Ever since i started watching Merlin, a little less than a year ago, my life has gone crazy. First it started with endless nights watching the episodes. 4 seasons in 10 days. The 'just-one-more-episode-before-i-go-to-sleep" excuse became a daily thing. But whatever, it was good. This is through that show that i got to meet Alie and just that is enough to make this show very special.
As you know (or maybe you don't because you don't follow me on Twitter, Tumblr or haven't read any article on this blog before) i have been lucky to spend some time in Pierrefonds back in June and also in September. As you probably know also, i have a teeny tiny crush on Eoin Macken who's been playing Sir Gwaine since series 3 of Merlin. We have interacted a few times on Twitter and i have met him in Pierrefonds everytime i went there. I know what you're thinking, she is one lucky b*tch. Well yes i am, i'm not gonna deny it.
Anyhow, Eoin is not just an actor he is an artist and his way of expressing himself is through film making. The day after the last day (ever) in Pierrefonds, Eoin created a funding for his new movie Cold. Getting involved (financially) with a project like this one has been an amazing experience. From flooding everyone's timeline on Twitter with calls to help the funding to all the friends i've made along the way, this Cold thing has been fantastic. So when four weeks ago Eoin and Tom announced that they were doing a convention to thank the people involved in the funding of Cold, Alie and i thought that this was destiny calling and after hours of planning over the phone and discussions with bosses to have free days from work it was ON.
That is how this past friday night (or more like saturday morning), at 2am, Charlotte, Johanna, Alie and I went to bed.
It is 4:45am, Paris time. We've slept 2 hours and 45 minutes. No need to say it, we're exhausted. But we have a train to catch and we need to drive 2 hours to catch it. No time to lose. We are in the car by 5:45 and off we go for our Cold adventure. The weather could hardly be worse. The rain is pouring and i have to drive a lot slower than usual not to have my car slip on all the water on the road. But we still get to the Channel Tunnel early and we get to board an earlier train than we were supposed to. Once on board there isn't much to do and the crossing only lasts 35 minutes. I close my eyes for about 5 minutes and we are in England.
According to the GPS we are 90 minutes away from our friend's house. Melody lives in London and offered to let us four sleep at her place. (I know my friends are the best). I have lived in Ireland for a year so driving on the left side of the road isn't new to me but it's been a while and i have to get used to it again. It would have been fine if there hadn't been this huge diversion on the road. It takes us 2 hours to reach Melo's house. Whatever we are still early. I'm not proud of it but the first this we do once we're in is to ask for the Wi-Fi codes. I know this is lame but we're in a different country so we don't have the free unlimited internet that we have in France and we kind of want to know what's happening at the morning session of ColdCon. Well actually not much happening for it seems that Eoin and Tom haven't arrived yet (it is 10:20 and it was supposed to start at 9:30) because their train is late. Alex is there though and seems to be doing a great job entertaining everyone.
We have a little breakfast and around 11:30 we see that the special guest who had been announced is Colin. So we've missed Colin.... great! Anyway we decide to go and find the hotel. It takes us about 30 minutes to arrive to the right station and the weirdest thing happens, at the subway station we meet Jenny (whom we've met at Pierrefonds in september ). We knew she was gonna be there but it is funny that we stopped at the same time in front of the same subway map. Anyway, it is good to see her and to meet her husband. The four of us plus Jenny and David walk towards the hotel. After a 10 minute walk we are there and we see Sarah (from Pierrefonds too, remember? The flag lady!!!).
We say hello and all and it takes me around 6 seconds to realize that the autograph session is happening in the hotel lobby and that i can see Alex, Tom and Eoin through the window. We wait for about 30 minutes when Jenny tells us that we can register for the afternoon session. We enter the hotel lobby and i'm right back where i was in Pierrefonds. Seeing the boys, knowing that in a few hours we'll be the ones talking to them is the best feeling. Since they arrived late this morning, our afternoon session starts a little over an hour later than programmed but here we are.
To make us wait, we have two lovely musical numbers: first Serenna a very talented 15 year old and then the amazing Alan Rickard from the wonderful band Evora. It is 3pm and Eoin and Tom are finally here. I will not fangirl over the next few lines, all i'm gonna say is that *sigh* my boys are amazing. Gorgeous, funny, talented. Nothing's missing here. I'm a little concerned about the fact that the Q&A might revolve exclusively around Merlin but it doesn't. People ask questions about Cold and about how Eoin wrote the part for Tom and everything. It is both interesting and entertaining. Good job Boys!!!
After about 30 minutes Alex arrives. Boy this man is adorable. Obviously most of his questions are about Merlin but it's fine. After almost an hour of Q&A we move on to pictures.
Since it is row after row and that we're sitting around the tenth row our turn doesn't come up right away. Alex leaves the room because he has a phone call to make and promises he'll take pictures with people during the autograph session. But but but! I want to have my pic with Alex!!!! Oh well i'll just hope for the best. We wait patiently and let's be honest we are exhausted. I don't even want to look in the mirror what i look like.
