Birthday and Christmas 2015 and how the Dalek is taking control - 16 January 2016 - Blog

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Birthday and Christmas 2015 and how the Dalek is taking control

Christmas and my Birthday both started really well by getting that visit from the This Planet Earth NSD Dalek. Since then it has become a member of the family. It’s name is rusty in respect of the Ben Wheatley directed second outing for the Peter Capaldi Doctor Who ‘Into the Dalek’ I have and will never be bored of listening to the 10 phrases while working in the room it has invaded. One of my much-loved phrases is in the video below. It comes for the special edition version of the Jon Pertwee story ‘Day of the Daleks’ Nicholas Briggs used an authentic analogue modulator to redo the terrible original voices. That is what is so good about the This Planet Earth Daleks, they are made created by fans. The onboard phrases are varied using 2005 onward ‘manic’ voices all the way to the originals by Roy Skelton.
The Dalek coming set Christmas off well and I can’t wait for the personalized ID sticker that will be coming courtesy of Toby Chamberlain at This Planet Earth. Meanwhile my Birthday and Christmas came and went in a burst of excitement. For my Birthday Julia got me the brilliant Doctor Who ‘Impossible Worlds’ book. This large tomb is written by Stephen Nicholas and Mike Tucker who tell the story regarding the artwork behind the series covering its 50-year history. Presentation prints can be purchased through their website Creative Visuals. Considering the history of the program it shows the quality of creativity that has been involved with the sets, props and costumes.

The perfect choice of phrases, here we hear an edited selection from 'Day of the Daleks'
Jo Grant and the Doctor would be thinking up a plan to stop it!

Julia set this little display up for my Birthday

The fantastic cake Julia made for my Birthday

A fabulous book from the Doctor Who creative team

A selection of my own Doctor Who items, they do bring back top memories
There seems to be a decapitated Peter Capaldi in this image though!

Yes, it's a sonic screwdriver that is a remote control
The base is from the wonderful Rubbertoe Replicas

Christmas came quickly. I worked on Christmas Eve till 13:00. This entailed a rush to get organised and set off to Wetton on the Derbyshire and Staffordshire boarder. Julia’s Mum and Stepfather had hired a building for us all. ‘Us’ being three couples, the other one being Julia’s brother Alex and wife Donna and their two children. We had a pretty good trip down, although I was extremely tired and had to stop halfway down. Once we got to the house it was very impressive. In fact it was perfect. The building was an old school house, which meant that it had a vast open plan area on the upper floor. There were four separate rooms with three having their own bathrooms. Julia’s mother could not have found a more perfect place to stay over Christmas. Meeting up with everyone was great and from then on Christmas had officially started. There was a tremendous quantity of food and drink and I did feel quite guilty that through all three days we were there I did not make any food. Instead this was Julia’s mother and stepfather. Alex and Donna also provided the cooking and food plus Julia baked before we even got there.

Look at all those presents for the kids, how exciting

Starting the unwrapping. Well mannered and polite children so Santa leaves his gifts!

Julia's mum and step father enjoying Christmas morning
Thank you to them we had a lovely building to spend it in

Alex and Julia looking cheeky

Gloves and on the floor the brilliant Eddie head from Alex and Donna

Pretty and ready for Christmas

We played games, ate and drank. We walked around the village and visited the local pub ‘Ye Olde Royal Oak’ It was a fun time watching the children with their presents and I remember having that tingle of excitement when It was Christmas morning. Among my presents was a combination of Iron Maiden merchandise and Star Wars! The best being an unexpected rubber ‘Eddie’ mask based on the ‘Piece of Mind’ album. When we got home I had bought Julia a Nutria Bullet. It was something that we had heard about and that she has used since to great effect. That is one aspect that was quite hard – trying to pack a Toyota Aygo with such a large amount of items. Julia achieved it and it was not uncomfortable coming back up the motorway. Since coming back I must say that we missed the fun of being family together. On New Years day my parents and Julia’s father got together at our bungalow and had a good old natter. Julia and I had got some bits in and it was nice. There is a lot to be said for making sure you get family together. Only problem with New Years day is that I only took one photograph of my dad in the Eddie mask. I was kicking myself for that. I had the week off and enjoyed every bit.