Shirt...

...Can't Decide !!

London Film and Comic Con had begat a smaller event in Spring, in a smaller hall at Olympia, to act as a curtain-raiser to the main event in Summer. Two of the first announced guests piqued Shirt’s interest – nuWho Master, John Simm, and Downey Jr.-Lestrade, Eddie Marsan. As time went on, Vinette Robinson, one of the only members of the regular cast of ‘Sherlock’ that Shirt hadn’t previously met (and the eponymous Rosa in ‘Doctor Who’ Series 11), was also announced. Shirt left it late to book his entry ticket and photoshoots (for all three), so got high batch numbers. Wishing to get autographs from all three also, Shirt was aware that he would need to attend early to get low-numbered Virtual Queuing (VQ) tickets. Chalky was attending another event the next day so could not attend, Dufus was away celebrating his girlfriend’s birthday, and Lupine was abroad stalking Bruce Dickinson, so at a ridiculous time of the morning it was a lone Shirt who made his way slowly to Kensington Olympia.

On arrival, he was directed into the hall where queuing was taking place, having his ticket scanned, and his wrist stamped, before joining the second row of the winding queue. Having an hour before the event doors opened, Shirt spent his time listening to ‘The Seventh Doctor New Adventures’ on the LE App.

The doors opened and everyone surged forward, with Shirt making his way to the floor above the entrance, as the venue map indicated that this included two signing areas rather than one. He quickly found the steward handing out John Simm VQ tickets (receiving #45), and also took VQ tickets for Bernard Cribbins and Iain Glen in case the Sherlockian guests were cancellations. Moving to the downstairs signing area, he found the tables for Vinette and Eddie, neither of which required VQ tickets. He therefore joined a short queue for Vinette, and around ten minutes later was picking up a still of her in ‘Sherlock’, which she signed. Moving along, and five minutes later, he had a signed ‘Sherlock Holmes’ still of Lestrade and Holmes.

It was just gone 9.20am, and Shirt had got two out of the three autographs that he wanted. He therefore slowly began trawling the merchandise stalls, before attending Photo Area A where John Simm’s first photoshoot session was due to come to an end in fifteen minutes. Only Diamond Passholders and those in Batches 1-4 had been called, and predictably Shirt was in Batch 5. Shirt was therefore told to come back at 5pm for the second photoshoot session, meaning that he would have to stay for the long-haul.

Moving to Photo Area B, he was only had a few minutes to wait before he was called for his Vinette Robinson photo. The queue moved swiftly, and within the space of ten minutes, Shirt had had his ticket scanned, stowed his bag, let Vinette put her arm round him, retrieved his bag, and picked up the copy of his printed photo.

Having spent more time grazing the stalls, purchasing a copy of the ’The Essential Doctor Who: Relative Dimensions’ bookazine, and around an hour-and-a-half later, he was back at Photo Area B, repeating the procedure to get his photo with Eddie. Shirt had therefore had only John Simm left to meet and get a photo with.

It was now lunchtime, so Shirt made his way out of the venue, and over to the nearby supermarket for some sustenance. Having got some fresh air, he returned to the hall, now having some change for a charity tombola. Picking out three tickets (which needed to end with a ‘5’ or a ‘0’), Shirt won with his first ticket. However, #315 proved to be elusive, with Shirt and the stallholder having trouble identifying his prize. However, finally having moved several ‘Doctor Who’ items that had been on top of it, Shirt’s prize was revealed - a ‘Star Trek – Visual Dictionary’. Stowing this book in his bag, and it still only being 2pm, Shirt decided to waste some time by attending a talk featuring Karyn Parsons, Hilary in ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. This concluded and Shirt made his way over to the signing area, where John Simm had begun signing for 1-150. Joining the queue, Shirt picked up a still of John as the Master in ‘The End of Time’, which around fifteen minutes later, John happily signed, before shaking Shirt warmly by the hand.

A final graze of the stalls, and Shirt made his way back to Photo Area A, far too early for the John Simm signing. After standing around for about half-an-hour, Batch 5 was finally called, and Shirt joined his final queue of the day. Around twenty minutes later, he was standing next to John, and retrieving his belongings and photo.

On his way to the exit, Shirt purchased a couple of small poster tubes, and two mystery merchandise boxes for £10. He then made his way back to the Underground Station where he got on a District Line train which finally moved off ten minutes later. As he travelled home, Shirt looked inside his two mystery boxes, pleased that one contained a bowl decorated as the TARDIS. It had been a long and very tiring day, but a very successful one !

[PL]