THURSDAY
Yes, Opening Day is Thursday, and no extra charge I think! More fun, more action! Arriving at 4 o'clock, I eagerly checked in, took a few photos on my way to my room, and got myself unpacking and preparing, getting my tail, paws, and wolfie hat on, during which my room-mate Ndro. It was nice meeting this new friend for the first time, and it was great that he was such a nice fellow. I spent my time shuttling back and forth between the outside and the rotunda, along the main corridor, through the bars, until I settled in the queue for the Opening Ceremony, and what a Ceremony it was! Brok waved the flag, and under starter's orders, we started with the World Premiere of a brand new  EZWolf short film, Tears Of The Forgotten, featuring fursuits by  Qarrezel, music by  FoxAmoore, and magic by  blastdav (yes, really, Ári has the power to make fursuits vanish!).
After all the hoopla of Ground Rules, Big Ticket Event previews, and Guests of Honour plans, it was time for the now traditional big BBQ! Happily there wasn't so much queueing as last time, but the food was as filling as ever! After having my fill I visited Artist's Alley, but struggled to find my artistic groove. That WAS about to change though... later... also did Pub Quiz with Ndro and various others, and  AzraFox too! We didn't come first... I don't even know if we did better than Kyell Gold's team... at least Kyell has been educated to the delights of "There's No One Quite Like Grandma".

FRIDAY
After breakfast with Ndro and his friends from the Pub Quiz team, it was straight to the queue for the Dealer's Den... man it was certainly longer than what I thought it would be 30 minutes before opening. Everyone was certainly desperate for something, and I was eyeing up the final ever copies of Fox Amoore's first album, Spirit of the Wolf, from a time before he even was Fox Amoore! (2004). Thankfully I grabbed one of the first of the last, Fox having saved me a copy, and he had even signed me a message, thanking me for the Wonka Nerds I gifted him. Seriously. Fox goes weak at the knees for Nerds. If you're attending Anthrocon, Megaplex, Scotiacon, Eurofurence, or Rainfurrest this year, give him a box or two and he will thank you hard! Other Den purchases and pickups: Nordguard: Over Thin Ice by  Blotch which was retailed very well by BlackPaw.de supremo  Nachtfuchs (thanks for being so friendly behind the counter!), a clingy badge and art card from  Gab, a conbadge by  Lapres, and a Bitter Lake: Legends of Valanor soundtrack from Fox Amoore (his recommendation!). I also investigated  madebymercury and  SpiritRaptor, in anticipation of my plans to commission a fursuit of Rolf. I didn't visit  TaniDaReal's stand, but in hindsight maybe I should have...
Talking of fursuits, I next went to  spark-wolf's Fursuiting 101 panel and grabbed some vital notes! After grabbing food at the Sponsor Buffet, it was off to Meet the Guests of Honour! It was really fun finding out about Kyell and Gab, the two of them had great chemistry! I asked Kyell about his ruling himself out of this year's Ursa ballots; he compared it to Neil Gaiman and the Hugos. Later, I'd meet Gab once more, as she lectured us on the secrets of drawing, and I was glad to have overcome yesterday's art block. So thank you Gab! Staying in that room was Azron and CF's cooperative board and card game session, and thankfully someone brought in a copy of the Nordguard game that I couldn't afford earlier, so yes, I can claim to have played it. It's easy with many furs, a metaphor for the power the fandom has when we all come together! Evening activities included Banner Brawl, Kareoke, and dancing the night away...

SATURDAY
After breakfast, I investigated the games room, meeting  Shez playing DJ Hero in fursuit, and  Solarlay playing Kinectimals. Madness! That was followed by the fantastic fursuit parade and photoshoot! Just how many fursuiters were there? I don't know! They were all so fantastic! This was followed by spectating Ferret Racing, viewing the  Qarrezel fursuit gathering, and then Saturday's first hot event, The Savannah Revolution:'s Rock Concert! Time to put on those earplugs as things got NOISY! Those drums! And such great music brought a tear to my eye! So thanks for that...
Straight after, I happened upon the DDR Beginner contest, and ended up coming second! A rather fluky difference between second and third though, heheh... one number: "12"... Then came the second big event of the day, PAWPETS! I had never been to a CFz Pawpet production, but it was a blast! After the end we got to go behind the scenes and see just what goes into the making of the show. Pretty sweet IMO. And so, more partying before bed, and then...

SUNDAY
The mystic JM Horse presented once more Furry Hypnotism. I certainly felt... more like a wolf... it was odd, being so relaxed... this was followed, after lunch, by  Osfer's Voice Acting panel. Thank you for inspiring me to give Rolf a voice... for taking us behind the scenes of Dammar... and for giving us the chance to contribute to a future project from Fox Amoore and EZWolf! After a bit more DDR (which had been replaced with In The Groove, giving me the chance to bust a move to my Mungyodance favourite, Pink Fuzzy Bunnies!), it was time for real dancing in the fursuit dance contest! Well done to winners Kiyo, Sparky, and all other participants! Then... the Closing Ceremony. The revelation. It wasn't Oop North where CFz was moving to, but Birmingham! A stone's throw from the NEC, Birmingham Airport, Birmingham International railway station (Yes! You can get to CFz from Euston without having to change for the first time since 2009!)! What a gorgeous looking hotel...

MONDAY
An eventful departure day. After giving feedback, grabbing a little signed print at the Yard Sale, visiting the final photoshoot, and saying last farewells, I ran into a sour note. Hotel staff was not accepting prepaid meal cards, prompting  Nidonocu to refer me to ConOps, who said "no", but later Staff changed their mind to "yes", after I had left. What I did was, after spending a final several minutes at the con, finishing unfinished business, took a taxi to Tesco at 2pm, near the railway station, and grabbed some lunch there, taking it to the railway station and eating it in the shelter on the platform, where I met  Nimrais and  Kaji. We said hello, chatted about how awesome CFz 2013 was, how great the next one will be, then they left, the train I had booked being an hour after the one they took. Oh well. After walking, waiting, chatting, and riding, riding, riding, I was back home, and so happy to be there.

THE FUTURE
Today Pinky tweeted some photos from the new venue. There was a massive pool! Maybe this will be the year that we finally get some permission for pooltoys... I saw  Smraedis with a shark pooltoy... that never left it's box. Perhaps Hawkr can take his PuffyPaws Zenith dragon... And maybe I'll have got the Puffy Wolf... but that is sadly lower priority than the fursuit. One can wish to afford everything...