The One With the Sea Monsters

[gervase_fen]

This morning I had one of those conversations about Doctor Who that dedicated fans hear about all the time... but which had never happened to me personally before.

A lady in her late forties was cheerfully pressing the demo. button of our Dalek/Tardis talking pens display, and started reminiscing about how scary the programme really was. "Of course, the sea monsters were even scarier than the Daleks - you know the ones that lived out on the old sea forts in the Solent?"

I nodded, and said that anything in a string vest is pretty terrifying already. And you'd have to be an alien to want to live on a sea fort.

Comments

[wellinghill.livejournal.com]

One of those forts was on sale in Country Life last summer. It had been converted into a 50-room hotel and the only access was via helicopter. The centre of the "fort", essentially the lobby, took the form of a stupendous conservatory allowing natural light to flood in. It looked marvellous.

Sorry to hear you had to cope with a conversation about Doctor Who. Sounds like you dealt with the situation very tactfully. With an acquaintance, you can just tell them where to stuff their tedious and childish obsessions - it's different with a customer. Good work.

[gervase-fen.livejournal.com]

At the other end of the age range, a young girl was doing the same thing this morning with the demo. button - so I asked if she thought last week's Cyberstory had been too scary. "No, not really. But the one with the werewolf gave me nightmares."

"But he was just like the werewolf in Harry Potter, and that didn't give you nightmares", said her Mum.

"I don't think the one in Harry Potter ate people", I observed.