I love it when...

.... this autistic near teenager comes home from school and announces that we need

to get a shoe box packed and returned to school in the next 48 hours for

Operation Christmas Child.

I'd been meaning to sort out a shoebox for weeks

and just hadn't got around to it.

But you can't say no to Ben - 

so the shoebox was found and decorated - 

items were bought - 

and the shoebox was in school a day before the deadline.

 

So..... was it good?

So good.

A bit of a hassle with the tickets - 

{foolishly I'd assumed that if you book 8 tickets together they may be seated together - apparently not

Odeon = Flying with Easyjet! }

But - we laughed - we cried - we screamed -

we shared the fez.

Afterwards we ate chips and ice cream in the reseraunt and tried to discuss the episode -

but our minds were too blown.

So instead we laughed some more.

And then we hugged and went home -

 and the kids went to to bed -

and just after midnight Al and I watched the Five(ish) doctors

and we laughed so much I thought one of us would have a heart attack.

Such a day comes once in 50 years!

Doctor Who at 50

So - at long last it's Doctor Who Day. 

One of those days I've known was coming for years - 

every 23rd of November since the the series came back someone has mentioned that in 2013 the show 50 years old. 

And here we are.

 Having a quiet Saturday. Megs and Ben doing art homework - 

- a long afternoon with Doctor Who episodes in the kitchen
 watching waiting to watch The Day of The Doctor.

But not on the sofa {or behind it.}

Not at the caravan {Easter Saturday = Wales and DW}

But at the cinema. In 3D at the cinema! With my dearest friends.

In the 70's I was a child - Tom Baker was my first doctor.

The Horror of Fang Rock left me with nightmares a phobia of lighthouses for years.

I adored Leela, and then Romana.

Saturday evenings were lovely - 

Jonathan and I wore our coats backwards - 

so if it got too scary you could just put you hood up over your face.

Sometimes we had to go out on a Saturday - missing the end of an episode - 

several from The Key to Time

No videos, no catch up TV.

We decided that it was the music that made it scary 

and experimented with turning the sound down on the TV.

I started reading the Target adaptations - not really understanding the regenerations - 

The War Games proved a bit tricky to understand.

In the 80's I loved Peter Davison 

and Nyssa - oh how I loved Nyssa

{I did NOT love Tegan}

1982 was my favourite year - I loved The Visitation and Black Orchid 

Earthshock shocked

{Jonathan cried for hours - killing a mathematician was just cruel}

The change to weekday shows became tricky - fitting around Orchestra practices - 

I missed more episodes until we finally got a VHS recorder.

Then it was The Caves of Androzani and my turn to cry.

Colin Baker  - I wasn't a fan - but of course I watched.

By then I was deeply in SF/Fantasy

{Dragons from Pern and Renunciates from Darkover 

And of course my beloved Star Trek} 

I was a teenager - and Doctor Who was probably the most uncool of my interests -

But The Trial of a Time Lord was still gripping.

Sylvester McCoy - I kept going through the ups and downs

{My ups were Remembrance of the Daleks and Silver Nemesis-

The downs Paradise Towers and The Happiness Patrol}

 Ace was ace - 

but of course there was no way I was talking about this stuff at School/College.

By then my reading was Pratchett and Eddings.
 

The final season started and I went away to Oxford - 

Not something you could watch in the JCR

I caught up the episodes on weekends at home.

I was dating Al - we had started watching ST:TNG on video.

Doctor Who was my past - and I really don't think I mourned it.

For years I was addicted to the various Star Treks

And the truly amazing Babylon 5

Of course -  Doctor Who never really did go away.

I wasn't a great reader of the New Adventures

But talk of a new series was always there in Starburst magazine-

The TV Movie came and went.

Children arrived in our house - 

SF/Fantasy books were mostly banished to the loft.

{I went through a bizarre phase of reading Chick Lit}

And then - 2005

Doctor Who was back

Not yet for the children 

{Megan had caught a glimpse of a giant maggot in a random rerun of the Green Death 

and declared Doctor Who far too scary}

We fell back in love immediately -

Even more so when we heard that David Tennant was taking over 

{we'd fallen for him in Casanova}

Megan started watching with Tooth and Claw

Ben sometime afterwards.

DVD's and hard drives meant that episodes were watch over and over and over.

Megan loved Rose - and the tears when she left went on for hours.

Crying rather became the thing as a sensitive girl grew into a hormonal teenager.

Donna's memories, the Ponds leaving.

Deaths and regenerations.

I don't want to go.

The magical crossover of David Tennant and Shakespeare.

Finding Kathie  - my perfect Crafting, Reading, SF/Fantasy, Shakespeare, Theatre Twin -

Discussing Doctor Who for hours.

Forum and Fans.
Reading spoilers and The Writers Tale.
Having our own adventure wth the Doctor at The Crash of the Elysium
{running to that music}

Doctor Who was loved and everywhere.

Children at school knew all about it.
This summer we even went to see a giant straw dalek

The art homework is done.
Time for tea - and then it's Doctor Who 
{just like 1977!}

Closing time

We popped to Wales to pack up the caravan for the winter...

...it  was ineveitable that we would ednd up in our favourite Llandudno spot -

 Waterstones cafe!

Richard II

 

 We stayed in the rather lovely Waterside Premier Inn, just outside the centre of town,

had a lovely mornings shopping in Stratford

{Megan got some "kick ass" boots for half price}

had a "cake and coffee" lunch at the RSC cafe 

And then watched the absolutely mesmerizing performance of David Tennant as Richard II.

The whole production was brilliant -

Oliver Ford Davies, Michael Pennington and Jane Lapotaire 

astonishingly good in the older roles.

The music and set were stunning;

but best of all was the clarity of the production.

Frequently the history plays can be a bit confusing

{all those people with "places for names"}

but in this production, all was laid plain.

Meg's of course fell for all the young men 

especially Oliver Rix as Aumerle -

I'm so happy that she is loving Shakespeare this much!

All in all - so good that we are seeing it again on Wednesday 

in the first live cinema broadcast from the RSC!

Meeting David Tennant (Again)

If you want to meet David Tennant - you need to get there early!

We had tickets for the Saturday Matinee of Richard II,

but travelled down to Stratford on the Friday evening so we could get to the front at the stage door after the Friday night performance.

Getting there half an hour before curtain down - programme in hand -

we waited patiently as a the crowd grew behind us.

Of course - Megs had managed to meet David when we saw Much Ado

 a couple of years ago {thanks to her sprint from the stalls during the curtain calls} 

and I grabbed a signature back in 2008 when we saw Hamlet

{looking back at that blog entry I realise that I used to write a LOT more}

 but this time we hoped for photographs too. 

Well - we weren't disapppointed. David was in a great mood - 

signed Megs playscript and my programme -

leant over us to sign for people behind us - 

and I managed to grab a picture!

Happy Megan - Happy me!

{and yes - I do like the hair!}

 

Bonfire Night 2013

It rained pretty much all day - 

but by the time we were down at the river to watch the firework it was fine.

There seemed to be even more people than usual this year - 

and the american themed fireworks were as good as ever!

Save The Day

How exciting to see posters for the Dr Who 50th Anniversary at the cinema!

A morning in Chester...

... a team building walk for Al's team from work.