Dufus & Shirt...

...(Don't) Get Magna Carta !!

It was EM-CON Nottingham time again. Shirt travelled up the previous day, listening to ‘Static’, and being met at the station by Dufus after work, who drove them both into central Lincoln, where after a meal at The Cosy Club (Shirt couldn’t resist going for ‘The Brigadier’ burger), they made their way to a nearby escape room complex. Entry was via a keypad with a code that the pair had figured out over dinner from a text sent to them by the venue. They had chosen a ‘Save The Magna Carta’-themed room (all the rooms were linked to Lincoln’s history – including Lancaster Bombers and Imps), and had an hour to find where Lincoln’s copy of this important historical document had been hidden and to defuse the bomb underneath it. Having made a good start and rapidly finding combinations for each of the many boxes clearly visible around the room, the pair were confident. However, they eventually found themselves left with a box and a combination that did not match. It was only at this point that they realised that there was another box cleverly hidden away, and having finally found this (and retrieved a wig vital for fooling a face-recognition camera) they found themselves with just over ten minutes left. They then managed to open a hidden room, and could see the Magna Carta behind a locked gate. The combination for the gate involved a game of chess, but their time ran out before they could successfully open the gate. It seemed that they had been close, and both were of the view that with ten minutes more they could have been victorious, particularly when the final challenges had been described to them, but as the room was designed for up to five people, they had done well.

Both left, a little disappointed that they had been unable to stop the Magna Carta being destroyed.

“There’s three other copies”, said Shirt, trying to sound optimistic.

It was then back to Dufus’, via a mystery address (that belonging to Dufus’ mysterious girlfriend) for Dufus to pick up a case ready to go on holiday a few days later. Shirt had to wait in the car, and so only caught a glimpse of her in the rear-view mirror. Having watched a bit of television, they both turned in for the night, with Dufus telling Shirt that due to some recent expensive repairs on his car, he would have to be financially prudent the next day. Shirt laughed internally at this, knowing the unlikeliness of such behaviour.

Following their plan of the previous year, they drove to Dufus’ brother’s, stopping twice, once to pick up a parcel and once to get some breakfast, parking at his address, and then being driven to the nearby station. Having waited a short time, the train came and they managed to find a seat, and pay for their tickets. After about 45 minutes, the train pulled into Nottingham, and they made their way to the Arena, to find no queues and that everyone was just being let in, despite standard entry not being for another fifteen minutes.

Making their way to the arena floor, they found the main signing area and after asking around four different stewards, Shirt finally managed to get a virtual queuing ticket for David Bradley, who since Shirt had last met him had appeared as the First Doctor (in ‘Twice Upon a Time’) rather than just William Hartnell (in ‘An Adventure in Space and Time’). However, there was no sign of Bernard Cribbins, who had been the main draw for Dufus. [The main draw for Shirt had been LeVar Burton – ST: TNG’s Geordi La Forge (who appears as Watson to Data’s Holmes in ‘Elementary, Dear Data’) – who had cancelled a week before]

Finding the information point, they were informed that Bernard had had to cancel due to his wife being ill, and that Billie Piper would now only be attending on Sunday. They therefore retraced their steps, and joined a queue for Tony Curran, Vincent from ‘Vincent and the Doctor’. Shirt having met Tony twice before (see S…Yes Jaime, That Is a Long Queue & S...Commits A (Mr) Sin of Omission) was intending just to get a photo with him, but caved in to the autograph and photo deal on seeing the nice Vincent publicity photos. Dufus got a newly acquired ‘Doctor Who: The Complete History’ book featuring ‘Vincent and the Doctor’ signed (it had been in the parcel collected earlier), whilst Shirt got one of the publicity photos. Both then posed for selfies on Dufus’ phone, with Tony taking a selfie of him and Dufus, and Shirt getting Dufus to take the photo of him and Tony.

Moving round, Shirt made his way to the next guest he wanted, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Lestrade in ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’. There was then a long wait as the fan in front of them just wouldn’t stop chatting to Roger. Having got a photo with Roger and his DVD signed on a previous occasion, Shirt had had a photo printed of a screengrab of Roger as Lestrade with him for signing. Roger seemed pleased with the change from signing ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Robot of Sherwood’ photos, insisting on writing his character name underneath his signature.

“Inspector…..No, he was a Detective Sergeant in this”, he commented, before slowly writing ‘Detective Sergeant Lestrade’, which due to his running out of space ended up as ‘Detective Sergeant Lestra’ as the final two letters ended up on his desk’s tablecloth rather than the photo. (‘D.S Lestrade might have been more sensible’ thought Shirt)

Dufus then decided to get a ‘Game of Thrones’ photo signed and a selfie before they moved off.

The numbers for David Bradley were up to 400 and Shirt had 450. The steward manning the queue indicated that David had a lunch-break and then a panel, and would therefore be leaving soon. Shirt was therefore advised to come back at 2pm.

There was then brief excitement amongst the gathered hordes, which it wasn't until later they found out was due to the overdue arrival of the actor who plays the Green Power Ranger several hours late. Even Danny John-Jules got up onto his chair behind his signing table to fail to see what was going on.

The two then browsed the stalls with Shirt failing to buy anything, and Dufus going back on his earlier stated prudency, and buying some miniatures of the Master in his/her various incarnations.

It was time for lunch, and so having had their tickets scanned for re-entry, they made their way to a nearby supermarket to buy sandwiches. Sitting in the May sunshine, they mused on an excellent morning, before returning just in time for Shirt to join David Bradley’s newly re-opened queue. Dufus took a seat around the side of the arena to avoid the crowds that were milling around the surprisingly small queueing area.

The queue moved slowly, mainly due to fans engaging David in lengthy conversations, with some remaining there talking to him, even as he was signing for others. Shirt was slightly concerned, knowing that David had a photoshoot at 2.45pm, but with around 10 minutes to spare, he reached the front of the queue and got David on his Series 10 poster with ‘The Doctor’ added after his signature.

Rejoining Dufus, they looked at the stalls again, and Dufus pretended to decide whether he could afford a ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ action figure set. Shirt decided to make himself scarce and remove himself from the decision-process. Set purchased, they exited the arena again, with another mission.

They walked swiftly to the nearby Naughty Asteroid International, hoping to get a copy of the Free Comic Day 2018 ‘Doctor Who’ comic. However, all copies had gone, as had all FCD comics, save a magazine about comics with an article on the Andrew Cartmel MDW Seventh Doctor strips. They then tried at another comic shop about five minutes away, but this also did not have the DW comic. However, they did seem to be selling other FCD titles for 20-25p each (seemingly misunderstanding the meaning of the word ‘Free’).

The two then made their way back to Nottingham Station, where Dufus’ train was first. Having seen him onto it, Shirt made his way to another platform to wait to catch his booked train home (there being engineering work the next day, Shirt was having to go home a day early). All seemed to be going well on the journey until the train pulled into Leicester, and a large number of West Ham fans (whose team had been playing Leicester City) piled on, all very drunk and boisterous. The train waited at Leicester for almost half an hour whilst some troublemakers were removed, and British Transport Police were stationed in each carriage. Shirt attempted to ignore what was going and concentrate on ‘Kingdom of Lies’ over the background chanting and raucous singing. Finally reaching London, Shirt made his way to the Underground and home, finally able to hear himself think as he mused on another excellent weekend with Dufus.

[PL]