I'm back from Cardiff. Was it worth it?

Every. Penny.

It. was. AWESOME. I was full of a cold, slept on the train all the way there and back and I STILL enjoyed it. Absolutely fantastic! They showed us a clip from The Runaway Bride, the Chase Sequence - literally. Donna (the bride) was in the taxi, being driven by a robot santa, and the Doctor was flying the TARDIS behind it, dodging cars and piloting the console with bits of string (I kid you not - bog-standard, common-or-garden string, such as you could buy in a craft shop. I chuckled like CRAZY!). Just as it got to the REALLY exciting bit, the picture cut out the the screen said "To be continued christmas 2006", and EVERYONE in the audience groaned. Very amusing. And there were some cracking lines as well ... one bit involved the Doctor bashing the TARDIS console with a hammer and yelling "Behave!" at it admonishingly. Another great bit was where the TARDIS was flying next to the taxi that Donna was in, with the doors wide open and the Doctor yelling at her to jump into the TARDIS:

Donna: I'm in my WEDDING DRESS!
Doctor: You look lovely. JUMP!

And that whole sequence, apparently, is only ten minutes into the episode! Gah. Five whole weeks to wait ...

In other news, I got my photo taken with a Dalek, the TARDIS and the Genesis Ark. I also met Gareth Roberts (writer of DW books Only Human and I Am A Dalek) and Robert Shearman (writer of DW episode Dalek), and was recognised by Gareth Roberts from the last time I met him! Unfortunately I didn't see anyone else - not only did we get there late because the train was delayed, I went back to the hotel as soon as the concert finished because I was feeling really ill. And even though I know it was the right thing to do, I still regret it slightly, because after the show there was a little party in St David's Hotel, which is near the Millennium Centre, and lots of people were there and mingled with us plebians. Gah. But still, I needed sleep. I was dead on my feet by the time we eventually got back to the hotel.

Thirty-five days until The Runaway Bride ...