Dufus & Shirt...

...Don't Believe It!!

It was Collectormania time again, so Dufus and Shirt made plans to attend together. Shirt was making his way up to Dufus’ on Friday night, and on arrival at Kings’ Cross far too early for his train (even having made a detour to a nearby Argos to pick up DW Lego Dimensions figures for Dufus), wasted time by buying a copy of MDW and taking photos of dinosaurs from ‘Jurassic World’ that had ‘invaded’ the station as a promotion for the forthcoming sequel. Showing these photos which he had posted online to one of the ‘rangers’ got Shirt a JW print and some JW Lego. It was time for Shirt’s train, but looking up at the departures board, Shirt was annoyed to see that it had been cancelled. He therefore found himself having to stand for the whole 75 minute journey on the next train as it comprised entirely of reserved seats. Still Shirt had the audio delights of ‘Lure of the Nomad’ to distract him.

Reaching Newark, and having predicted the end of Part 3 twist very early on, Shirt waited for Dufus to pick him up from the bench outside the station. Eventually he arrived, and they made their way into Lincoln and a posh Fish & Chip shop, where after eating they visited a nearby Sainsbury’s to get their evening meal for the next day, but unfortunately not the ‘Energy of the Daleks’ vinyl. It also became clear that only one of Dufus’ cards was affected by a worldwide Visa card meltdown.

Returning to Dufus’, they watched the final live semi-final of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, whilst Shirt began cataloguing Dufus’ DW DVDs, CDs and books on ‘The Tardis Library’. Having checked the timetable online, it was agreed that as Dufus wanted the last photo studio of the day, Michelle Ryan, they did not need to get there as early as originally planned.

The next morning, they left slightly later than planned, and having stopped at a nearby fast food outlet for breakfast, found themselves driving through driving rain to the accompaniment of John Williams’ greatest hits on the stereo, and having to negotiate flooded dips in the road. Eventually the sun came out, but the traffic report on the radio had bad news about queues ahead of them. Dufus therefore left the motorway at Tamworth, where he previously lived, utilising back streets that he knew, to make their way speedily to the ENC.

Arriving slightly later than intended, they parked up, and having paid for parking, slowly walked to the exhibition halls. On arrival they found a queue into a hall, labelled ‘Collectormania’. Joining this they made their way past the bag checks, and had their tickets scanned. The steward told Shirt that they did not need to queue, but could go straight in as they had earlybird tickets (standard entry having just begun). However, Dufus was already in said queue, so Shirt joined him, and around ten minutes later, having gone outside again (completely negating the bag check), they were making their way in through the main entrance, having their hands stamped.

Dufus joined the queue to buy autograph vouchers by credit card, whilst Shirt checked who was signing where and popped out to get money from a cashpoint, which turned out to be further away than he expected due to the bank based in the complex having closed down. Shirt therefore ended up having to go to the station to find a cashpoint. Returning to the hall, Shirt initially failed to see Dufus standing right in front of him, calling his mobile to ask where he was.

The first guest of the day was Richard Wilson, who in a pattern that continued for much of the day, Shirt had previously met but Dufus hadn’t. It was therefore only Dufus that got an item signed, his Series 1 DVD boxset.

Side-stepping they joined a surprisingly short queue for Michelle Ryan (whom Shirt had met a few weeks before), and soon she was happily signing Dufus’ ‘Companions’ book.

Moving along, they both took virtual queueing tickets for Mark Williams, before joining a queue for Camille Coduri. Dufus then realised that he did not have an autograph voucher in the correct amount, so Shirt had to lend him the difference. A few minutes later Camille became another signature in Dufus’ ‘Companions’ book, before posing for a photo.

It was now time for Richard Wilson’s photo studio, so Dufus joined a very long snaking queue, whilst Shirt sat a small distance away reading his MDW. When he could no longer see Dufus queuing outside the photo studio, he went to where people were exiting, where he waited and waited. Finally, he realised that his phone was ringing, and answering it found that Dufus was at their agreed meeting point, the queue having been broken off when he got inside and his being told to come back for the second slot.

