First of all, I arrived in Minneapolis alone, without Robin, as he was under the weather. It was very strange for me to go to an ABBA event without him as I would have never gotten mixed up in this crazy world if not for him. I missed him the whole weekend.

I missed the shuttle from the airport by 3 minutes and decided to splurge on a cab and not wait an hour for the next one. I arrived at the hotel a few minutes after Bill P and George who had caught the shuttle. Once checked in, we decided we were hungry and would settle in our rooms and re-convene for "linner". It was about 3pm so we weren't sure if it was lunch or dinner!

Once we met up again, I had already started gathering the flock as Fiona (the surprise from Australia) and Mikey (my newest best buddy) joined us. By the time we finished dinner we had been joined by Kevin Evans (surely he and Graeme were conjoined twins at some time) and Lars.

After linner we went back to the hotel and sat outside where the band was rehearsing. Best line of the weekend.............when Benny walked out and quickly went the other direction. Kevin Evans said "There's Daddy". Now what was Kevin thinking? Wonder what Freud would say about that!

Another funny incident, was there was a piano sitting outside the ballroom. Lars sat down to play an ABBA tune and people literally ran out of the bar downstairs and up the escalator. I don't know if Lars gave out any autographs or not. ;-)

Now as Friday night starting taking hold we went to the bar. It was wonderful to see everyone. I will email everyone privately but I had such wonderful conversations with old friends and new ones. Watching Fiona surprise (read shock the hell out of people) was fun. Ryan was flabbergasted and Laura was also quite shocked to see Fiona. We were supposed to keep Fiona a surprise until Scarlett got in on Saturday.

As we were in the bar, Benny came by looked in and scooted off.......especially when a fan yelled Benny. It is no surprise that he found an alternate drinking hole that night.

Saturday was mainly a Mall of America day for most of the fans. I had the pleasure of going furniture shopping with Kevin and Ryan in the morning, before heading to Mall of America. When we got to MOA, we started gathering the flock again. Laura, Fiona, David (from LA area), Fred and his wife and Wayne met up with us. We had a hearty lunch in case the traditional Swedish dinner turned out to be TOO traditional. We kept running into people we knew in the mall. I ran into Ursula and sent her to JJill ( a favourite store of mine), ran into Jason , etc. For a place that is supposed to be so big we kept bumping into people.

Then it was time to go back and start getting ready for the event. I will say that everyone looked wonderful. A particular standout was Fred's wife who was absolutely stunning in hues of purple with a fabulous boucle shawl. Now not to sound too narcissistic, can someone email me a picture of myself? I want to give it to someone and his birthday is tomorrow.

There was a cash bar reception prior to the event where we mingled and squealed a bit. The room was decorated with huge banners of Dans! in various colours and huge banners of Swedish scenery. All of us fans were seated at great tables that would have been perfect for seeing the show had people not stood in front of the stage on the dance floor. The dinner was traditional but not quite as traditional as we had feared. I had the sheer luck and pleasure of being seated between Jackie Lucero and Scarlett Ray.

The auction was odd as auctions usually are. Mittens from the Swedish Olympic team fetched more than the autographed LP's of ABBA. Scarlett and I laughed about that! I believe Fred got an LP in the auction. Then it was time for Benny........

Benny came through the tables playing the accordion before going on stage. That was nice, but his entrance was nowhere near our tables. (was this a perfectly planned event or what?) Ron spoke of security watching the ABBA fans. Well they should have and they should have told them to get their asses off the dance floor, but they didn't, so I'm not sure if there was any security or not. They were not very obvious if they were there. It was a gala event, a dinner and dance and standing on the dance floor was unacceptable behaviour IMHO. It was an obstruction for the dancers and the audience. This was not a concert, this was a dinner dance and although it was okay to walk up and snap a picture here and there, to camp out just doesn't seem right to me. That is just my opinion.

I thought Benny looked like he was having a fabulous time except when he was doing an ABBA song. Then it was more mechanical than emotional in his playing. Tommy was a nasty lounge singer who looked really toasted and Helen's voice was pretty. I think Benny referred to her as having the best voice in Sweden. A diss to Aggie and Frida I guess! Then there was a little band member that tried to explain the songs he was about to do and he just lost the translation somewhere.

I want to thank Mikey, Jason and Kevin for the dances and reiterate that I told each and every one of you that I don't dance (well) before we got to the dance floor. But I had a lot of fun, even though I have a blister on my foot from the new shoes. Also I want Randy Minten to know that I know that he really did not mean to trip me and make me look like Chevy Chase doing a famous fall. ;-)

After the event, Mikey and I were the first in the bar. The only people in there at that time were the workers/band from the comedy club. I believe they thought I was an old hooker ( I don't like being thought of as old ;-) ) or that Mikey was my escort. They gave us some strange looks as Mikey tried to force me to order alcohol. I said I just want water, we continued to have this discussion and when we finally walked up to the bar, the bartender had my water already waiting for me.. To which I said to Mikey, Some people listen to me! ;-)

Soon we were full force in the bar and Benny's band starting coming in. One little guy who had sung "O Sole Mio" (which made Bill P feel at home) was first in the bar to which we applauded. Then Benny, Moan-a and the rest filed in. People converged on Benny like vultures (was not pretty) and finally with Jason's prompting they let Benny eat. It was about 2am at this point and I had to be up at 5am for my flight so I bid farewell and kissed a zillion people goodbye. I was hoping that it would create enough of a spectacle that Benny would want in on the kissing action on our side of the bar but I guess with Moan-a there he couldn't partake in the kissing in our group. ;-)

I was at my shuttle stop at 6:30 and that Fiona actually got up and saw me off. She gave me a bag of chicken chips for my son which I gingerly carried home. He now loves Fiona. She is his #1 Australian now. Sorry Andrew, but you never sent him the chips you brought back in September and you are now in the #2 slot. Maybe #3 if we count that Oh Crikey croc guy. ;-)

I missed the session with Benny in the bar after he ate and the breakfast on Sunday. It was a good weekend and I'm glad I went.

To sum it up IT WAS SO FUN.

Dora O'Rorke, Florida,USA