World Dip Con VII

by Larry Peery

It was written in the stars, so to speak, that this would be a great WDC for me --- if I ever got there! Consider my horoscope that appeared in the March issue of American Way, " Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) If you want to visit a Swiss Alpine chalet or the continent of Africa, finally get your PhD (or even your GED), or maybe write that book you've been talking about since forever, there is absolutely no sense in waiting for tomorrow. Put your money where your mouth has been and actually do it. That's the issue, though --- money. Spend it now. Go ahead. Just pretend there is no tomorrow." Or consider the cosmic influence of Hale Bopp; which looked pretty impressive as seen from 37,000 feet on our flight across Canada and the North Atlantic; and as effecting the behaviour of some loonies back in San Diego.

This then is the story of my trip in late March and early April, 1997, to WDC VII in Goteborg, Sweden; and the stops I made in Denmark and Sweden along the way. If you are primarily interested in my travel stories you should skip the sections dealing with the Con, but you'll miss some great stories if you do. If you aren't interested in my travel experiences; you'll want to focus on the Con related sections but again, if you do, you'll miss some great stories.

Just a word about how this report was prepared. I gave up trying to take notes on my travels and Dip adventures years ago. Instead I rely on my tape recorder for taking oral notes and recording appropriate sound bites, disposable cameras for taking pictures supplemented with postcards and posters when practical, and a nearly religious obsession with keeping every piece of paper that crosses my path during my trip. From these items I can usually reconstruct the trip in more or less detail when I get home. Unfortunately, Leif Bergman, the WDC VII Tournament Director, was doing the same thing during the Con, so I don't have very good records for the tournament events, including the games I played.

TABLE OF CONTENTS More of Larry's articles will appear in later editions of the Pouch
Larry Peery
(peery@ix.netcom.com)

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