The Rosie Ramble - New York Comic Con - Part 3
The final part of the Rosie Ramble from New York Comic Con - sorry its taken so long, but Ive been having a few writing issues.... (ie writers block) so Im as glad as you are that its finally made it here!!
(And now onwards to Boston...!)
Sunday 10th October
It was much the same start today as the other days - off down the two blocks to the Javits and into the line downstairs! It was even quicker getting in this morning and I made a beeline straight for James’s auto line as usual, but in fact there was nobody even in line yet as he wasn’t going to be there until later. I wasn’t bothered about being first so I had a wander round the dealer hall looking at stuff and berated the makers of the very beautiful expensive figures (cannot remember their name!) for not doing a Capt John figure when they had various other Doctor Who and Torchwood characters! Eventually I wandered back to James’s line and there were a few people there now, so I joined it. I wasn’t actually going to be getting an autograph this morning - I just wanted to give James the book I had for him.
Eventually, the whole gang arrived - Steve wearing the t-shirt I had given him in Chicago and James wearing the same blue t-shirt he had been wearing on Friday! (Maybe he did ditch some of his clothes so he could take his gifts home!) Steve waved me through as it got to my turn and there was James grinning at me and holding out his hand “Hey Rosie! How you doing?” and we shook hands (which yes, went into the hand clasp) “Hi sweetie - I haven’t got anything for you to sign - I’ve just come to see you”
James clasped his hands on the table in front of him and said “You’re not going to pay me any money??” and then giggled
“I’m not gonna pay you money, but I came to give you a gift” James was still laughing and I plonked the book I had bought for him down on the table. (“
Newton and The Counterfeiter” by Thomas Levenson) Seeing it James just said “You’re the best!”
“I didn’t give it to you yesterday because I knew I’d be upstaged by Jean and the Piccolo doll…”
James meanwhile picked up the book with a very curious frown on his face as it obviously wasn’t what he was expecting and so I was trying to sell it to him “That’s a great book! I was recommended it and having read it thought “James might like that”” He was reading the blurb on the back by now and remarked “That looks really cool”
“You learn all sorts of stuff about Isaac Newton - I didn’t know he ran the Royal mint after he stopped being a scientist! And about currency and stuff - it’s really interesting!” (Reminder to self - Don’t ever give up the day job and go into sales…!)
“Yeah!” James put the book down and reached out to shake my hand again “You’re the best” and then he went on “I got home… I know you got upstaged by the doll - but I got home and I played with it!” and he started giggling.
“That was what I was going to ask! Did you play with Piccolo…?”
“I was giggling and dancing in my room … “Oooh - Piccolo!”” and he waved his arms above his head and I started laughing too “You have so got to tell Jean that cos we were going “Do you think James is playing with it?” and I’m going “Yeah, of course!”” and I started to giggle as well
James leaned forward “Oh yeah! He was a little geek in the room, man - Oh my God - yeah!”
“That’s so cool” I replied through my giggles. And James added, with complete sincerity like a kid assuring his mum he had tidied his toys away “I put him back in the bag and everything!” which just made me giggle more.
“I’ve remembered what I was going to ask you…” James was looking at me with full-on attention, left hand tucked against his mouth as he was leaning on that elbow and the smile was in his eyes (no wonder I get tongue-tied, spout utter rubbish and forget what I was going to say in the light of it- that look should come with a licence!) “…you did like your seat didn’t you?”
“Oh shit, yeah! I - I…” James had the most awed look on his face as he ducked his head down and paused before looking back up at me “I don’t even know what to say about that one. That’s huge. That’s…” he shook his head and said “Fuck” quietly and then running his hand through his hair “I mean - I’m still processing that. It’s awesome…!” and mimed a gobsmacked face with his hands either side of his head “…AWESOME!”
“We’re all still smiling because of your reaction - better than we could have hoped - it really was!”
We grinned at each other and there was a moment’s pause and then I asked “And you are going to carry on singing solo aren’t you even though you’re doing stuff with the band now?”
James pressed his lips together and frowned before replying “I dunno man…” which had me going “Nooooooo…” “…I dunno”
“I love you solo…” I pleaded
“I like the band. I like the band a lot!”
“Ok, I like both - but I have to say though - “Dance Slow” with the band…”
“Don’t you think?” James asked and I must have made a really awed face as I finished “…sounds so good!”
