'Excellent Doctor Who convention weekend. I will blog about it later. But, for the moment, it can be summed up thus:
David Tennant, Billie Piper, Torchwood, Sarah-Jane adventures, cups of tea, pints of lager, lots of laughter, Cissie and Ada...'
So now, dear reader, I give you the full version of the events. And we start at Friday lunchtime.
It was pissing down on Friday. All day. Now for me the journey to the hotel is only about 85 miles or so but I would have preferred it if the weather was a little nicer. Especially given the M6 motorway can be a sod at times. Thankfully the roads turned out to be fairly clear. Just wet. Very wet. So, being the pretty good driver that I am, I merely killed a bit of speed and put a bit of extra distance in between me and the car in front. Then spent most of the journey wondering how many of the other motorists on the motorway must have had the eyes of a hawk given that, in some cases, they were trying to break the speed of sound. But I made it to the hotel on the outskirts of Birmingham safely enough. Check into hotel, unpack and then register for the con. All done? Good, head to the bar. Because as everyone knows, at a british convention, this is where everyone hangs out. See, standing at the bar, some friends that I have made at previous cons. Had a pint and a chat. Now this is where the 'Cissie and Ada' part comes in. One such conversation topic with my mate Duane was about old-time comedians such as Tommy Cooper and Les Dawson. Les Dawson did a series of scetches with an actor called Roy Barraclough about to older women called Cissie and Ada which are hysterical even today (you can search them out on Youtube). And so began the weekend of randomly quoting these scetches while laughing like drains. For which I apologise to anyone who was standing next to us in the autograph and photo session queues. So after a bit of a drink, something to eat and a catch up with the peeps it was time to begin the Friday night party. Which was a lot of fun. Beer prices weren't too bad and its a good way to start the weekend.
Saturday was Torchwood day for me as I had my picture taken with two of the show's stars Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper) and Gareth David Lloyd (Ianto Jones). And very nice people they were too. I've heard a few negative comments regarding Eve but I didn't have anything untoward happen to me in the brief time when I had my photo taken with her and later in the autograph session though I'm not sure what some people expect. There were a couple of talks from actors, writers and producers of the show giving insights to the production process. All very interesting as well. The highlight of the Saturday at a con is the fancy dress competition and this one was no exception with costumes of amazingly high quality. I'm not much of a costumer but its still fun to watch these people show off in something that they have spent many loving hours preparing. Though I did notice that one guy who came as the SIXTH doctor had dark hair and not blonde. Maybe he couldn't find a good wig and didn't want to dye it but it did look kinda wrong. Anyway, once that was over, it was then on to yet more partying.
And so Sunday duly arrived. As did the headline actors of Billie Piper and the tenth doctor himself, David Tennant. This was where the con kicked up a gear. There were now two photo sessions with people queuing first, in my case anyway I'm not sure if it was the same for everyone, for Billie and then joing the second queue for David. Its all over far too quick. You can see when you are standing patiently in line, getting ever closer the excitement building. Then it's your turn. You say hi, turn to face the camera.... and click! Your moment is over. But you are still happy to have met them. Then its back to the main hall for more talks (some of the running jokes from Saturday are continued while others are started) and lunch. Before you know it, its time to join the autograph queue to say hi to David and Billie all over again. Not that they remembered me *pouts*. So get autographs and then get something to eat before going back into the main hall again to catch the remainder of the talks. Then the last talk of the event was the main duo on stage. And a fun Q&A session it was. Ok, some of the questions may be a little near the boundary of good taste but the two actors coped with them well enough and didn't seem unduly phased by them. It does happen quite a lot at conventions where you get a situation when a question sounds better and funnier in a person's head but for one reason or another comes out slightly wrong but for the most part all the queries are fine.
And then they were gone. Every guest was brought back onto the stage to say their goodbyes and then that was it. This fun way of spending the weekend was, apart from the last remaining party, done. The Sunday party is generally quieter than the proceding two. Mainly because a lot of the attendees go home that evening. Variety of reasons for this from needing to be in work/school the next day or just saving a few pennies for the next con (theses things are addictive and should carry a health warning! May cause serious damage to your bank balance!). But your's truly had a few pints to finish off. Or rather I would have had a few pints had the hotel not run out of beer thus meaning any lager drinkers had to switch to bottles. Still, it all goes down the same way.
Monday was a curiously quiet hotel morning. Until the fire alarm went off. Wouldn't have minded too much except I was in the middle of breakfast and drinking my brew. So I did the only thing I could. Took the cup of tea outside and drank it there. Excitement over I returned to my room, packed the remaining things into my bag and left the room. A few goodbyes to those I saw in the lobby and I was away home having had a rather excellent time.
So.. the con lurgy.
This is the reason why I'm writing this while coughing and spluttering. Caused (I think) by the hotel's air con, or possibly the close proximity to 1000 other people, it is a common affliction in the after con week. But the worst is over so I'll be fine for the works do next Saturday.
There is more that could be said but I won't. I know I know, I'm mean. But you really should just go to one yourself. Seriously you should.
So the next one will be about Christmas. Unless the world ends tomorrow in which case it was nice knowing you.
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