Getting through the days

I was sad to hear that Dave Prowse, aka Darth Vader or the Green Cross Man, has passed away at the age of 85.  He was a regular guest at British Sci-Fi conventions.  His session was one of the first celebrity guest talks that I attended at the first "official" convention I went to.  He was a very interesting speaker and very approachable, and learning of his death has reminded me of the good times at conventions. Most  people like to go on holiday to somewhere warm and sunny.  David and I were not "most people".  Our idea of a good time was a long weekend at a Star Trek convention - or a sci-fi con, at a pinch.  When you factored in the costs of registration, travel, hotels and, of course, our costumes, it probably worked out the same as a week or two in Spain. In their heyday, the British Star Trek conventions were a weekend-long party.  There were two "official" cons a year, run by independent committees, and the profits went to a charity design...

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 ...