As most of you may know, Paul McGann is not my favorite Doctor. (He's great, which is why I'm in PMEB, but there are others I like more.) Sylvester McCoy is my favorite Doctor (and I'd hazard to say favorite actor). Turlough and Benny were my favorite companions. And I'm a big fan of the PRoBe stories which featured Liz Shaw. So you can probably guess just how high I was at this year's Visions...
Sylvester McCoy, Mark Strickson, Caroline John, and Louise Jameson were the key Doctor Who guests, but they were also joined by Lisa Bowerman (Kara in "Survival" and Bernice Summerfield in the audio books) and Terry Walsh (stunt man for Doctor Who).
The event all started for me on Wednesday when I flew to Chicago. I took the shuttle to the Hyatt and Judi met me, Carole and Alryssa there. Carole, Alryssa and I stared at each other for about 5 minutes trying to decide if we were who we thought we were. (I'd never met them, but Judi had.) Just after Judi arrived, we all hugged and I was introduced to our guests from Scotland and Wales.
We walked to the train station, had a fun-filled half hour trying to get the ticket machines to accept our cash (well, that might be an exaggeration), and then rode the Train to Judi's exit. (Yes, it's listed on the train map like that. Or maybe I'm mistaken...)
At Judi's we met the infamous Lance (the Pom) who fell in love with us at once. (He loves being petted, especially by several beautiful women...) There are a lot more things that happened, but I'll skip them for now so that I can get to the actual con... (But let me just mention "The Long Ass Bridge" for those very few who know what I'm talking about.)
As an addendum to that last paragraph, I'll go ahead and continue talking about Wednesday.
When we were hungry enough, the four of us walked to Edwardo's, a Chicago-style Pizza joint near Judi's flat. (Which, BTW, is a beautiful place.) Alryssa and I decided that we wanted pineapple on our half of the pizza, and I suggested onion while she suggested ham (or Canadian bacon, which is what they had). Caz and Judi had sausage, jalapeños, anchovies, and mushrooms. We waited probably an hour before the pizza came, but it was well worth it. My three companions had margaritas and I had an IBC root beer (yes, I love living on the edge). And they never once checked to see if Alryssa was legal! (Well, she is in her country, but not in ours.)
We hobbled back to Judi's flat after lupper (it was around 4 in the afternoon) and relaxed a bit. Lance was once again happy to see us. When we were rested enough for traveling, we put Lance on his leash and headed for the grocery. The little doggie enjoyed his romp in the park and kept racing forward (I was holding the reigns). Until he noticed that we were nearing the kennel. Judi and Alryssa took Lance into the kennel while Caz and I stood on the sidewalk with the grocery cart. (Can you say "bag ladies"?)
Now, Judi had warned us about the Long Ass Bridge (tm), but none of us figured just how long that ass of a bridge really was. (8 blocks, I think Judi later admitted.) "I can do this walk in 12 minutes at a fast pace," Judi kept saying. Needless to say, we weren't going at a fast pace. But, we survived the walk and ended up with the other 42 million people at Dominick's. (Most of those 42 million were in line. And the lines spanned entire aisles!)
We picked up the last minute things that we needed for our Thanksgiving Dinner and Judi and Caz went to wait in line. (Carole had less than 10 items and got to stand in the 15 minute line). Alryssa and I got drinks in the cafe and then joined Carole who was already sitting down. We sat for a long time, even after Judi arrived. And Caz kept saying "I'll pay for the taxi back." But, invigorated from our rest in the cafe (or maybe because we weren't patient enough to wait for a cab) we walked all the way back and over the Long Ass Bridge (tm).
I was Judi's slave for the preparation of Thanksgiving dinner. So I got to clean and cut celery and peel loads of onions. Carole stayed up for quite a bit (considering that she'd been up and swimming in the hotel pool at 6:30 that morning) before retiring. And Alryssa and I got on IRC for an hour or so. Being on Judi's computer meant that I finally got to hear that song from the Monocled Mutineer. (Still, it wasn't enough to ensure that I could sing it at the sing along on Friday.) We went to bed sometime after midnight, I think.
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