I started the last full day by attending the short course on erotica. It was going to be that or copywriting, but I thought the latter might be a bit dry for the final subject of the year. In the first session we learned about good and bad word choices, mainly by shouting them across the room. We also found out about the importance of plot and character, good titles, and choosing the right metaphors. Animal metaphors are a definite no. In the second we had a competition to see who could come up with the best title. I came second with "Position Filled" and won a bar of chocolate.
The final poetry session included a read-around of work we'd produced during the week. I chickened out, and I'm glad I did as I only had very rough drafts and some of the work read out was extremely polished. I left with lots of ideas, and some poetry bits and pieces to work on.
After the final session was the AGM, and there were noticeably fewer people in the hall than before. It was short, and we collected the all-important dates for next year. I went to pack, so that I had less to do later in the evening or the following morning.
There was a slightly anti-climactic air around the Hayes after the AGM, and a sense of winding down. It was all over bar the parties. The final speaker was Helen Lederer, who had the audience in stitches. I went to the computer room afterwards, to fill some time before the Last Night Disco at 11pm - I needed to be doing something because if I stopped I knew I'd be asleep long before then!
The disco took a while to get going, as these things do, but soon there was a room full of writers dancing away as they tried to make the night last as long as possible. A lot of others were in the bar doing the same thing. We were joined by a giant chicken, who lead a group in "Oops Upside Your Head". Unfortunately I'd long since killed the battery in my camera, so no pictures.
I finally called it a night at 12.30am, only because Friday involved an early start and a long train journey. Even so, I was tempted to stay up and make the week last as long as I could.