The Journal of the Browncoat Cat

Today, the last real Terry’s Chocolate Orange rolled of the production line.  Terry’s of York were bought by Kraft General Food, who showed that they were only interesed in the brand name. About three months ago in an act of corporate rape it was announced that the historic factory in York would close and production would move to Eastern Europe.  This sort of thing should not be allowed. It is fraud on the chocolate buying public, and people should refuse to buy anything connected to Kraft.  The British Government has always been totally spineless on this sort of thing, if we were talking about a famous French brand, there is no way an US Megacorp would be allowed to pull this sort of stunt.

The second anniversary of the announcement that Doctor Who was coming back has come and gone. What a lot has happened in those whirlwind twenty-four months. The pre-production hell of the Autumn of 2003 and Winter of 2004, when very little appeared to be happening. The Spring of 2004 saw the casting of Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler the new companion plus a huge online debate on the Outpost Gallifrey Forum about the merits of new logo. Then at start of the filming of the first series, the furore over the Doctor’s costume, which took the character away from the excessive fancy dress of the ’80’s and ’90’s. Going to see some magic in September, 2004, as modern day Swansea was turned into Victorian Cardiff, complete with fake snow. All as nothing compared to the first new series of Doctor Who in 16 years being broadcast in the Spring of 2005 and becoming a massive mainstream hit, holding its own against Ant & Dec and trouncing their replacements. And now being able to go into a mainstream toy shop like Toys R Us or Woolworths to buy Doctor Who merchandise, not specialist shops. And what a series, thirteen episodes consisting of ten stories, culminating in the regeneration of Christopher Eccleston into David Tennant. Such things were but a dream before 26^th September, 2003. So, how did I celebrate Heggessey Day this year. Tim Farr, leader of the TIMELESS, the local fan club had arranged to show a group of American fans, who were going to Regeneration a convention in Swansea, around the Cardiff locations used in Series One (27).

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