“Don’t you think?” James said again quietly. “Yeah, Aaron is the best drummer in the world. I miss him. I only realised how much I missed him when he was playing with me again. Yeah. And my son is in it now! A whole different dynamic. His favourite band is Ghost of the Robot!”
I giggled “Hey - dad is doing something right!” which made him crack up too.
“I’m cool! For 2 years, I’m cool!” and we both laughed again. I led with the handshake this time as I was aware it was time for me to move on and said as we did, “I’ll see you in a bit. Love you babe” James was giving me the look - the one where he keeps looking at you like you are the most important thing in the world at that moment and he can’t drag his eyes away even as you turn to leave, and I heard him reply as I turned away “Love you too Rosie”
Having wandered off in a happy James-fog - the nice kind where you are all squeed up and happy afterwards and have no idea what you’re doing for a few minutes! - I then realised I could go back up alongside the auto table and take pictures again - so I did. Lots!
Final photo op session - I was almost last in line (except for Jean who was behind me as she wanted me to direct her ops as she thought all hers were looking the same!) James caught me up in a huge big hug as soon as I walked in, held on and then squeezed me even tighter against him. He held it long enough for me to say “Ooh - big hugs!” as I hugged him back. All very cuddly and lovely. He still had his arm round me as I explained the first shot - just both of us sticking our tongues out at the camera! James laughed at that and then with us close together we both stuck our tongues out in a “Meah!” gesture. James has a very long tongue…! Immediately after we both started laughing and James said “Rosie, you make me do the craziest shit!” which totally cracked me up - and I pointed it “Well, it’s a bit more fun than the normal arms round pose!” which he acknowledged.
Second pose, I just went behind James, with my hands on his shoulders - I always seem to look pretty good in those and this was no exception (hides the fat chin behind James’s shoulder!) He looked wonderful of course - all casual with his hands in his jeans pockets. And the third and final shot I just asked for a cuddly one as I couldn’t think of anything else and James immediately complied by pulling me into a head hug - my favourite. His right arm was curled round and right in my hair on the top of my head, holding me against his shoulder and his left arm was high up round my shoulders - in fact it was so high up to start with Froggy had to ask James to drop it down a bit as it was covering part of my face. So I got hugged for a bit longer and it was a glorious feeling - held tightly and surrounded by James’s arms. That then turned into a big squeeze and a proper hug and as we separated, James kept hold of my arms and laughing said I had “a sensible amount of product in my hair!” (maybe as opposed to him who did have a lot!) and then he hugged me again. So many hugs, all weekend - just lovely.
That was nearly it for the weekend. James was carrying on signing for a bit longer, so I took advantage and took more pictures and I did go back round through the auto line one more time - again, sans autograph - just to say goodbye. This was lovely too - I said I had had a great weekend and I would see him again next week in
Boston and then I was teasing him about how the previous week he had been surprised to hear he was going to Boston! He admitted he was told where and when he was going by Steve “He points - I shoot!” - but now it was only a week away he was focused!
After we shook hands, James kept holding onto my hand with his right and then covered it with his left hand as well. Leaning forward and having sincerely thanked me for the gifts, which was very sweet, he then said some really special things to me which meant a hell of a lot. God, I love that man!!
That was pretty much it. Having gone back to J &Js to collect the photos on the way back up the room we passed James, Steve and the crew going the other way, James obviously having finished signing. He was too busy talking to Peg (who funnily enough I noticed first!) but Steve acknowledged us as they zoomed past. And so, with James having left the building, there was nothing much else for us to stay for.
Louisa and I went off to go and find somewhere for me to have a cup of tea and it was surprisingly difficult on a late Sunday afternoon. (Sadly the lovely little place she wanted to take me for chocolate had a wait of about 2 hours for a table!) We did find somewhere in the end and I was very grateful for my tea-and-a-bun - only this was far more exciting than your standard English tea shop - we had chocolate-dipped strawberries! And then although it was early - it had been a long day and weekend and we were both a bit weary - we both agreed to call it a night and Louisa went home having taken a load of my laundry which was incredibly kind of her.
I had a quiet evening in my hotel room, watching TV and eating goodies from my fruit basket. Great not to have to worry about packing or racing off anywhere as I had three days of free time New York coming up and then a couple of days in Boston. And best of all, there was no suffering from any form of Post-James Blues because I was going to be seeing him again in 5 days time!
