Just good friends

Thank you for visiting. Writing this is helpful, I find - it makes me focus on the good times. If you're reading this, I hope you find it interesting.

Sci-fi conventions have changed a lot over the past 20-something years. Nowadays the conventions are mostly run by professional event organisers for profit. There used to be two "official" British Star Trek conventions a year, with one being held over the early May Bank Holiday weekend and another over the August Bank Holiday. They ran from Friday afternoon to Monday and were organised and run by fans for the benefit of charity. I'd longed to go to a full convention for a very long time, but they were usually held too far away for me to attend. However, the 1996 spring convention was to be in Cardiff, which meant that we didn't have to stay overnight in an hotel. It turned out that David was going as well so we arranged to meet up at the convention at the Cardiff International Arena (as it was then known).

I have a very clear memory of turning away from the registration desk to find David standing behind me, dressed in his Next Generation uniform, right hand raised in a Vulcan salute.

It was a great weekend. There were talks from celebrity guests, showings of episodes that hadn't yet been broadcast in the UK, Dealers' rooms (where you could get Star Trek merchandise - no internet shopping in those days!), the longest queue for autographs you've ever seen, and a party on Saturday and Sunday nights. During the day we went our own ways, but met up for the parties. David was a good dancer and I was thrilled to have a dancing partner - my ex flat-out refused to dance at all and I loved to dance. I was eternally grateful when he rescued me from a Klingon who had taken a fancy to me, much to my ex's amusement. I didn't think it was so funny.

I repaid the favour when he spotted a young man who'd made a pass at him in the auditorium by linking my arm in his and pretending to be his girlfriend. David always managed to pull at conventions - unfortunately, he only attracted other men!

At this time we really were just good friends, but looking back, perhaps this was the beginning of something. But I'll save that for next time.

Comments

Up and away...

25th April should have been our 25th wedding anniversary. You can bet that David would have been making a very big deal out of it somehow - a party, perhaps, or a very special treat for the two of us. Somehow, I've always managed to miss out on celebrating "milestone" events. And I've always promised myself that I'd make up for it at the next one. The one event that he did manage to make very special for me was my 60th birthday. I knew he had something up his sleeve when he didn't ask me if there was anything I'd like for my birthday. I just kept quiet, trusting he had something in mind - a surprise party, maybe? His father nearly gave the game away by asking when I was going flying. I brushed it off, deciding to not mention the incident - then his dad repeated the question to David, in my presence. David and his dad doing karaoke "their way" David was furious with his father. After we'd gone home, he got back in the car and w...

The Catfather (Part 1)

David and I decided that we didn't want to have children together. In my case I'd been there, done that, worn the T-shirt spattered with baby-sick and David said he didn't want to share me; he was very happy to be stepfather to my two boys, so our "babies" had to be furry and have four paws. With very little encouragement I could be a crazy cat lady. So it was fortunate that David loved cats as much as I did. He would always stop to chat to any cat that would talk to him. When we first moved in together, we would see a majestic ginger cat patrolling the Bowling green opposite. He had a military air, so we nicknamed him the Colonel. There was a smaller ginger cat we called the Major. Ginger cats were officers in the Cat Patrol. Black & white cats were NCO's, the more black the higher the rank. We often stopped to chat with the Lance Corporal, who was very friendly! Our first cat was a half-Persian who ...

Two years

Two years. Two whole years, and it feels like yesterday. I t's been a year since I last posted on this blog. I started it as a way to help me cope with the overwhelming loss and grief I experienced in the days following David's death. I find I no longer need to do that, so I haven't posted - and this blog is for me, so that's the way it is. Two years on, it still seems totally preposterous that he's gone, but carrying on living is getting a bit easier. Some things still hurt a bit - like the picture that I hung in the hallway (because that's where my art gallery is, as I can't think of anywhere else to put it). He wanted it in the living room, so while he was in hospital I moved it. It makes me sad that he didn't get to see it. (And now I come to think about it, a medium gave me a message about a picture being put where it belongs and the penny just dropped!) And TV shows that he didn't get to see - he'd've loved Loki and Strange Ne...

Getting through the days

Search This Blog