Dufus & Shirt...

...Given Arthur Chance.

It was EM-CON time again. Headlining was Arthur ‘Rory’ Darvill, meaning that Dufus wished to attend for another signature in his precious ‘Companions’ book, whilst Shirt was more interested in Paul Freeman whose credits include Moriarty in ‘Without a Clue’. This was to be Shirt’s third and Dufus' second EM-CON. Tickets had been pre-booked, and Shirt was again travelling up on the Friday.

Arriving far too early for his train, Shirt spent his time constructively, working his way around Kings Cross Station where taster cans of new Lucozade fizzy drinks were being given out from five separate locations, gathering cans from each location.

His train’s platform having finally been announced, Shirt made his way to the train, finding himself next to Coach M.

Looking at his ticket, Shirt found that he was in Coach C, so had a long walk up the platform. Finding his seat, Shirt settled in for a journey spent watching an episode of BBC3’s thriller ‘Clique‘ (the involvement of the lovely Ms. Louise Brealey, having no impact on this decision) and in listening to both Acts of ‘The Jago and Litefoot Revival’, both using his recently purchased tablet computer.

Sitting on the same bench as six weeks before, Shirt found himself in bright sunshine, as he listened to the final moments of ‘TJ&LR’. A few minutes later, Dufus’ car appeared in a queue waiting to enter the forecourt, so Shirt rushed over, throwing his bag in the back and jumping into the passenger seat, and the car sped off to Dufus’.

Back at Casa Dufus, Shirt dumped his bag in the spare room, and they watched an episode of ‘Pointless’ before jumping back into Dufus’ car and leaving for their night’s delights.

After around 40 minutes, they reached Lincoln City Centre, and a multi-storey car park. Having tried six different spaces on four different levels, they finally parked on the penultimate level, and managed to get the ticket machine to work.

Their plan to get ‘a cheeky Nandos’ was foiled by there being a 15-20 minute wait, but moving a little further down the waterfront they managed to get a table in Chimmi Changas. Two Bacon and Cheeseburgers with chips later, they were making their way to the nearby Odeon cinema (with Dufus having to go back to the car to check he had locked it on the way).

Tickets retrieved from the machine, it was time for the evening’s main feature, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’, from premier seats.

Much hilarity ensued from a film that featured Mr. Darvill’s screen wife in an increased role from the previous instalment.

Returning to Dufus’ down pitch black country roads, they then caught up with Friday night TV that they had missed, before retiring for the night.

The plan the next day was to drive to Dufus’ brother’s home to leave the car and for him to give them a lift to a nearby station where they could catch a train to Nottingham. This plan went off without a hitch, and the two clambered onto the short train, not being able to find two seats together.

When the guard came along selling tickets, although he took card payment, the card-reader did not have a phone signal to connect with the bank. Therefore, Shirt who was sitting in the row behind paid for both sets of tickets.

Walking swiftly from the station, they made their way to the Arena, to find that the doors had just opened. They therefore joined a queue, and around ten minutes later were entering the venue.

Initial progress inside was slow, but they finally managed to find a door leading into the main arena, making their way down onto the arena floor. Signers were not immediately apparent, but were then found in the separate section that the previous year had hosted starship models.

Stewards were handing out virtual queuing tickets for Mr. Darvill and the other headliner, Bonnie ‘Ginny Weasley’ Wright. Both took these and were advised to come back in 15-20 minutes.

Shirt noticed that Paul Freeman was at his table, and that he seemed to be asking an extortionate amount for a selfie with him, seemingly to be in line with his ‘Power Rangers’ co-stars (who it must be said, had travelled from the USA). Shirt therefore decided to think it over and return later.

Moving further into the signing area they came across the other person that Dufus wanted to meet, Jeremy Bulloch.

There was only a short queue, so they both joined it, and after a minute or so, they were the next but one. However, it was at this point that things slowed down considerably.

The fan in front of them seemed to have brought the two most impractical pieces of ‘Boba Fett’ merchandise for Jeremy to sign – first a canvas print of the bounty hunter which seemed to simply absorb pen ink leaving no trace, and secondly a LEGO Boba Fett minifigure, which was so small that there was no surface on which Jeremy could print more than a few letters.

Items finally signed to the fan’s satisfaction, and he moved off, allowing Dufus to step up, pay for an autograph and place a ‘The Time Warrior’ DVD cover in front of Jeremy.

“Ah, Hal the Archer”, commented Jeremy’s wife who was sitting next to him.

Cover signed, and Dufus was posing for a photo (which Mr. Bulloch was not asking extra for) taken by Shirt.

