On Thursday, May 24, I went to a signing being held at SciFi Collector on the Strand in London. Gatiss, Tom Baker, and Ian McNeice (he played Winston Churchill in several Dr. Who eps last season) were signing. I couldn't believe my luck that this happened to coincide with my vacation in London. I got to the shop about an hour early and got in the queue. There were maybe 15 people ahead of me. The shop was very small and they were letting people in 3-4 at a time, which was nice because you felt as though you could have a few minutes without people standing behind you breathing down your neck.
I told Gatiss that I was thrilled to meet him and passed along thanks from Lynn Gale of the Undershaw Preservation Trust for his work on behalf of the organization. I'd been fortunate enough to be able to sit in on part of the judicial review the day before, so we chatted about that for a minute and then I told him how moved I had been by "The Worst Journey in the World."
Then I decided to go for it and ask about the socks I had sent him last year, even if it made me look like an enormous dork. I said, "This is going to sound a little odd, but bear with me. I knit all the time and I especially like to knit socks. I sent you a pair about a year ago and I was wondering if you ever got them."
Imagine my shock and delight when he responded, "OH!!! That was *you*! I love them. I wear them." I was even more surprised when he followed this up with, "I'm so sorry I didn't send a thank you note. They came in a bag with a number of other items that my agent sent over and there was no name or address." I had included a letter but since I hardly expected a response, even if it hadn't gotten separated from the socks, I didn't include an address or anything.
In any case, I told him that if he would be willing to give me his shoe size, I would be happy to make him another pair. I explained that I had guessed at his shoe size and was worried they wouldn't fit because of that, so having an actual shoe size would mean I could make him a pair that fit perfectly. (Knitting socks is a bit tricky. Handmade socks don't have any elastic, obviously, so it's not like store-bought socks. They don't fit a big range of sizes. Having an actual shoe size to work with makes things much easier.) He laughed and told me his shoe size and I promised to start on a second pair for him. Ian McNeice then jokingly told me his shoe size and Tom Baker said he could use a new scarf.
He signed the item I'd purchased -- a Sherlock Holmes Hound of the Baskervilles envelope -- and very graciously posed for a photo with me. I left on cloud nine and told my boyfriend later that day that I was planning on leaving him for a gay man. He had stayed back at our friends' house in southeast London and said he was surprised he hadn't heard the SQUEEEEEE from across the city.
P.S. Apologies to those of you who are on more than one Gatiss/Sherlock community with me and/or on my friends list. I am sure you are sick to death of this post. LOL
dorky
cheerful
