This article is classified "Real"
The Britannia Adelphi in Liverpool is a very high-ceilinged hotel, with
lots of interesting chandeliers. At Sou'Wester (1994 British National
Science Fiction Convention, or Eastercon), fandom put this space to good
use.
One of the future conventions being advertised was Inconceivable,
(Inconsequential II). This is a convention based on humour in science
fiction, and run by mostly ZZ9 and Octarine [1] members. They brought
along a helium gas cylinder and balloons printed with their logo. At
first the balloons were tied to the desk to make it more conspicuous but
later on in the con flyers [2] were tied to them. By cutting off a
certain amount of string, the flyers could be made to hover about the
convention at eye level. They would rise and fall depending on air
currents and temperature. Next a T-shirt was filled with balloons and
tied to another bunch. This was a much more impressive demonstration of
fannish aeronautics.
After the T-shirt escapade the team decided this was not enough. Fans
often have a soft spot for fluffy stuffed animals [3]. They can even
buy convention memberships for their toys in order to receive the
progress reports for them. A small toy hedgehog was soon to be seen
floating around the room to the cries of "It's behind you!"
The Adelphi has a policy of keeping anything it finds in its chandeliers
and so an attempt was made to retrieve lost balloons with another balloon
tied to a long piece of string and covered with sticky tape.
[1] "ZZ9" is the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Fan Club. (The name is
based on the location of the Earth: ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.) "Octarine" is
the Terry Pratchett fan club. Octarine is the colour of magic. I am
not a member of either.
[2] Flyers are small pieces of paper with advertising on them, given out
to anyone likely to be interested. Similarly fly posters. They do
not actually fly unless made into a paper plane, or transported by air.
[3] We are of course talking about toys, not trophies. ZZ9 sell
Beeblebears. These are teddy bears with two heads and three arms.