Shirt…

…Stops For A Quick Bite

Seventh Galaxy Events had announced another event. Signing would be Vampire from Venice, Elizabeth Croft; Monoid voice, John Halstead; and First Doctor companion…………………………………………………………… Jackie Lane. Wishing another signature on his Series Five poster, Shirt checked and double-checked which Barking location the signing was taken place, the previous three such events having taken place at three different locations. The location this time was to be Barking Learning Centre.

Finding his way to the venue, taking care not to get lost (see CDS…Gets Lost in the Maze of the Dead), Shirt entered the centre behind another group of fans. Just inside the door was a desk, with a sign labelled “One-Stop Shop”. However, despite knowing everything that there is to know about Council Tax, the query from the fans in front - “Where is the ‘Doctor Who’ signing ?” – completely flummoxed them. Whilst the staff members went away to make enquiries, Shirt wandered off into the library part of the building, finding as hoped, signs pointing upstairs to the signing room, and a short queue. Paying for two autographs, Shirt joined the queue.

First to arrive was Elizabeth, followed by John. The queue slowly got longer, as fans who had gone to the Arc Theatre, Broadway Theatre and Barking Social Club, finally found the correct venue. Jackie it seemed was stuck in traffic, and then also wrongly went to the Broadway Theatre. All guests now present, the queue began moving. Unsurprisingly most attendees had several items for Jackie, and as she was first, the queue moved slowly. Jackie was also happy to have her photo taken with fans and so her staff member had to keep jumping up to take photos. Shirt noticed that the majority of people were going to the chairs to sit down after meeting Jackie, foregoing both John and Elizabeth.

Finally reaching Jackie, Shirt got her to sign his “Celestial Toymaker” CD cover (as it doesn’t feature Hartnell much), and as he already had a photo with her, moved off, neatly sidestepping John until he was in front of Elizabeth. Another signature on his poster, and Shirt asked the staff member next to Elizabeth to take a photo (partly so that Elizabeth would put her arm round him). This taken, and Shirt made his way back down the stairs into the library.

Following some detours to take photos of locations from the Sherlock Holmes stories, Shirt made his way to Chalky’s house to spend some time with his “Faith-Ward”, Mavic Chen, and the evening with Chalky & Tigger watching the final of “Britain’s Got Talent”.

[PL]