Shirt...

...Is Very Camp in Wales !!

Introduction

Shirt had won tickets to the FXS Weekender being held at a holiday camp in Prestatyn. Unfortunately, no-one was available to accompany him – Chalky and Tigger had a young baby, Dufus was having to care for his mother, and Enigma and Scooby were on a cruise. Therefore, it was a lone Shirt that made plans to attend the event, his excitement slightly impaired by the fact that he had fractured his left elbow a week before the fun, after falling over when running after a ball whilst playing with his young nephew, and so was in some pain.

Day One – Friday

Confusingly as Shirt saw it, the Weekender began on a Friday (and ended late on Saturday), and so having got up at an unearthly time, he made his way to Euston Station to catch a train to Wales. Unfortunately the gods had conspired against him, and due to an accident in the early hours, no trains were leaving the Station, and so he would not be catching his expected train. Having finally spoke to the one customer service employee tasked with dealing with the large number of irate passengers, Shirt finally was told to go to London St. Pancras, and get a train to Crewe, where he could then catch a train to the station where he was due to pick up the train to Prestatyn. The journey probably taking ‘only’ twice as long.

Cue a run down the Euston Road, dragging his case using his ‘good arm’. On arrival at the station, Shirt could find no trains going to Crewe. However, a quick chat with staff indicated that he needed to change at Derby. Settling in a seat, Shirt was concerned that his ticket would not be accepted as he had been promised. However, not only was it accepted, but the train manager took time to print out a timetable of all the services that Shirt needed to get to his destination. First stop was Derby, then a train to Crewe, then a train to Chester, and finally the train to Prestatyn (meaning that a proposed two hour journey would take four hours). The frustrating thing proved to be that Shirt would miss a connection by minutes on several occasions and have to wait almost half-an-hour for the next one.

The journey went surprisingly well, with Shirt attempting to block everything out with the first Fourth Doctor Audio Adventure, “Destination Nerva”. Therefore, a surprisingly relaxed Shirt reached Prestatyn Station two hours late, to find a lack of taxis. He therefore strode out in the direction that he believed the holiday camp to be, and after a few wrong turns, finally found himself dragging his case down the drive. Finding the reception, Shirt queued for his chalet-key, event wristband and signing wristband.

Using the small map provided, Shirt managed to find his chalet, and dumped all his stuff, before making his way to the on-site supermarket to get some lunch, before making his way to the main stage area, where he managed to stand at the side of the Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred panel. This completed, with little that Shirt hadn’t heard before, he made his way to the merchandise area, where Ben Aaronvitch was signing, getting his “Earth Aid” CD cover signed.

A further scout round the stalls found nothing else Shirt wanted to buy (although he was briefly tempted by a knitted Fifth Doctor), and soon he was joining a queue to get Dan Abnett to sign his copy “The Silent Stars Go By” and the DWM Graphic Novel “The Mark of Mandragora”.

“I haven’t seen that for years”, commented Dan on the graphic novel, showing it to one of his fellow authors.

Shirt mumbled about finding it again recently and realising that Dan had part written it.

There being nothing going on in the main stage area, save a screening of a random “Buffy” episode, due to the non-appearance of guests from “Dirk Gently” (including Stephen Mangan) who had also been travelling from London Euston and did not want to spend four hours to get there, Shirt hung around the Naughty Asteroid stall, until the next guests that he wanted arrived.

These were Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood, the creators of the ‘Baker Street Irregulars’ graphic novels. The queue moved slowly as the girl in front of Shirt seemed to be getting Tony to sign every comic and graphic novel he had ever been involved with. However, finally she moved off. As Shirt owned all four graphic novels, he placed two down in front of Dan and two in front of Tony.

“Can you sign them ‘To Shirt’?”, he asked both of them.

Looking up, Tony greeted him like an old friend (see. S...And The Adventure of the Literary Agent’s Great-Nephew), before becoming confused when Shirt swapped the two pairs of books between them.

“Why didn’t you just give all four to Dan, who would have passed them on to me ?”, asked Tony.

Shirt muttered a non-committal reply about wanting to “save time”.

Tony repeated his offer of a pint, and Shirt moved off towards the main signing area (also known as the canteen).

Three guests should have been signing, but the London Euston problem had struck again, and Anthony Head was another no-show. (However, no-one seemed to have thought that making announcements in relation to this would have been useful). The other two queues were very long, so Shirt joined the one for Sylvester McCoy, vowing to join Sophie Aldred’s if there was time after. The queue moved very slowly with seemingly every person posing for a photo with Sylvester after he had signed their item. However, eventually reaching the front of the queue after about an hour, Shirt merely got another Doctor’s signature on his “The Four Doctors” CD cover  (only Mr. McGann to go).

Moving back into the main stage area (Sophie’s queue being TOO long), Shirt was in time for the end of the Charity Auction (with Minotaur Spencer Wilding acting as porter), and then a version of “Just A Minute” hosted by DW author (and expostulation of surprise), Paul Cornell. The players comprised fellow Nu-Who scribe Toby Whithouse, and sci-fi authors, Sarah Pinborough, Joe Abercrombie and China Mieville. The four managed to force their ways through a large number of sci-fi/fantasy themed subjects, before Joe was finally crowned the winner.

Moving to the Naughty Asteroid signing area, Shirt joined a queue for Sarah Pinborough who had written two ‘Torchwood’ novels, getting her to sign “Long Time Dead” (featuring the return of Suzie Costello).

Returning to his chalet, Shirt watched a bit of television, and some of “Back to the Future” on the Weekender’s classic movies channel, before returning to the canteen (now sans guests) to have some dinner. Struggling to hold the tray with one hand, Shirt just about got to a table without dropping his meal. Back at the chalet, Shirt decided to just watch television, foregoing the disco being run by Pat ‘Funhouse’ Sharp, as his arm had begun hurting and he was feeling tired after his early start. A quick telephone chat with Chalky, and Shirt turned in for an early night.

[PL]

Go to Day Two