The Doctor Who Experience

This was my 3^rd visit to the Doctor Who Experience and probably my last as it is closing at some point in September this year. It was very different from my last visit which was on a cold Monday afternoon in March 2013. That time, Matt Smith was the Doctor and there was only one other person on the Tour with me. It was almost like having a private tour that time.

This time it was definitely a lot busier and it seems like most of the tour time slots were full. There were plenty of Cybermen walking around for photo opportunities. Thankfully none of them were looking to upgrade people visiting tho)ugh there were opportunities to be voluntarily upgraded but tickets for that sold out pretty quickly.

The tour is partly interactive and partly exhibition. The interactive part involves the finding of crystals whilst coming up against some of the Doctors greatest enemies. I remember how one little boys face was in awe when we were in the TARDIS and it started moving.  The exhibits are the largest part and the area for photos.  There were various TARDIS sets from different Doctors, Costumes worn by the Doctors and some of the companions, the Doctors enemies, obviously, as well as some of the iconic props from series 10.

 There is also an opportunity to have your photo taken on a green scene and choose from 8 different backgrounds. I did not partake this time as I still love the one I had done last time and also the queue was much too long and the others did not have the patience to wait.

You can spend as long as you want in the exhibition centre but the average length of time is a couple of hours which is plenty of time to look at everything and get the photos you want. It’s a shame it is closing as the props and costumes are fascinating and even now I cannot get over how tiny Jenna Coleman must be looking at her outfits. Hopefully it will re-open in a few years with a whole bunch of new props from the new Doctor as well as more props from the classic series.

Whilst in Cardiff you can also undertake a walking tour of the outdoor locations used in Doctor Who but you don’t need to wander very far to see some of them, Cardiff Bay has been used in relation to episodes which featured Captain Jack and Torchwood with David Tennant . The Millennium Centre was the Hospital on New Earth, again with David Tennant and Billie Piper. If you walk over a little further to Mermaid Quay, you will find Eddie’s  Diner which is the Diner in which the 11^th Doctor met River, Rory and Amy when he knew he was going to die. It was also the Spaceship that Clara went off to travel with Me. Booth 11 is the booth that the Doctor, River, Rory and Amy sat at and it is marked with a couple of photos from the time they were filming. You can also still see the doors to the Tardis if you look right at the back.

What I have been doing 10th -23rd July 2017

It has been a busy week with some unexpected early morning excitement thrown in. Monday was Quilting club where I continued on with my hexagon flowers for my bed quilt. I managed to complete a whole flower again. I had intended on starting one of the advent calendar panels for my nephews but did not really fancy lugging my sewing machine to the club plus I was cannot get there for the start of the club so there are generally no plug sockets for me anyway. I could do them at home I suppose, but they will have to be finished in 2 months as my Mum is going over to Australia to visit my sister, brother in law and nephews.

On Tuesday it was the monthly WI meeting which was a week late due to the hall having a long standing booking on the evening of our monthly meeting. We had 2 cute visitors called Percy and Beryl who kindly brought  along their owner from Manchester Dogs Home to give us a talk about what they do and of course the dreadful fire in 2014.

Wednesday morning started rather early and unexpectedly when we were awoken by the sound of an engine running. Normally I don’t hear things like that but the engine was revved a little when it was started. Craig got up to look out of the window expecting to see a taxi but instead saw two men loading a motorbike onto the back of a van. Craig shot downstairs and opened the front door and shouted out. The two men ran off leaving the van and the bike. Craig took the keys out of the van, and tried to see where they had gone. Another neighbour across the road had also heard the noise and had come out. Whilst Craig was inside calling the police and putting a top and shoes on, I stood at the door talking to the neighbour. Would you believe it, but one of the thieves came back hoping to take the van, but as soon as he saw us he ran off again. The police arrived after 20 minutes and took details and did what they had to do. By the time they had finished it was nearly 5.00am and it wasn’t worth going to back to bed.

Matthew said he had heard the noise but didn’t come out of his room as he was too comfy in bed. He also complained of feeling dizzy and sick. I felt really guilty sending him into school but when he has said this before he has been fine. This is the downside of being a working mum-the guilt when your child says they don’t feel well but you have very little choice but to send them into school anyway. I had a bad feeling when Matthew phoned me as he got to school as he was a bit weepy saying that he still felt ill. I told him to get a drink and see how he feels. Anyway to cut it short, 20 minutes after school started I got a phone call from the school saying he had been sick and could I come and get him. Luckily, my boss is pretty understanding and because my job could be done pretty much anywhere when I am not required to train someone, I worked from home for the rest of the day.

Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful with just normal routine things.

Saturday was another early start (4.30am) as we were going to be driving 4 hours down to Cardiff  to go to the Doctor Who Experience before it closed in September. It has been a few years since I last went and it was certainly a lot busier. I will write a whole blog post on the day. If oyu do get the chance then go to visit before it closes. We also had a walk around Cardiff Bay which was being turned into a beach for the summer and also down to the Barrage where we watched the boats going up and down in the lock. Before we left we ate at Eddie's Diner which was where they filmed the Diner scene in the episode where River kills the Doctor. We were lucky enough as well to sit in the booth that they all sat in as well.

Sunday was just a lazy day as we got back about 11.00pm the night before and I needed to catch up with some housework and especially the ironing.

Next week is going to be all about Matthew as it is his last week in primary school and there are loads of things going on.

Menu Plan for week Commencing 17th July

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This week on the menu we have:

Monday- Slow cooker Irish stew
Tuesday: Curried Mince beef and rice
Wednesday- Steak and salad
Thursday- Pan Haggerty (a potato and onion dish with ham) from Slimming World
Friday- Quorn Bolognese (Emma's friend is coming round and she is a vegetarian)
Saturday -Eat out in Cardiff
Sunday -Spinach, tomato and red pepper cannelloni.

In the Craft Basket.

I recently bought 2 craft kits from The Range and thought I would at least do one this week.

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On my Reading List.

I watched a couple of episodes of the TV series when it was on last year but missed the first one 'Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death' so I thought I would get the book. Whilst searching for it online I saw that the Book People were doing all 20 books for £19.99 so rather than pay £7.99 for the one I bought the whole series. This book is the 9th of the series and I have enjoyed the others. They are light and easy to read and unlike some other books the culprit is not obvious. 

I am looking forward to:

Going to the Doctor Who Experience  in Cardiff on Saturday with the family, especially now we know who the next Doctor is going to be. I had a feeling it was going to be a woman especially with how well 'Missy' was received. Although I liked Jodie Whittaker in Broadchurch it will be interesting to see her in a VERY different role. With the previous Doctors I had not seen them in anything else so I had no other characters to compare them to ( I know Peter Capaldi was in an episode of Doctor Who, but that was just a one off).

It will be a long day as we will plan on leaving about 6.00am as the time slot I have booked is 11.30am. This should be plenty of time but you can never tell with the motorways, even on a Saturday.

Quote of the Week

Home,

Where the Soul finds comfort

and the heart finds pleasure

                                         Dolly Parton

I will be linking up with Organising Junkie and Happy Homemaker Monday with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

Hope you all have a good week.

Deborah