Dufus & Shirt...

...Are Menaced Underwater

After a brief hiatus due to a change of employment status, Dufus had come down again, this time to attend Enigma & Scooby’s wedding, which was being held ten minutes from Shirt’s home address. The ceremony went well, with Shirt turning heads (and stomachs) in his Sixth Doctor costume (as requested by Enigma). After a late night, the two rose mid-morning the next day ready to attend another Spirit Sinema event – this time to celebrate the release of what was likely to be the last of the classic WHO DVDs, “The Underwater Menace”.

Before leaving they spent ten minutes working out how many autograph vouchers Dufus needed, with the number slowly decreasing as he realised how much it would all cost. Shirt also helped Dufus identify a signature in his ‘The Sixties’ book – namely Mrs. 60s Dr Who, Verity Lambert.

‘Bungee !!!’ thought Shirt

Driving down to the station, they parked just in time to catch a train to Waterloo. From there they made their way to Naughty Asteroid, where Dufus made up for lost time, buying a TITAN boxed vinyl mini-figure, a Top Trumps TARDIS Tin, a Fourth Doctor costume T-shirt, and a replica Fourth Doctor scarf (a day too late to attend the wedding as the Fourth Doctor), eschewing the suggested half-length scarf suggested by Shirt, which was also half the price. However the final price was still cheaper than that on the What Shop website, meaning that Shirt had saved him £20. Both then picked up a copy of the latest MDW Special on “Davros and Other Villains”, with Shirt also getting a ‘Time Squad’ Eleventh Doctor and a ‘Jim Moriarty’ POP figure. As they were leaving, Dufus saw an official DW calendar comprising months featuring thirteen different Doctors, and so queued up again to buy this, being given a number of free Halloween comics by the assistant.

Retracing their steps to Waterloo, they caught a train to Chiswick. As with their previous such jaunt, a short distance away from their final destination the train juddered to a halt, due to door problems and then having missed its turn, waiting at a red signal. They hurried along, looking out for any lost 60’s DW actors, but there were none. As they reached the parade of shops, and Dufus made to go into get some lunch, Shirt realised that he had forgotten to bring the e-mail with their booking on. Therefore, only Dufus went to buy lunch, whilst Shirt desperately tried to find the e-mail on his phone. Rejoined by Dufus, he remembered that he had forwarded the booking confirmation to Dufus, and two minutes later both had the e-mail up on their phones. Luckily one of the directors of Spirit Sinema was on the entrance desk, and recognised Shirt from previous events, finding his name on his list of attendees, ignoring Shirt rambling on about forgetting it in the excitement of Enigma & Scooby's wedding the previous day. He then handed both of them their complimentary Alister Pearson ‘The Underwater Menace’ prints, before asking how many autograph vouchers they needed. Dufus threw his frugality to the wind, asking for a number larger than any previous proposed number, whilst Shirt struggled to remember exactly which guests he wanted.

Autograph vouchers purchased, and they moved into the main hall, where ‘Underwater Menace’ guests were signing. There was also a queue for a photo-studio featuring William Russell and Anneke Wills. It was agreed that Shirt would carry the large carrier bag containing Dufus’ earlier purchases.

First up was Mary McMillan (Fish Person), who signed Dufus’ DVD cover, seemingly confused about the whole thing. Dufus then posed for a photo with her, taken by Shirt, before the whole process was repeated with Catherine Howe (Ara in ‘TUW’), who seemed slightly more with it.

Moving over to the top end of the hall, they both queued for Ralph Watson, who having multiple credits, signed a ‘Web of Fear’ DVD cover for Shirt, and three covers for Dufus. A photo taken by Shirt and they were both moving on again.

Next up was Brian Hodgson, sound effect supremo, who signed Shirt’s ‘Doctor Who Sound Effects’ CD cover, signed by Dick Mills at the last such event, then Dufus’ ‘An Earthly Child’ DVD cover and ‘The Sixties’. Shirt then attempted to take a photo of Dufus and Brian, but the camera seemed to have got into timer mode, taking the photo ten seconds after the shutter was pushed, resulting in a slightly surprised photo.

Having changed the batteries in Dufus’ camera (the indication being that they were flat), next up was Quentin Mann, Floor Manager for ‘TUW’, and then a bonus guest, Sally Faulkner from ‘The Invasion’. Shirt had bought a photo of her due to wanting to have his photo with her, as a Granada Holmes guest star. Dufus’ camera continued to play up but finally Shirt got his photo with her. Cover signed, and a photo of Sally and Dufus taken, and they were moving to the final person in the main hall, Gregory ‘D84’ DePolnay, who signed covers and Shirt’s ‘The Seventies’.

Joining the long queue into the smaller room, which was now for autographs from William and Anneke, they managed to turn off the camera’s timer mode. On entering the room, Shirt heard another attendee being told by a steward that photos with the two of them would be allowed after all autographs had been signed. Shirt moved into the queue for William, bypassing Anneke, getting his copy of ‘Light At The End’, in which he plays not only Ian but also the First Doctor in a cameo, signed. He was then directed out of a door behind the signers, sitting outside on a handy log. Dufus meanwhile having got a number of Anneke covers signed, had now moved on to William, rejoining Shirt a few minutes later.

They sat outside for a few minutes, Dufus starting to eat his lunch, before Shirt noticed that the steward had begun taking photos of attendees with the two guests. Having popped his head into the main hall, and looked down the corridor where they had been queuing, he saw that the queues had indeed come to an end.

Dufus therefore made his way back to the smaller signing room, where he joined a short queue for photos. Seeing Dufus sit down next to Anneke, Shirt suddenly realised that he would be in shot through the large window behind them, in between the two. He therefore smiled, and began waving, doing his best impression of Benedict Cumberbatch at the Oscars.

Dufus then moved over to William, getting his final photo of the day.

Checking that they had all their items, they made their way back to Chiswick Station (via the supermarket for Shirt to buy his lunch), then Clapham Junction and then the station where they had parked the car, making a brief detour to pick up a different DW calendar at a pound shop.

“How much is it ?”, joked Dufus.

Returning to Shirt’s home, they spent a short period looking stuff up on the internet, then watched some TV with a takeaway pizza, before making their way to Chalky and Tigger’s to watch the new episode – ‘The Zygon Invasion’. Episode completed and dissected, they played a number of XBox 360 Kinect games, including one in which Shirt became Riker in a scene from ‘ST:TNG’, Dufus gave his best Bogart in ‘Casablanca’ and Chalky took on Godzilla.

It was time to retire for the night and so goodbyes were said (until the DW Festival a fortnight later), and they returned to Shirt’s, where the next day Dufus wended his way home, musing on a weekend of thrills. Roll on the Festival !!!!!

[PL]