You can never tell what's around the corner.  I've been to book fairs and not bumped into another author, yet when I went to the Christmas get-together of the Samba Bandits (the band I used to play with) recently, I was introduced to Heather Day, who happens to be an author of erotic fiction.
It was good to be able to chat about the joys and the problems of writing, and to hear another person's experiences. Writing's a solitary activity, and even with all the writers' forums (fora?) that are around now, it's still possible to feel isolated.  You can click here to visit Heather's website.
Next time I go to a writers' event, I'll probably bump into a samba drummer.

 P.S. My thanks to L-J and J-P for their hospitality - I had a great time.