I saw a fox today. I was walking down the alley between Kidderpore Ave and Finchley Road, and there in front of me was a fox. If I were a poet, I'd start off on rusty fur and alert eyes - but it was quite far off, and I'm sure we all know what foxes look like anyway. We've all seen Disney Robin Hood. Anyway, I looked at it, and it looked at me, and we had a nice neo-pagan moment of understanding before it dashed into the hedge and under a fence.
I've never seen a fox before, seeing as Guernsey doesn't have foxes, badgers or other sensible animals. Something to do with continental drift. And then I got Wiley's "Wearing My Rolex" in my head, on account of the fantastic video which has girls dressed up as urban foxes and dancing in dark places:
It's not a song I mind too much, so it could have been worse.
Google have got a new theme function, and I instinctively picked a tree. When they asked me for my postcode, I found out that the background would change depending on the weather. So I've got it set to Guernsey weather, because it makes me smile when it's raining here if it's sunny there...and also quite happy if it's sunny here and raining there...
I've been behaving and working and revising for a week now, and with an exam out the way I treated myself to a Forbidden Planet trip. Also, I was keen to roadtest my new Geeksoc 10% discount card...
Forbidden Planet is ten minutes away from the Strand campus - all you have to do is walk in a straight line, down friendly streets, until it's there right in front of you. Incidentally, for the record, if one was trapped in Covent Garden by evil staff of certain Museum Organisations, and one wanted to know how far Forbidden Planet was, the answer is "way close enough to sneak to without being caught". It's a nice walk, especially because the route goes via Henrietta Street, from the Doctor Who novel of the same name, which gives me a guilty grin every time.
To digress, it's a great book, written in regency style, about a brothel-cum-coven on that road. It's really nice to know something of the history of any area you live in, and now I walk down the Strand and can't help but think "Lord M saw these buildings too". According to a sign there, Covent is a corruption of "convent", as it used to be the garden of a convent. What it didn't say was that Covent Garden used to be a prime spot for houses of ill repute, something I learnt from The Adventuress of Henrietta Street; something else I learnt was apparently there used to be a private indoor zoo on the Strand. Well, Doctor Who was meant to be educational...
Well it was almost a complete disaster.
Not the getting there bit. That was easy. I mean the bit where I considered pawning my clothing for merchandise. It's Roger Delgado. It's big. It's 38% off. It's still £150...
To be honest, I'm just glad that I'm particularly sweet on unpopular periods of the show's history. If they made Valeyard deluxe figures, or Kings Demons iron maiden playsets, or "Build your own Seabase 6" sets, then I'd be in trouble. Still, the Master is special, and this one in particular. I might have told you that I'm writing a comic where the Doctor has to face off all four Masters teamed up and destroying the universe together. I've never had the same "I don't have a favourite!" scruple about him - I think Derek Jacobi is the best interpretation of the role we've ever had, for all three minutes that he is on screen. Yet in my script, in which I am necessarily referring to the various characters as "SimmMaster", "AinleyMaster", "RobertsMaster" etc, I keep accidentally just typing "The Master" when dealing with the original incarnation...
I do feel bad, because there are plenty of people out there who would say Delgado is the only one who actually deserves the title, and I'm not one of them. After Jacobi, I love the lot, and much like the Doctor, I don't think any one interpretation is more valid than another...don't I? Having accidentally done this four times now, I'm starting to wonder...
Anyway, I was good. For one thing, it'd be a creepy thing to have in your room. And also, it's far too big to get home.
That's not to say I behaved completely. The FINAL MICROUNIVERSE SHIP SET was 50% off, which means I now have the lot, all 32 of the damn things, not counting repeats...its a strangely satisfying feeling. But one which should strictly be cancelled out by the fact I got some more Monster cards. They're still really exciting, and I hope to devise some fun games for them too, rather than just using them to scare people on the Tube.
I experimentally got a pack of Series 4 "Devastator!" cards too. When I say "experimentally", I mean "I found out they have a stick of celery card, not to mention a Fifth Doctor, and both are common, meaning I'm likely to find one quite easily and I WANT dammit". Astonishingly, despite the huge 0.8% chance of these two cards coming up, neither appeared. Furthermore, The Devastator set really aren't as exciting as the Ultimate Monsters, and I can't quite tell why. I just assumed that things from episodes I've seen will be cooler than those I haven't; but it turns out that any number of 70s men in shaggy sheets are better than regular humans from modern episodes.
When I get home, I think I'm going to photoshop some deficiencies in the Ultimate Monsters collection - why no Valeyard?
Riding on a high, I went home via my new favourite chain of shops - "Music and Video exchange". Soho has a bad reputation, but it's not as seedy as you'd expect - even at night, I was suprised how safe it still feels. It's just off Shaftesbury Avenue for goodness sake; well lit, even if those lights are advertising all matter of...non-Doctor Who related things. It's very atmospheric, especially in the rain. Plus, already being on the somewhat unofficial side, its a fantastic place for bargain books and videos. I went. I hauled. I have no idea how they're going to pass my luggage allowance.
Who wouldn't go to uni in London? Best shops, whether you like them designer, or like me for bargains; plays, music, films. Dark Knight on IMAX! Guillemots at Barbican! Baker'n'Courtney on the Strand! Six Characters at the Gielgud! John Barrowman in Sainsburies! All the best uni experiences so far, I could not have had in any other city. Why go anywhere else?!
I've procrastinated so long that I haven't actually got around to talking about what I meant to. Ah well. Some other time.
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