It's finally our turn!!!! Johanna and I are gonna use the same camera. We get ready, they are just three people away from us when one of the girls from the ColdCon crew tells us to go back to our seats for there is a surprise about to happen. Say what now??? I'm a minute away from talking to Eoin and you want me to go back to my seat? You must have gotten that wrong! Ok ok i'm going back to my seat but it better be good. Tom is playing on the computer. What the heck is he doing?? He takes the microphone and explains that the next guest can't be here with us in person for he is in America.... Ohhhhh so Bradley is the guest who isn't here. Technology is an amazing thing and thanks to skype it's almost like he is here with us. He is such a sweetheart. He answers all the questions coming his way. Of course there is the famous question "what relationship is the most important in the show, Merthur or Arwen?" Let me tell you right now, this is what he answered : "For the show, Arthur's relationship with Merlin is the most important. But for Arthur who has found someone he loves and cares about more than anything, it's the relationship with Gwen that matters the most. " You read it right Arwen wins for Arthur. Don't need to complain that is just how he sees it.
After 15 minutes we lose the connection and there is this very awkward moment where both Tom's and Bradley's skype names are there for us to see. You should have seen Tom's face. HILARIOUS!!!! Bradley calls back and we get to spend another 5 minutes with him. The man is an absolute gentleman and he seems to genuinely appreciate spending time with us. The skype session ends and all i can think about is that picture i'm gonna take with the boys (Eoin). We go back to the line and oh surprise Alex is back. Talk about luck!!!! A very nice woman comes to us and asks me my name. I hesitate (not because i don't know my own name but because i don't know if i should give my real name or my nickmane since i go by both names). I choose to give her my real name ant that is how she introduces me to Tom.
Tom is a giant!!! I know i'm stating the obvious here but it is the first time i meet him for real and he looks so tall... and i'm not small myself so.... I tell him how great is to meet him and all, we take our picture we hug, it's amazing.
Since Eoin is still taking a picture with the girl in front of me the nice lady takes Johanna's picture with Tom. I already know it but according to the lady "Wow she is very photogenic". You go Jo!!! :). Eoin's free so i come closer, he say hi looks at me and...... OMG ultimate fangirl moment!!!!!! he recognizes me. Like for real!!! like he knows me!!!!!
Me : Oh my! you recognize me?
Eoin : Of course! How are you?
Me : ok i'm so excited right now!
Eoin : Don't worry i'm excited too....
We take our picture and continue talking.
I have to move on to Alex (not complaining here) and tell him that it is great to meet him because we haven't been able to do so in Pierrefonds. He apologizes for that. You don't need to Alex, we get that you were working.
There's seriously nothing bad to say about those guys. They are adorable, gorgeous, nice, talented, smart.... i could go on forever, you know. My time is up, i leave the picture place and wait for Johanna to tell her all about it. He recognized me guys!!!!!! He recognized me!!!!!!
I don't even see the point in doing anything else but fangirling at that point. I mean, yes i saw him twice and he answered me a few (19) times on twitter but i really wasn't expecting him to know who i was. Those 2 hours of sleep and 6 hours of driving were totally worth it!!!!
Since Alie and Charlotte are still taking pictures with the boys Johanna and I go to Alan to ask him for a picture too. It is the funniest thing because when we ask to take a pic with him he takes my camera and says "Oh you want me to take a picture of you?". no Alan we want to take a picture with you. loooool. That man, my friends, is so adorable!!!!
We go back to our seats and i wait for Alie to arrive to tell her about Eoin. I don't have to say anything because she tells me "he recognized you, didn't he?" Oh so everyone saw it!!!!! And apparently i created a little photo traffic jam because i'm such a little miss chatterbox... Oh well... Whatever!!! <3
Once everyone has their picture they leave for the lobby and start the autograph sessions but not before saying thank you to everyone who came. Once again we are called by row so we wait. But they put some youtube videos on so we laugh at the bloopers. It is finally our time (we feel a little hurried because they tell us that they are suppose to leave the hotel very soon) but it doesn't matter. i want to make the most of the little time we have left with them.
First we go to Alex. He signs everything i give him even if he wasn't really supposed to sign that many photos for just one person. But he is adorable and i got all i wanted. Then i move on to Tom who is as chatty as i am. He takes his time to write nicely and all. And then i'm in front of Eoin now i'm not so surprised he recognizes me so it's easier to speak (not that it's ever been a problem for me to chat) he writes my name on the pic but writes it the wrong way. But he wants everything to be perfect so he takes another pic and writes my name properly. "Oh it's not so hard after all" Well no Eoin my name is pretty simple actually. I give him my heart lollipop and he smiles because of course he remembers. That smile will forever be remembered Mr. Macken. I have to leave because the queue is getting longer (again) and as i say goodbye i realize that it might be the very last time i get to see him like that.
Since i don't want to think about that i'm not gonna continue but be sure that this day has been amazing and i will never forget it. Thanks to Eoin, Tom, Alex and Bradley for making it so special and thanks to Alie, Charlotte and Johanna for being the best friends anyone could hope for.
xx
J'ai une question : pourquoi, quand la liaison Skype a coupé avec Bradley et que les noms de Tom et Bradley se sont affichés c'était si "awkward"? Y'avait quoi d'embarrassant dans leurs noms?