Shirt…

...Wolfs Down Some Chips.

DONNA	SEAN	TOM

Seventh Galaxy had some more new series guests – Sean Gallagher and Donna Croll from ‘New Earth’ and Tom Smith from ‘Tooth and Claw’. Dufus was unable to attend, and Chalky had just returned from a ‘fun’ week of outward-bounds activities with his school, and hence was too knackered to get up before lunchtime. Hence Shirt alone sallied forth to Barking, slightly later than usual, pausing on the way to get his hair cut. A journey completely without problems meant that he arrived at the shop at about 10.50am, to find an average length queue.

Entering the shop, he picked up the required photos, the latest Large Endings’ CD “The Settling”, and the latest audio adventure of the friends’ favourite inter-planetary archaeologist, Professor Bernice Summerfield. As he waited in line to pay, the three new series guests arrived, along with Clare Cathcart, guest-star in “The Settling”. Flicking through a copy of the newly released book “Aliens and Enemies”, Shirt realised that all three new series guests were featured, and so despite having ordered it from an online site and being aware that it was still in the post, added it to his items so that he could get it signed. Little Ted seemed surprised when Shirt paid in cash, due to his debit card’s chip being worn out and therefore not allowing anything other than cashpoint withdrawals.

Exiting the shop, Shirt joined the queue, and having had a quick read of “Aliens and Enemies”, started listening to an episode of the Clive Merrison Sherlock Holmes on his MP3 player, having texted Chalky in an attempt to offload his extra book. However, the conversation of the two fans in front of him proved more entertaining, so he paused the episode and eavesdropped on them. The two fans were discussing their collections of original ‘Doctor Who’ props, and how both had been ‘stung’ by Daleks that had featured in “Thirty Years in The TARDIS”. One seemed very indignant that more new series items were not available, hinting that they would be better off in his back bedroom where he could see them, than in an exhibition where they could be seen by lots of people. He seemed particularly annoyed that one of the people in his collecting clique claimed to have the ‘Game Station Controller’ costume from ‘Bad Wolf’. It seemed that the idea was to top other members of the clique, by e-mailing them photos of your latest acquisition.

Growing bored of this, Shirt looked over at where face-painting was going on, with a large number of small children wandering away from the table with completely blue faces a la The Steward in ‘The End of the World’ or with white faces with the markings of the Clockwork Droids from ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’. A small boy in the queue behind Shirt disappeared for a few minutes, returning with a silver face and markings in black, which combined to produce the approximation of a Cyberman, albeit a grinning one.

Then something unexpected happened. The queue started moving – at 11.45am ! It also moved at a surprising rate, and by around midday, Shirt was at the front of the queue outside, and entering the shop, trying not to hit Poppy in the face with the cardboard tube containing his Series Two poster. Joining the short queue inside, Shirt sorted out his items to be signed.

First up was Tom Smith – ‘The Host’ in ‘Tooth and Claw’ - who happily signed a photo of himself immediately prior to his transformation into the Werewolf, then Shirt’s poster and “Aliens and Enemies” book. Moving along, Shirt offered a photo of the Sisters of Plenitude to Donna Croll – ‘Matron Casp’ in ‘New Earth’ – which she also happily signed, along with the poster and book. Before moving on to Sean Gallagher – ‘Chip’ in ‘New Earth’ – Shirt was allowed to stroke the Cat Nun face that Donna had brought with her, the only one that had survived being pulled off her face. Sean signed a photo of Chip, as well as the other two items, before speaking about his own make-up experiences. Last up was Clare Cathcart, who signed Shirt’s copy of “The Settling”.

Exiting into the shopping centre, Shirt looked at his watch – 12.15pm – a new record ! With a minimum of stops, Shirt wended his way home ready for that evening’s new episode.

[PL]