Shirt…

...Burn, Baby, Burn.

Having previously made the journey to Milton Keynes to meet Paul McGann for the first time (see CDS…The Doctor Will See You Now) and to meet Michael Keating and Honor Blackman (see CDS…Visits A Vila), Shirt decided to make another such jaunt to meet various sci-fi luminaries. The main draw was “Trial of a Timelord” guest star, Geoffrey Hughes, and this time the event would be held at the MK Dons Stadium.

Having made his way to Milton Keynes by coach, Shirt found himself at the temporary coach station, which according to the maps on the website was in walking distance of Centre:MK, the location of the Paul McGann event. This was also where Shirt could pick up the free bus to the venue. He strode off in what seemed to be the right direction, joined by a young girl who had identified Shirt as a fellow attendee given his poster tube and nerdish appearance. Cue a lot of “it should be just up here”, until they finally found the appropriate bus stop, finding that they had just missed a bus, there not being another for half-an-hour. Shirt’s new friend was then joined by one of her friends, and so Shirt was forgotten, and went to look in a nearby Earthrocks. Returning five minutes before the bus was due, Shirt rejoined a growing pack of attendees.

The bus arrived, everyone piled on, and ten minutes later the bus was pulling up outside the Stadium. Parked up outside, was a very familiar red car – Gene Hunt’s Quattro. Entering the Stadium, it seemed that all the guests were seated at tables in groups, going all the way around the circular Stadium. The first guest Shirt was interested in was Burn Gorman (Owen Harper from “Torchwood”), but his queue was ridiculously long so Shirt took a number to come back later. On reaching the table with Geoffrey Hughes photo above it, there was no sign of the man himself. Shirt therefore continued on round, working out what other guests he wanted to meet. Star Trek guest star, John ‘Q’ DeLancie was a possible, as was Liz May Brice who was to appear in the forthcoming “Torchwood: Children of Earth”.

Shirt then found the merchandise area, which was very crammed, and difficult to negotiate, particularly with his poster tube.

“They say that they’re moving it to the conference centre being built next door, for next year”, one stallholder told his friend when the crush was remarked upon.

Having bought a few small items, Shirt went around the complete circuit of the Stadium again, buying a Cyberman T-shirt at the Seventh Galaxy stall. On reaching the appropriate signing area again, Geoffrey Hughes had returned, and so Shirt got his signature on his “The Ultimate Foe” DVD sleeve. Several other attendees seemed disappointed that Geoffrey had run out of stills of himself as Onslow in “Keeping Up Appearances”.

It still not being his number for Burn, Shirt made a decision, meeting John DeLancie, as he was unsure how big a part Liz played in the new Torchwood series. A signed 10x8 of John as Q signed, pleasantries exchanged, and Shirt was back in the main part of the Stadium. Leaving the Stadium, Shirt looked for somewhere to get lunch, ignoring the large fast-food outlets, and walking a short distance to a Tesco supermarket to get sandwiches and a drink.

Returning to the Stadium, Shirt found that Burn had gone to lunch a little before the group of numbers including his own. On his return, he began speeding through people, and soon Shirt was joining the queue to meet him. Finally reaching the front, Shirt proffered his “Torchwood” poster, which was duly signed under the figure of Owen. Thanking Burn, Shirt returned to the main Stadium, briefly sitting on the seats provided for disabled fans on match-days.

Checking the ink had dried on the poster, Shirt rolled it up, put it back in the tube and exited the Stadium, to find a gigantic queue for the free bus. In fact Shirt was unable to get onto the first bus that arrived, having to wait half-an-hour for the next one.

Finally back at Centre:MK, Shirt wasted some time in the shopping centre, before making his way back to the temporary bus station, where he was just in time for his bus home.

[PL]