Shirt…

…(R)evolution of the Daleks

It was the day of the Series Three finale. Seventh Galaxy were marking this with a signing featuring a new series and a classic series guest star, both with a connection to the Skarosian pepper-pots who had featured in the previous two finales – namely Eric ‘Dalek Sec Hybrid’ Loren and Hugh ‘Revelation of the Daleks’ Walters. Chalky and Tigger were moving furniture to their new house, and Dufus was also not able to come down, so Shirt wended his lonely way to Barking.

Arriving at around 11.40am, having not realised that the Jubilee Line was out-of-service, Shirt was surprised to find that the queue had started to move. This had completely panicked the spotty fan from the “Survival” signing (see CDS..Survival of the Bannermen), who was at the front and was mumbling ‘Go past me’ to those behind whilst he frantically scrabbled around in his bag for the items he was getting signed, despite having probably been standing there for the previous two hours doing very little (but boast to other fans about people he’s met).

Entering the shop, and passing the small table where Eric and Hugh were in the process of sitting down in their seats, Shirt joined a small queue to pay. Selecting two photos of Hugh Walters (one for Dufus), the new Benny audio, and “Valhalla” - the new Seventh Doctor audio (as it was signed by Susannah York & Marc Platt), Shirt also bought two autographs for Eric (as he does not buy the vanilla DVD releases). Little Ted was serving, and Shirt took the opportunity to ask about his and Dufus’ hotel booking for the “Bad Wolf” convention the next month. Little Ted promised to look into this, and send Shirt a letter confirming the arrangements.

The queue outside was of medium length when Shirt joined it, and moved pretty swiftly. Ahead of him were Brett and Hardwicke, the latter very excited at meeting Dalek Sec. Every so often, people would come out of the signing and pass photos that they had printed to others in the queue, as it seemed that the ‘number of personal items’ rule was being firmly enforced. One it seemed, usually sold such photos on to ‘friends’ but had been warned over this by Seventh Galaxy staff, so gave it as a gift. Eventually Shirt reached the front of the queue, and was concerned at the length of time before Poppy motioned him forward, fearing that he might have hit the lunch break.

Entering the shop, Shirt sorted his items, giving the cloakroom tickets for his Eric Loren signatures to the steward. Eric happily signed Shirt’s “Radio Times” with the spoiler-filled cover photo of the Dalek/Human Hybrid creature, as well as becoming the first signature on Shirt’s poster of the Tenth Doctor and Martha. Moving along, Shirt proffered one of his photos to Hugh Walters, followed by his “Revelation” DVD cover and “The Fearmonger” audio booklet.

“This was a long time ago”, Hugh commented.

“Yes, it was the fourth one they did”, replied Shirt, before adding, “They’re nearly up to one-hundred now”.

“I notice they didn’t ask me back”, sighed an incredulous Hugh, who obviously believed that the range had folded quite quickly.

Dufus’ photo was next, along with a “Deadly Assassin” video cover and Shirt’s “The Eighties”.

As he was leaving, Shirt heard a young boy regaling Eric with his best Hybrid impression – “I am the future !!!”, to applause from Mr. Loren.

Reminding Little Ted about the hotel, Shirt made his way home to prepare for “Last of the Time Lords”.

At 6.45pm, Chalky and Tigger arrived. Having not previously seen in, Tigger was entranced by the “Weakest Link – Doctor Who Special”. Then at 7.05pm, the results of the Master’s (master-)plans were revealed. All joining in with the ‘Doctor’ chant, the three were transfixed, save Chalky predicting the Master’s fate five minutes before it happened. The episode seemed to have left more questions than answers, and so mumbling about the future of Ms. Jones, the whole Jack/Boe issue, and that ending, they wandered next door to eat off a “Doctor Who” tablecloth-covered table. Whilst they did so, Chalky and Tigger compared notes with Shirt’s parents who had recently returned from holiday in Australia and New Zealand.

Vittels consumed, and following a brief game involving Chalky and Tigger identifying WHO episode titles from pictograms produced by Shirt, the three played a new game bought by Shirt which involved identifying celebrities from quotes, blurred photos and cartoons. A move in which Chalky took the lead, forcing Tigger to last place despite having answered almost all the questions that far, proved controversial, but Shirt was the eventual winner (despite Chalky’s attempt to deafen him as a distraction). This completed, Chalky and Tigger had to leave due to more exertions the next day (ooer missus), and so another adventure came to an end.

[PL]