Saturday, December 15, 2012

Prize pooches and daleks with handbags - #Midnight so far

It's not much over 24 hours since we arrived in Birmingham for the Midnight Convention. Barely six of them have been spent sleeping.

Essentially, conventions are like Lib Dem conference for Doctor Who fans. A meeting of all manner of creative, intelligent, funny people who share a passion for not just a tv programme but an underlying philosophy of tolerance and freedom.

There is a lot of chatting to people you've never met before. Sitting around in bars discussing and debating.

It's more than a little surreal that the Who fs dim is sharing this quite grand hotel with prize dogs who are competing at a show at the adjacent NEC. Preened and perfect pooches, from papillons to bearded collies are everywhere  to be seen, many wearing little bootees to keep clean.  The top miniature schnauzer of the year is on our floor and I've just met some little dogs from Norway in the lift.

The opening ceremony last night saw many of the guests come on stage & basically say 'See you around. Have a fab weekend." Not Eve Myles. Oh no. She somersaulted on to the stage, struck a combative pose to the Santa hat-wearing Dalek and said "Come at me, bro'.

In a completely unrelated development the Dalek was later seen in the hotel lobby carrying a handbag. I will upload the evidence later.

Today has been about queuing. Lots of queuing. Every bit of it worthwhile. The look of joy on Anna's face when she had her photo taken with Gareth David Lloyd made the not inconsiderable expense of this weekend worth it. Both he and Eve Myles were lovely & friendly. Their later hilarious and irreverent panel was great fun. They probably shouldn't be let out in public but never mind. I will tell you when I get back all about the on-set pranks and why Eve wants to turn Gwen into a cake eating, wine drinking black belt.

Today's queuing will be nothing in comparison to the mayhem of tomorrow when Tennant and Piper appear on the scene. It's Billie's first ever convention. I hope she loves the madness.

Tonight is another party and fancy dress competition. There are some fantastic costumes around, from the Dalek/human hybrid to the many incarnations of the TARDIS to various doctors and companions. There's a very creepy looking silent on the loose, too.

It is really the best fun ever.






2 comments:

Unknown said...

Heh, never heard a Starfury con compared to a political conference before! ;)

It was rather surreal to be surrounded by so many pooches, but they all were lovely and friendly.

Already booked on 3 SF cons next year, probably going to do the two doctor who ones too. *sigh* Sean Harry seems to get a lot of my money!

Unknown said...

Heh, never heard a Starfury con compared to a political conference before! ;)

It was rather surreal to be surrounded by so many pooches, but they all were lovely and friendly.

Already booked on 3 SF cons next year, probably going to do the two doctor who ones too. *sigh* Sean Harry seems to get a lot of my money!

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