Yesterday was a very cool day, although, if I’m honest, there isn’t too much for me to note on here. Watching TV yesterday morning, I got wind that there was a big drag queen convention somewhere in London. Naturally that made me curious, so I thought I’d look it up to see where it was. It turned out it was at the Excel Centre, just over the river, so after breakfast I headed over there.

I didn’t know what to expect, or even whether I’d be let in given I didn’t have a ticket. However, getting there I found there were two conventions happening simultaneously at the Excel: Rupaul’s drag con and MegaCon Live, a huge exhibition of popular culture. Both interested me so I decided to check both out. Without going into detail, I’m getting rather good at blagging my way into events which I don’t have a ticket for.

The rest of my afternoon was spent switching between two of the massive exhibition halls of the Excel Centre. There was so much to see in both: I’ve never seen so many guys wearing ridiculously high heels, or so much manga. It struck me as an incredible celebration of two subcultures, both rather different, but both incredibly vibrant. There was so much to see; so many stalls, all packed with weird, wonderful things, from both the worlds of pop culture and crossdressing. Once again I was reminded why I love London: where else can you find people in Bo Peep costumes sharing coffee with guys dressed as Batman? The highlight of my day, though, was catching up with Davina De Campo. She’s now a famous drag queen, but I know her from uni. When she was just called Owen, she was a year above me at MMU, and I remember her wearing all kinds of crazy things at the Wednesday night discos – rather like me. It was good to catch up with her and reminisce, however briefly.

I love this city. It is a place where you never know what is going to happen. I woke up yesterday thinking it would be just a humdrum Saturday, but it turned out to be deliciously vibrant and packed with culture. While it might not quite have involved one of my big, primary obsessions - I will always cherish the memory of going to Destination Star Trek at the Excel Centre in 2014 – nonetheless I got to see some truly awesome things and meet some incredible people. Surely that is what life in this great world city is about.