Next up was Donald Sumpter, classic and nu-Who guest star, who signed Dufus' Series 9 boxset, before posing for a photo in which he looked as enthusiastic as he had when Shirt had met him.

Finally it was time for someone that Shirt wanted to meet, Matt Zimmerman, Alan Tracy in ‘Thunderbirds’, and guest star in the Merrison ‘A Study in Scarlet’. ‘Thunderbirds’ still signed, and Shirt was posing for a photo. His co-star in both ‘Thunderbirds’ and ‘A Study in Scarlet’, Shane Rimmer was away from his desk, as was the lovely Nicola Bryant.

It was therefore time for lunch, and so they attended an overpriced ‘Subway’ concession for some sustenance.

Returning to the signing tables, Shirt joined a queue for Ms. Bryant, whilst Dufus attempted to get a photo of the woman who gets killed at the start of ‘Jaws’. However, he was back just in time to take a photo of Shirt with Nicola, after she had signed his ‘Trouble in Paradise‘ and ‘The Mark of the Rani’ CD sleeves.

Shane Rimmer was also now back at his table, but was clearly showing his age, signing very slowly, and getting very confused about the exacting requests of the fan in front of our friends – “Sign it there and put ‘Scott Tracy’ after your name”. However, eventually it was Shirt’s turn, and another still signed, was posing for a photo with Shane also.

Mark Williams was away from his table, so they began browsing the many stalls, until it was time for the second Richard Wilson photo session. This time not only did Dufus get into the studio, he actually sat down next to the great man. However, a conversation about their meeting earlier that day meant that Dufus was not facing the camera when the photo was taken, and had to join the back of the queue inside the studio to go round again. Photo eventually taken, Dufus rejoined Shirt.

Returning to the signing tables, Mark Williams was now back, and having paid for one autograph, Dufus stepped up and got his Series 7 boxset signed, before posing for a photo.

Shirt had previously met Mark, and so decided to forego him.

They then wandered around the rest of the stalls, both picking up a free copy of David Jason’s memoir, ‘Only Fools and Stories’, which despite having a sticker saying ‘Signed by author’ was not (this didn’t stop both of them checking despite being told), before deciding to go outside for a breath of fresh air and to enjoy the son, as they still had over an hour-and-a-half before Michelle Ryan’s photo studio. After a short time soaking up the sun, Shirt took Dufus to the cashpoint (getting his loan repaid), and they made their way back into the hall, where both had a photo with a 1980s-style console.

Another browse of the stalls, with Dufus buying some action figures, and Shirt a ‘Sherlock’ T-Shirt and knitted Sixth Doctor doll that he had seen earlier.

Finally, it was time to go over to the photo studio area, for Michelle Ryan, where the previous session for Chad Coleman (’The Walking Dead’) appeared to be over-running. The steward was calling people forward in Batch numbers, and Dufus was in Batch 4. Eventually this was called and Dufus joined the queue. Shirt went for a sit down in the Cosplay area. At 6pm, announcements came over the tannoy asking everyone to leave the event, and so Shirt returned to the photo studio to find Dufus just emerging with his photo in his hand.

They walked swiftly to the exit, and managed to cram themselves onto the courtesy bus back to the car park.

Driving back to Dufus’, they enjoyed ‘Blake's 7: Scimitar’, and were pleased that all the flooding seemed to have dissipated. On arrival, Dufus put a pizza in to cook, which they ate whilst ‘The British Soap Awards’ and ‘Casualty’ played in the background.

The next morning, Shirt catalogued more of Dufus’ items, and they discussed other upcoming events, before making their way to Dufus’ brother’s address for Sunday lunch, and an hour’s war-gaming. Dufus then drove Shirt to Newark Station, where predictably his train home had also been cancelled. He therefore had to catch the train before, but again had to stand for half-an-hour until a seat became free at Peterborough.

Settling back in his seat, Shirt mused on another excellent weekend with Dufus.

[PL]