(And now onwards to Boston...!)
Sunday 10th October
It was much the same start today as the other days - off down the two blocks to the Javits and into the line downstairs! It was even quicker getting in this morning and I made a beeline straight for James’s auto line as usual, but in fact there was nobody even in line yet as he wasn’t going to be there until later. I wasn’t bothered about being first so I had a wander round the dealer hall looking at stuff and berated the makers of the very beautiful expensive figures (cannot remember their name!) for not doing a Capt John figure when they had various other Doctor Who and Torchwood characters! Eventually I wandered back to James’s line and there were a few people there now, so I joined it. I wasn’t actually going to be getting an autograph this morning - I just wanted to give James the book I had for him.
Eventually, the whole gang arrived - Steve wearing the t-shirt I had given him in Chicago and James wearing the same blue t-shirt he had been wearing on Friday! (Maybe he did ditch some of his clothes so he could take his gifts home!) Steve waved me through as it got to my turn and there was James grinning at me and holding out his hand “Hey Rosie! How you doing?” and we shook hands (which yes, went into the hand clasp) “Hi sweetie - I haven’t got anything for you to sign - I’ve just come to see you”
James clasped his hands on the table in front of him and said “You’re not going to pay me any money??” and then giggled
“I’m not gonna pay you money, but I came to give you a gift” James was still laughing and I plonked the book I had bought for him down on the table. (“
Newton and The Counterfeiter” by Thomas Levenson) Seeing it James just said “You’re the best!”
“I didn’t give it to you yesterday because I knew I’d be upstaged by Jean and the Piccolo doll…”
James meanwhile picked up the book with a very curious frown on his face as it obviously wasn’t what he was expecting and so I was trying to sell it to him “That’s a great book! I was recommended it and having read it thought “James might like that”” He was reading the blurb on the back by now and remarked “That looks really cool”
“You learn all sorts of stuff about Isaac Newton - I didn’t know he ran the Royal mint after he stopped being a scientist! And about currency and stuff - it’s really interesting!” (Reminder to self - Don’t ever give up the day job and go into sales…!)
“Yeah!” James put the book down and reached out to shake my hand again “You’re the best” and then he went on “I got home… I know you got upstaged by the doll - but I got home and I played with it!” and he started giggling.
“That was what I was going to ask! Did you play with Piccolo…?”
“I was giggling and dancing in my room … “Oooh - Piccolo!”” and he waved his arms above his head and I started laughing too “You have so got to tell Jean that cos we were going “Do you think James is playing with it?” and I’m going “Yeah, of course!”” and I started to giggle as well
James leaned forward “Oh yeah! He was a little geek in the room, man - Oh my God - yeah!”
“That’s so cool” I replied through my giggles. And James added, with complete sincerity like a kid assuring his mum he had tidied his toys away “I put him back in the bag and everything!” which just made me giggle more.
“I’ve remembered what I was going to ask you…” James was looking at me with full-on attention, left hand tucked against his mouth as he was leaning on that elbow and the smile was in his eyes (no wonder I get tongue-tied, spout utter rubbish and forget what I was going to say in the light of it- that look should come with a licence!) “…you did like your seat didn’t you?”
“Oh shit, yeah! I - I…” James had the most awed look on his face as he ducked his head down and paused before looking back up at me “I don’t even know what to say about that one. That’s huge. That’s…” he shook his head and said “Fuck” quietly and then running his hand through his hair “I mean - I’m still processing that. It’s awesome…!” and mimed a gobsmacked face with his hands either side of his head “…AWESOME!”
“We’re all still smiling because of your reaction - better than we could have hoped - it really was!”
We grinned at each other and there was a moment’s pause and then I asked “And you are going to carry on singing solo aren’t you even though you’re doing stuff with the band now?”
James pressed his lips together and frowned before replying “I dunno man…” which had me going “Nooooooo…” “…I dunno”
“I love you solo…” I pleaded
“I like the band. I like the band a lot!”
“Ok, I like both - but I have to say though - “Dance Slow” with the band…”
“Don’t you think?” James asked and I must have made a really awed face as I finished “…sounds so good!”