Moving on round, they passed two of the ‘Boys from the Dwarf’ (Chris Barrie & Danny John Jules), but not the advertised Doug Naylor, whom Shirt had wanted to sign his ‘Red Dwarf XI’ DVD cover.

Back at Arthur and Bonnie, their numbers had not come up, and Paul Freeman was away from his signing table.

Having looked at a few stalls, they returned after another 10 minutes, to find their numbers were still too high. However, Bonnie’s queue had just become ‘open’, so Shirt joined it, picking a still of her from around the middle of the saga. Photos with Bonnie were prohibited as she was doing a photo-shoot later (despite the steward adding people to the queue, advising “Ask at the front” when anyone asked him), so Dufus who was hovering ready to take one of her and Shirt, moved off. Placing the photo in front of Bonnie, she signed it with a smile and “lots of love”.

Rejoining Dufus, it was found that their ticket numbers for Arthur were still not up, but Dufus managed to persuade the steward to let them into the queue, which moved swiftly due to photos with Arthur also being prohibited. Shirt was up first, offering his Series 6 Boxset for Arthur to sign (having got his ‘Companions’ book, a photo and a poster signed by him the last time they had met). Moving off, Dufus put down his ‘Companions’ book.

“Ah, a seasoned collector”, commented Arthur looking at the many signatures.

“Yes, but I haven't got many new series companions”, replied Dufus.

“Well, you've got the more important ones”, quipped Arthur.

A further 'important' signature in the treasured tome, and Dufus was rejoining Shirt.

“I’ve now met companions from all twelve Doctors”, he proudly exclaimed. (The NuWho companions all being in the past year – Pearl Mackie (#12), Billie Piper (#9+10) & now Arthur Darvill (#11) ).

Moving to the nearest set of seating, they sat down sorting out their bags, before returning to the signing area where Paul Freeman was now back.

Deciding to bite the bullet and get the combined autograph/photo deal, Shirt paid the steward next to Paul.

“Which photo do you want me to sign ?”, asked Paul, gesturing to ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Power Rangers’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’ photos in front of him.

“This one”, said Shirt producing a still of Paul as ‘Moriarty’ that he had had printed.

“No-one’s ever asked me to sign that photo before”, said Paul, explaining to his bored steward that he played Moriarty opposite Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley.

Photo signed, and with ‘Moriarty’ written after his signature, Paul handed the photo back.

Shirt then moved behind the signing table for Dufus to take their photo. As per usual he struggled to make his camera work, but this gave Paul the opportunity to regale Shirt with anecdotes about the filming of ‘WAC’, and how he had been a better swordsman than his stuntman. Photo finally taken, and Shirt was moving off.

After another quick tour of the signing area in which Dufus was tempted to get an autograph from Keith Allen, they returned to the main arena area, browsing the stalls, with Shirt purchasing a wind-up Dalek and wind-up TARDIS. Dufus then took photos of the varied Daleks in attendance, including a series of photos of one of the operators clambering in. Moving back to the hallway around the outside, they browsed the rest of the stalls, with Shirt deciding not to spend £90 on a ‘Dalek Annual’ or £75 on a copy of ‘Lungbarrow’.

It was then decided to go out into Nottingham to get some lunch and visit Naughty Asteroid International, before returning for a final look at the stalls.

Making their way back to the station, they had an errand to run, as they had agreed to buy some carbon paper for Dufus’ brother from VG Jones. Having found some in another stationers at a slightly more expensive price than quoted by Dufus’ brother, Shirt persuaded Dufus to leave it and get it from the VG Jones on the way back.

However, on arriving at the store, after a few minutes search they could not find any. Dufus therefore asked a shop assistant and was told “They’re over there with the tracing paper”. Having scoured the whole of the area of the shop gestured to, they still could not find any. The assistant then joined their search, finally finding it in the third area that she suggested they look.

This had made them late, so they strode out for the station, catching their train with minutes to spare.

Dufus’ brother picked them up at the station, and having spent a short time at Dufus’ brother and sister-in-law’s home, trying to explain who Arthur Darvill is, they made their way back to Dufus’ in plenty of time for the new episode, ‘Thin Ice’.

The rest of the evening was spent in discussing the episode, agreeing to attend a convention only a few miles down the road from Shirt, uploading photos, and in Shirt trying to make his tablet start working again as during the day it had ceased functioning.

The next day after a leisurely morning, Dufus ran Shirt back to the station. On reaching his platform, Shirt found that all trains were delayed. However, a train drew in, and tired of being asked multiple questions, the Guard shouted ‘Anyone going to London can get this train”. Shirt therefore caught a train which not only left ten minutes earlier than his booked train, but also took twenty minutes less to get to Kings Cross. As the landscape blurred past, Shirt mused on yet another excellent convention experience with Dufus.

[PL]