A Great Success

Our trip to the Disney Fan Meeting in Birmingham was a great success.

From the start, Mikki was pleased to see that hers was the only sales stand selling general Disney memorabilia. She was also pleased to see that our friends Dave and Carol of "Disney Dave" were also there. We knew they were not sponsoring the whole event this year but they did have a stand.

Indeed, they booked three tables. Some other people had two but Mikki had only paid for one. As you can see from the picture, it was starting to get a little crowded as we put things out. Fortunately, we were in a corner at the end of the row so we could also use a second small table we had brought of our own. You can just see the end of it to the right of the picture.

We had a great variety of things. Many remained in crates that customers had to rummage through to find something. On the second day (Sunday) we could get more out as things were sold from the table.

Yes, one of the crates did have some Beanies in it. My teasing humans even put me in that crate and took a picture!! Of course, they didn't mean it. Let me assure all my fans that I was safe in the bedroom long before the stall opened for business.

Mikki was thrilled - if a little overwhelmed - to find her table the centre of attantion as soon as the doors opened. It looks like my humans had a reputation from last year. Trading pins were particular popular. Mikki herself only traded once: to get a lovely pin of Figaro. Isn't she nice? Over the weekend collectors went away with quite a few unusual items - many at real bargain prices. Things that had been languishing in our garage now have new homes with other Disney enthusiasts. As well as clearing space in the garage, my humans covered their costs of the weekend (including the cost of what they bought from "Disney Dave")

Mikki also thought the actual events of the Meet were better than lat year.

Overall, a great success - if a little tiring. You can all relax now and cuddle your toy cat. Prrrr.

Play Nicely

Tomorrow, we set off for the weekend Disney fan convention in Birmingham so the humans have been getting together all the Disney things they are willing to sell. There are lots of storage crates scattered about the house being filled up. Here's one in the picture.

Yes, the humans could not help trying to tease me by putting me in the box for sale. I am pleased to report I only spent a few minutes there while Andrew took my picture. After that, he gave me a reassuring cuddle and put me back on the bed.

After a lot of thought, I have decided I will go in the car with the humans to the sale. They will be away for several days and they need me. Also, I can get some interesting photos even if I don't go near the Convention itself.


I think we have lots of interesting things and hope they find good homes. You can see our Mickey Mouse telephone in the picture. We don't use it now but it is very cute/ Mickey's voice takes the place of a bell. He says things like, "Oh Boy! A phone call." and "I wonder who it could be". Surely, this is a treasure for a true Disney fan.

But no, as of writing, there are no Figaroes - not even pictures of Figaro - in the sale. The humans must have been trying to tease me all the time. Come on kids, play nicely. And give me another cuddle.

Doctor Who

In case anyone didn't know, Disney has not always been my humans' only passion. Doctor Who was as childhood favourite of both of them and the show returned this weekend.



So, here is a picture of me getting out of our TARDIS. That's my cousin, Big Softy (because he is bigger and softer than me) on top. He has spent most of his time siting on the TARDIS - so much so that the humans sometimes refer to it as "his".




The TARDIS is actually a video cabinet (yes, it goes back to the days of VHS tapes). Andrew used to tell visitors that it could hold a thousand tapes. If anyone looked like they might believe him, he would add, "and that's just in the first room". It used to have videos in it - both Doctor Who ones and Disney ones. Now the tapes have almost all been replaced by DVDs (stored elsewhere) and there is a mixture of things in it. Among them are actually two Daleks.


My humans, like many of their generation, reveal their age mot clearly when asked who (from the "classic" series) was their Doctor. Andrew's was William Hartnell and Mikki's was Jon Pertwee. So she grew up with the original appearances of that great assistant, Sarah Jane Smith. So any celebration over the return of the tv show this week has been totally overshaddowed by the news of the death of Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played Sarah Jane. My humans had really loved her new series - even if it was supposed to be directed at children. It seemed to have much of the magic of their old, "classic" Doctor Who. Also, they could not help saying Elisabeth Sladen looked better and better with the years. Sadly, cancer is no respector of age.

Oh dear. This is sad. I need a cuddle.

Disneyana Sale

My humans are going to a Disney fan convention this month and have booked a table where they can sell things. This is the second year the convention has been run and they sold some things last year. Yes, this is not a joke! My humans have actually sold some of their Disney stuff - and enough to think it is worth repeating with even more items of the sort that were popular last year.