“Don’t you think?” James said again quietly. “Yeah, Aaron is the best drummer in the world. I miss him. I only realised how much I missed him when he was playing with me again. Yeah. And my son is in it now! A whole different dynamic. His favourite band is Ghost of the Robot!”
I giggled “Hey - dad is doing something right!” which made him crack up too.
“I’m cool! For 2 years, I’m cool!” and we both laughed again. I led with the handshake this time as I was aware it was time for me to move on and said as we did, “I’ll see you in a bit. Love you babe” James was giving me the look - the one where he keeps looking at you like you are the most important thing in the world at that moment and he can’t drag his eyes away even as you turn to leave, and I heard him reply as I turned away “Love you too Rosie”
Having wandered off in a happy James-fog - the nice kind where you are all squeed up and happy afterwards and have no idea what you’re doing for a few minutes! - I then realised I could go back up alongside the auto table and take pictures again - so I did. Lots!
Final photo op session - I was almost last in line (except for Jean who was behind me as she wanted me to direct her ops as she thought all hers were looking the same!) James caught me up in a huge big hug as soon as I walked in, held on and then squeezed me even tighter against him. He held it long enough for me to say “Ooh - big hugs!” as I hugged him back. All very cuddly and lovely. He still had his arm round me as I explained the first shot - just both of us sticking our tongues out at the camera! James laughed at that and then with us close together we both stuck our tongues out in a “Meah!” gesture. James has a very long tongue…! Immediately after we both started laughing and James said “Rosie, you make me do the craziest shit!” which totally cracked me up - and I pointed it “Well, it’s a bit more fun than the normal arms round pose!” which he acknowledged.
Second pose, I just went behind James, with my hands on his shoulders - I always seem to look pretty good in those and this was no exception (hides the fat chin behind James’s shoulder!) He looked wonderful of course - all casual with his hands in his jeans pockets. And the third and final shot I just asked for a cuddly one as I couldn’t think of anything else and James immediately complied by pulling me into a head hug - my favourite. His right arm was curled round and right in my hair on the top of my head, holding me against his shoulder and his left arm was high up round my shoulders - in fact it was so high up to start with Froggy had to ask James to drop it down a bit as it was covering part of my face. So I got hugged for a bit longer and it was a glorious feeling - held tightly and surrounded by James’s arms. That then turned into a big squeeze and a proper hug and as we separated, James kept hold of my arms and laughing said I had “a sensible amount of product in my hair!” (maybe as opposed to him who did have a lot!) and then he hugged me again. So many hugs, all weekend - just lovely.
That was nearly it for the weekend. James was carrying on signing for a bit longer, so I took advantage and took more pictures and I did go back round through the auto line one more time - again, sans autograph - just to say goodbye. This was lovely too - I said I had had a great weekend and I would see him again next week in
Boston and then I was teasing him about how the previous week he had been surprised to hear he was going to Boston! He admitted he was told where and when he was going by Steve “He points - I shoot!” - but now it was only a week away he was focused!
After we shook hands, James kept holding onto my hand with his right and then covered it with his left hand as well. Leaning forward and having sincerely thanked me for the gifts, which was very sweet, he then said some really special things to me which meant a hell of a lot. God, I love that man!!
That was pretty much it. Having gone back to J &Js to collect the photos on the way back up the room we passed James, Steve and the crew going the other way, James obviously having finished signing. He was too busy talking to Peg (who funnily enough I noticed first!) but Steve acknowledged us as they zoomed past. And so, with James having left the building, there was nothing much else for us to stay for.
Louisa and I went off to go and find somewhere for me to have a cup of tea and it was surprisingly difficult on a late Sunday afternoon. (Sadly the lovely little place she wanted to take me for chocolate had a wait of about 2 hours for a table!) We did find somewhere in the end and I was very grateful for my tea-and-a-bun - only this was far more exciting than your standard English tea shop - we had chocolate-dipped strawberries! And then although it was early - it had been a long day and weekend and we were both a bit weary - we both agreed to call it a night and Louisa went home having taken a load of my laundry which was incredibly kind of her.
I had a quiet evening in my hotel room, watching TV and eating goodies from my fruit basket. Great not to have to worry about packing or racing off anywhere as I had three days of free time New York coming up and then a couple of days in Boston. And best of all, there was no suffering from any form of Post-James Blues because I was going to be seeing him again in 5 days time!