Blog on the Lillypad
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
 | It's the Convention Report! Day 3
Saturday morning I woke up at five and made good use of the time by stretching on my inversion table, then getting my shower and working on my web log and e-mail. I got down to the hotel cafe by 7:45. I was expecting to run into Tom and Kevin, but they were sleepyheads and didn't show until later. |
I sat down alone. But who else but Michael Sheard, actor from Britain who has played in Doctor Who and just about everything else (including Star Wars), entered and asked to join me. We chatted very convivially for an hour. He is nearly 60 but can pack away a heary English breakfast like a ploughboy. So while I had fruit and then oatmeal, he tucked into eggs on toast, bacom, sausage, hash browns, and hot tea.
| I felt myself to be his host, as this is my country, so I asked him about his home, his family, etc. He's a gracious and engaging man. We chatted away about his daughter in law's expected baby (any day now), his remarkable father (an old fashioned Scottish Presbyterian minister who encouraged him in his dream to act), and his home on the Isle of Wight. At last Tom and Kevin entered, and we asked them to join us. They sat down, and with a group around him, the conversation got a bit more fannish (ie, "Have you ever been in such and such?" and "Did you ever meet so and so?") He answereed our questions with a happy, charming gregariousness. |  |
 | After breakfast I trekked around to the video room, then to the dealer's room, then back to the video room to watch two episodes of CLANGERS. As I came out, I saw that the line for photos with Colin Baker (who played the sixth doctor) was at it's end, with five minutes to spare for getting a photo with him, so I hopped into the line at the very end to get a picture with him. ("Come here beautiful girl!" he exclaimed. I like him more and more every day.) |
My throat and chest started to bother me, so I took a couple hours off to rest in my room. Kathy Sullivan did a dinner run and brought me chicken with broccoli. After a little more rest and quiet my throat felt more open and less dry. So out I went.
Down in the bar, Ed Riggs, his wife Heather, and their friend Jeff were talking, and they invited me to join them. The Bass Ale was great! I started feeling better and better. As always, the crowd around Ed and Heather grew and grew.
The Masquerade was going on, and I skipped that, as did several others. We stayed in our group, talking and laughing. A fellow named Michael R. who has read my fiction met up with me, and I bought him a beer (as promised). Then a group of us drank to Jon Pertwee together. At 8:30 several of us wandered down to the main room to catch an MST version of the THREE DOCTORS. I watched for half an hour.
 | Back upstairs, a woman named Lisa was wearing Jon Pertwee's plaid cape. She had purchased it directly from him during a con years ago when he had sold it for charity. She offered to let me wear it, and I did. That's as close as I've ever gotten to Jon Pertwee, the man who played the Third Doctor.
After that, Michael R. and I wandered up to the room parties. A fellow at the Canadian party was passing out samples of stout for people to try. He was passionate about stout and itwas great to listen to him. But I still don't like stout. And I really tried to like it. |
By now I felt really good, but as always happens when I drink just one or two beers past 7 or 8 o'clock at night, I started to get sleepy. At a little after ten I bid my cronnies good night and retired to my room. From what I understand, just about everybody else went down to the hallway by the registration tables and sang 70's songs until 5:00 a.m.