Well, it is true that even after moving from London to a much bigger house, there are still crates full of Disney mementos in the garage. These include some really interesting pieces, like the cutouts they got out at Christmas after the flood (see my "Saved from the Flood" post on 17th January).

The problem is that the humans have been getting rather more enthusiastic. They have started looking through things in the house. Mikki has been going through her books of trading pins and finding quite a few she is willing to sell. The really worringing thing is when she started talking about some of the toys. Ornaments, books and trading pins are one thing but toys are totally different. It has even reached the stage of saying some of my family could go. Yes, most of them don't do much apart from sitting about in the guest bedroom but they are family. We have had pictures taken together like this one of us watching one of our favourite classic cartoons.

That's me on the cushion in the middle of the armchair. Standing near the footstool a little apart from the others, you should see "No.2", the one who has lived here longest apart from me. He is a similar design except that his eyes are different and he hasn't been cuddled nearly as much so he still has lots of fur round his head. We call him "Fiery Figaro" because his eyes make him look cross. He also still has a tag on him so the humans say he is more saleable.

This is serious stuff. All this talk started yesterday so it is not "April Fool". I am just trying to treat it that way to stop it going too far. The humans claim that - like Woody and Buzz - we will all have to move on sometime and if it is at a Disney fan convention there is a better chance of going to a good home. I don't think my fellow Figaros are convinced.

I think I will start posting lots of pictures of things I am prepared to sell. Tinker Bell, where are you?

New Car

My humans took delivery of a new car today. It is very smart and has a special place where I can stand. It is actually the same type as their previous car. The make is Honda and the model is Jazz (at least that's what they call it in the UK: it may have a different model name elsewhere). There have been a few improvements over the years. There is a little round space in front of the passenger seat where a toy cat can stand; there is one of those hybrid engines for fuel ecomony; and there are lots of new electronics. And did I mention the special place where I could stand . . .

The salesman wanted to take a picture and here it is (or part of it: for some reason the salesman wanted to get the whole car in the original!). I even got out of my special place to stand and stood up at the front so you can see me clearly in the picture.

It's nice to see my humans are both wearing Disney sweats. Mikki has a DVC Member one and Andrew a Cruise Line one (the logo on his is a bit smaller). They bought both - at different times - at the Disney outlets. Mikki felt quite irritated that they were selling DVC "member only" merchandise at the outlet - but at least she got the advantage of it.

We had a very smooth ride home. It is only the first day but I am sure the car will be a great success.

I like car rides with my humans.

Preparing for January

Mikki has started to feel WDW withdrawal symptoms! Yes, we have a cruise this summer, but she needs her Florida fix too. The humans prefer to go when it is not too hot and not too busy (when it can also be cheaper in DVC points). January can be a good time so Mikki started thinking about January 2012. For many years, this would have meant that she made the most of her 11 month priority and we would have the accommodatiohn at Old Key West booked by now. Mikki used to do this before bookings for flights became available but was pretty confident she could change the accommodation dates if necessary.

This year, it's quite different. "11 months out" has come and gone and there has been no call to Member Services. Flights are, however, booked. We have some thoughts about where we would like to be - but Old Key West has struck itself off the list.

I'll hope to find a picture of where we are going when we know but so far I can only offer this one of happier times at Old Key West (notice there was carpet). That's me with my travelling companions of Floppy cat and Travelling Beanie and a couple of friends who came back with us. They have lived in Mikki's study since then.

Prrrr.

Lotso

My humans are (well, Mikki is) starting to think more about Disney holidays so I thought it was time to remember some more of the characters from our last trip to Florida. Here I am with Lotso (or is it Lots-O as in "Lots-O'-Huggin"). He was in the Animation Building at the Studios.

Yes, he is rather big isn't he? He is only supposed to be a toy bear so I don't know why they decided he needed to be that big. I was almost lost in his arms. I suspect he couldn't see where I was or what he was doing with me so I was quite pleased my Mikki stayed next to me while Andrew took the picture.

I'm still very disappointed that Lotso didn't redeem himself in any way in "Toy Story 3". He was the first cuddly toy character in the films and he turns out to be a total villain. Meeeoww!

Here's a little reminder in case this giant Lotso has caused any confusion. Hugs with your cuddly toys means you give the toy a hug. Mikki, Andrew, did you hear me. . . Oh yes, Prrrr.

By the way, Lotso did smell of strawberry.