RAWR, I am fierce dinosaur!

Far too long, no write.  As ever.

The Beans on Toast gig was excellent, as always.  I decided to get the bus there and I found a bus home which left Newcastle at 11:30, so I got that was well.

Bus journey there was long.  Bit of a wonder round Newcastle, then headed out to the venue.  It was at The Grove in Byker.  Won’t mean much to most of you, but there was a kids TV show when i wqas growing up called Byker Grove, so it made geeky me happy.  For those reading this who know about the show, they do pay proper respect to a legend:

The support act was William Crighton.  He’s Australian, and the stuff he’s able to do with a guiter is incredible.  Big, epic, cinematic sounds.  Beans was on top form as ever.  Afterwards, I got my canvas for the Sci-Fi Weekender, as ever, and another one which made him laugh:

The bus home was interesting.  I didn’t realise that the ultimate destination for the bus was London  and had forgotten the next day was the Carabao Cup, so there were fans heading down for the game.

The following Wednesday, it was down to Great Yarmouth for the Weekender.  I stayed in the same hotel I was in last year but, to be honest, it wasn’t as good.  Might look for another place for next year.

The con was fun, but I spent more of it away from the actual events than usual.  There weren’t many panels I was interested in.

There was fun the first night.  It was Pirate Pete as usual and I won Donkey:

I could have taken the Lord of the Rings trilogy on DVD, but went with the mystery prize and wasn’t disappointed.  Then the nights planned entertainment was cut short because the security certificate for the web host for the website everything was on expired.

I watched the interview with Paul McGann and Daphne Ashbrook, which was fun, particularly when they both encouraged everyone to join a union.  There was a sweet moment when a little girl asked McGann about how to fly the TARDIS.

Pop Up Puppet Cinema were hilarious as usual.  They brought back Nightmare on Elm Street and they also did their version of Raiders of the Lost Arc.  (They were supposed to be doing that and Flash gordon, but one of the people they needed for that was injured and couldn’t rehearse.)

The music was good.  Victor and the Bully brought the rock and Jollyboat brought the humour (and the Powerpoint).  I even got to sing on the main stage.  They had folk who set up Rock Band and I ended up singing Enter Sandman:

And, of course, I got my canvas signed:

Signators: Beans on Toast, Jollyboat, Victor and the Bully, John Robertson (who does The Dark Room and was my co-vocalist on Enter Sandman), Paul McGann, and CJ Tudor.

The 12th was a day of queues for me.  First of all, starting at the back of 4am, outside a shopping centre for Record Store Day.  They only had one of the albums I actually wanted, so I got that and another one as well, they only had one copy of another album but the guy who beat me to it got a copy from me from elsewhere, and they didn’t have the third one at all, so I ordered it online:

The three I wanted were the RATM, the Fran Turner and The Wombles and the Thelonious Monk was the bonus.

Picked up my meds, dropped them and the two records at home and back ut.  It was the opening of a new tattoo studio and they were doing a chatiry flash day.  So, I queued, but not for as long, and got my terrifying dino.

I’ve also become addicted to strawberries.  A shop near me is selling three punnets for £5.  Is it possible to die from eating too many stawberries?

Will