Shirt...

...Is Taken Away Again.

The What Shop were having a celebration of their 35 years in business, on a Saturday a few weeks before Christmas. Shirt decided to attend, but a few days before, Naughty Asteroid also announced a signing – Steven Moffat & Sue Vertue signing the new ‘Sherlock’ Manga comic, and the box-set of the graphic novels covering Series 1. Both signings started at 12pm, but Shirt decided to attend Naughty Asteroid first, as that signing was only for an hour, whilst the What Shop signing was until 2pm.

Arriving an hour before the signing, Shirt found a distinct lack of a long queue, with around three fans patiently queuing whilst staff laid out the promoted items on tables beside them. Shirt therefore browsed the shelves to waste some time, hoping that the ‘Magnus Greel’ figurine might have been released a week early. Although there was no sign of this, Shirt was pleased to find the MDW Graphic Novel ‘Ground Zero’ (which features the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Doctors, along with Peri, Ace, Sarah Jane & Susan, and a very non-canonical ending to the penultimate part of the title adventure) on a shelf, believing that it was not being released until the New Year. He was even more pleased that it was marked half-price despite only just having been released.

At around 11.30am, Shirt finally joined the queue, listening to music on his tablet in an attempt to drown out the moaning of DW fans around him about Series 11. Finally, 12pm came around, and Mr. and Mrs. Moffat arrived, posing for quick photos with the comic before starting to sign. The fans in front (including one who had joined his friend at the front of the queue) seemed to have multiple DW items, all of which they managed to get Steven to sign after the comics. After around 10 minutes, it was the turn of the fan in front of Shirt, who told Steven that she came from Germany in an almost apologetic tone.

“Don’t worry, the War was a long time ago”, quipped Steven, causing his wife to visibly wince.

The fan then told Steven that her name was Brigitte, having to write it down for him (amusingly she spelt it wrongly on her first attempt). Two comics signed to this name, she then revealed that the comics were presents for her two daughters, causing Steven to take them back and ensure that both were signed to all three (two further names needing to be spelt out). He then signed a ‘Sherlock’ mug, completely failing to use the proffered pen for use on ceramics, using a Sharpie instead.

It was then Shirt’s turn, with him getting the comic and the two graphic novels, that he did already have signed, signed by them both.

Steven was initially confused that Shirt was asking him to sign the back cover of the comic, until Shirt pointed out that Manga comics are read from the back.

Stowing his items back in his bag, Shirt made a dash for the Underground, catching the Central Line to Mile End, and then the District Line to Upton Park. Making his way to the What Shop, Shirt entered (at around 12.45pm) to find the three guests – Ellie Wallwork (Hanne in ‘It Takes You Away‘), Jessica Martin (Mags in ‘Greatest Show in the Galaxy’ and three 2019 LE Seventh Doctor stories), and Samuel Oatley (‘Tim Shaw’ in Series 11) – all on lunch.

There were no signs indicating prices, but photographs of all three guests were in evidence. The shop was much busier than usual, and Shirt browsed the shelves, shocked to find that they were selling the latest M&B Giveaways sets for £49.99 each (and £69.99 for the LE sets !!).

Finally the queue to pay had gone down enough for Shirt to enquire at the counter about autograph prices. It seemed signed photos of each guest were £15 each or 3 for £40, but that signatures on your own items were £5 each. Shirt initially paid for two personal items, but then confused the shop assistant by suddenly deciding he wanted another item, and paying for this before getting his change for the first transaction. Having been given three autograph tokens, Shirt moved to the signing table. Unfortunately, as he did so, Ellie went away for a brief break, but he managed to get Jessica to sign ‘The Monsters of Gokroth’ and ‘The Moons of Vulpana’.

“There’s a third one”, commented Jessica.

Shirt mumbled something about not being able to afford it at this expensive time of year, causing Samuel to sing “It’s the Most Expensive Time of the Year” to the tune of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (The truth was that Shirt hadn’t been able to find his copy of ‘An American Werewolf in London’ when collecting his items for signing).

Being helpful, Helen A then picked up both signed covers and put them behind the counter to dry. This had the impact of Shirt needing to wait for longer than necessary, as he needed to wait for a gap in sales to get them handed back to him.

Ellie then reappeared, joining the other two in front of the store’s TARDIS for photos. After a few photos with other attendees, it was Shirt’s turn, handing his camera to a staff member, and standing between Samuel and Ellie.

After all photos had been taken the three guests returned to the signing table, and Shirt took the opportunity to get Ellie’s autograph. He was slightly unsure how this was going to work given that Ellie (like Hanne) is blind, experiencing the nervousness that he had previously had meeting young children from the New Series. Shirt had identified the spot on his Series 11 poster that he wanted Ellie to sign (just above Lisa Stokke, who played her mother), and the staff member next to Ellie put her hands on the poster, for Ellie to sign between. Signature completed, and Ellie thrust out her hand, which was limply shaken by Shirt.

Gathering his poster and checking that he had all his items, Shirt exited the shop, having managed to exchange only limited pleasantries with Helen A. Returning to the tube station, Shirt caught a train to Baker Street to take some photos of its Christmas lights which were themed on ‘The Blue Carbuncle', before returning home via Notting Hill’s secondhand shops.

[PL]