A rather silly week ...

It feels like it’s been a very busy week this week, as I sit here in Cardiff, having just got back from Manchester (I wrote this Sunday evening). This weekend has been rather busy for me, so I’m struggling to remember what on earth I’ve done for the rest of the week.

Tuesday I can remember spending most of the afternoon playing with Scalextric. George (one of stage management in the flat). It kept us entertained for hours on end (we’re easily pleased). Even though it was a very simple circuit we took great pleasure in arranging Xbox games to create slopes and raised bends to make it a little more of a challenge.



Mini-me!

I became a designer on Wednesday! (well not really, I just wanted to join in). The designers had to make little people for a set maquette (google what they are), so after much pestering (thanks Evie) I was allowed to play with some of the modeling stuff (insert technical name). Whilst they were making rather realistic people, I made a small collection of cute little animals (I said I wasn’t really a designer). Stage two was to put them in the oven to cook them, but that didn’t go quite to plan as we (Evie) left them in a little too long and they came out blackened! The next day I was allowed to paint them (I’m such a big kid!) which kept me busy for another evening. Whilst I was creating a petting zoo the designers created proper people, one of which was based on (which I was rather pleased with).

Friday evening was once again spent pretending to be a designer (I’ll get there eventually) as I helped Evie make a wooden floor for her maquette (we’re getting there, but I’m not sure about some of the gaps in the boards).

Thursday morning however, I had seen that Nick Frost would be signing in Waterstones Manchester, so with little consideration to how knackered I would be, I arranged to go home for the day to meet him. As a result, the weekend turned out to be very busy for me. With another Fantom Films event on the Saturday in Chiswick, it was another early morning, but well worth it. As ever Fantom had a fantastic group of guests from throughout the history of the show. It was an unexpected chance to catch up with the delightful Peter Miles, who I hadn’t seen for a while, but as ever, he was on fine form (he also took the little Dalek that I brought him last Christmas for his table, which I was rather pleased about). As well as Peter, Ensign Waters was there. I spent much of the day catching up with her which was great, having not seen her for quite some time.

Saturday evening was then another train up to Crewe (third city for the day!). We (mum and I) dashed up to Manchester (four city that day) to stage door the crucible (yes, there were a number of Doctor Who actors in it before you ask). One of which was Peter Guinness, who amongst his extensive career had been in ‘Minister of Chance’ and is in this week’s episode of ‘Strangeness in Space', so I was able to have a lengthy chat about working on those. Throughout all of this Doctor Who was on (yay!). Whilst I enjoyed the two part story, I felt the Fisher King was a little underused/predictable, perhaps it could have been a single part story, but never the less it was a good story.

The next day (Sunday for those who have fallen asleep reading this) was another trip to Manchester, this time for the Nick Frost book signing which had brought me further up north than Chiswick. Having got there nice and early we (Dad and I) were pretty close to the front of the queue, and within no time at all met Nick and got him to sign his book and the all-important Whographs (where any and every Doctor Who related person signs). My dedication reads ‘Alex … Cheeky’, as I had asked if I could be ‘Cheeky’ and ask him to sign in Whographs. Whilst Dad’s dedication read ‘Jason … go on a photography course’, as Dad had faffed around a little whilst taking my picture (I’ll look into booking you onto that course later this week Dad). We then popped back to the Exchange to catch two actors that I’d missed the night before (both of whom were lovely). Dear reader if you are Manchester based, they now do matinee on a Sunday, so if you struggle to see shows during the week, try and go then. From what I saw of the set and the reviews I read, ‘The Crucible’ in particular is well worth seeing.

Sunday evening was another (long) train journey back to Cardiff, but it flew by as I read Nick Frost’s book. Having got halfway through it, it is a very well written and funny book, I would defiantly recommend it. When I’ve finished it I may even write a short review (unlikely I know, but I’ll keep you waiting for it dear reader).

So that has been my rather last minute, silly weekend; mucking around and wandering (happy now Dad) around the country.