So it was off to 'Tekker' look at the delights of Farnborough.

Yes, oddly enough the event - hosted by The What Shop was not being held in London, but in the sleepy hamlet of Farnborough. Chalky and Shirt, with road map in hand and dodgy directions from a route planner, headed off along the A3.

Once there, they parked up (with a brief discussion as to how long they might need on the parking ticket) and went in search of the enigmatic Avon.

The main shopping centre was playing host to the event and immediately through the doors from the car park was a small corner dedicated to the What Shop. With no sign of a queue, Chalky and Shirt wandered briefly around, nodded acknowledgement to Helen A, noted the positioning of the autograph table and then decided to see what else the centre had to offer.

The event had been going for 3 days and this was the third of those. Colin Baker had been there to open the event and Mark Eden had apparently been there the day before. Dotted around the centre were various comic stalls and general sci-fi establishments and outside played host to the original Batmobile.

Chalky and Shirt wandered back to the signing area, and after stopping to purchase a bag of balloons, hung around the What Shop area. Almost immediately, Chalky spotted Paul Darrow chatting to some people a couple of feet away. Chalky and Shirt, aware that there was still no queue, leant on a handy pillar to await the signing.

Time was wiled away by discussing whether the bloke with the walkie-talkie was a security guard forced to dress up as Robin from Batman Forever, or a fan dressed up as Robin pretending to be a security guard for the day.

Apparently, the hold up was because they were waiting for some woman to turn up with photos of the lovely Mr. Darrow, which would have to be purchased to obtain other signatures.

Eventually, however, Mr. Darrow sat down at the table with no sign of said woman.

A few people started approaching Mr. Darrow for autographs, but Chalky and Shirt hung back, fearing the wrath of Helen A. However, they were pleasantly surprised when Helen A told them to go straight ahead and get their autographs because the woman hadn't turned up.

Yes, it meant that Chalky and Shirt were going to get their autographs for free!

Joining the huddle of people - it couldn't be described as a queue - Chalky found himself being asked to take a photo.

"Can I have a photo?" asked another fan.

"Of course," replied Mr. Darrow. "Who's going to take it?"

"It's idiot-proof," said the fan.

"Well, we just need an idiot," said Mr. Darrow, who promptly looked straight at Chalky.

"Charming!" said Chalky.

With other items for signing, but having kept to their self-imposed 3 item limit, Chalky and Shirt decided to wander around the delights of Farnborough and come back to see if they could get any more later.

Epilogue:

"What one's that?" asked Dufus.

"The David J. Howe book," explained Shirt, "You know, the one you've already got."

"No I haven't."
"Yes you have," assured Chalky, aware that Dufus has very little knowledge of his own collection - who can forget the classic 2 Nomas, 2 Venom Grubs and numerous Movie Barbaras incidents?

"No I haven't" reiterated Dufus.

"I tell you, you have!" said Chalky.

Shocking though it is, Dufus was actually right (or at least he seems to have been right - Chalky and Shirt just reckoned he chucked his old copy of Monsters into the back of his cupboard and went and bought a new copy from Farnborough - just to make a point!).

Still, it made a nice change for Dufus to drive to somewhere he'd never been without anyone else doing the navigating for him.

They'll be sending the search parties out to find him in a few hours - how long has he been missing now?………