 I
attended Collectormania with a couple of my friends on Saturday and had
an absolutely amazing time, my first "convention" of sorts. After getting
lost in Milton Keynes, which can only be described as "roundabout hell",
we eventually made it to the stadium just after it opened. Kate was obviously
first on the agenda and luckily for us the queue was only small as we were
early. Being a tad overly excited I couldn't come up with anything to say
that didn't make me sound like a "hyper fan!" I can't entirely recall what
happened as it all happened so fast but I think I said something like "thanks
for coming to England!" ....oh dear. Robbie McNeill was right next to her,
sharing that signing tent and was definitely laughing at me! I did however
manage to stirke up the courage to ask her to shake my hand for a photo,
which of course she was happy to do!
 The
rest of the day obviously didn't quite compare to meeting her but was nonetheless
amazing all round! Patrick Stewart walked straight past me on his way to
lunch and I had to do a double take, Kenny Baker also causally went past
us too. The wait for Patrick Stewart was all day...our ticket numbers were
called about 3pm, 6hrs after getting them! I did manage to get a hand shake
off him too :) He was in a tent with Tim Russ and by the time we were in
there Tim's queue was waiting outside as he must have just returned from
a break, so on the way out he looked at me and without thinking I shouted
"hi Tim" at him. luckily he did laugh....along with some other bystanders.
I seemed to have developed a habit of embarrassing myself that day! Oh
well, they all have a sense of humour! Later we decided to go back to get
Robbie McNeill's autograph in the tent with Kate as earlier in the day
he had walked past us and instead of managing to take a picture I accidentally
turned off my camera and he heard me express my frustration (he turned
around and laughed) ...I was not amused. So when we actually paid to talk
to him I reminded him I was the idiot who can't take a picture, he replied
with "yes well having the camera on is usually a good place to start when
filming, I should know, but it is tricky." I have no idea if Kate witnessed
this conversation or not. Robbie was great with fans too, taking pictures
with all of us!
All in all it was a brilliant day, despite
my lack of articulation with Kate! She seemed to be enjoying herself even
though it was cold and rainy! Hope this report makes those who couldn't
make it feel a little more included :) Please pass on our gratitude to
Kate from us Brits! Absolutely made my year, finally being able to meet
and talk to my idol who is just as brilliant and gracious in person as
one would expect!
Yours, Hayley Thair |
