to the Euston Rail Station to get a ticket up to Birmingham. Finally got hold of Noemi and arranged to meet her for lunch. Headed over to Magma again to while away some time and pick up a few more DVDs. Jumped on the Tube and headed over to Noemi’s office. Was a little nervous as I headed off the edge of my map. Had no trouble finding the spot, but had to wait a bit for Noemi to finish up with a meeting.
Noemi finally can out and we talked for a bit about the setup she has to create promo DVDs in house. They are running Beta SP tapes through a Pinnacle MovieBox that spits out DV. Lots of room for improvement. Had a nice lunch at a local pub. Talked some about different ways to improve their output. Sadly, as soon as lunch was over I had to head back to Euston to get my train north.
The train was very well appointed, even in the Coach seats. Nice to have some power at my seat. Had a good two-hour ride through Central-Eastern England. When I alighted in Birmingham I was fortunate enough to overhear some of the AVIT organizers inquiring after maps at the information booth. Jim, Paul and Laura offered to give me a lift over to the event at the Custard Factory. They were also kind enough to turn me on to cheap accommodations not far away.
Took some effort to get over to the Hotel. People’s memory was a little hazy as to where it was exactly. Got set up in my little room in the Hotel that automatically cleans itself. Hiked back over to the Custard Factory to collect my luggage. Another round trip brought me back to see if I could lend a hand with setting up, but my services were not required. Back to the Formule 1 to work a bit before tucking in for the night.