RUSSELL BRAND BOOK SIGNING POST!

I set my alarm for 6.45am. Ridiculously early in the world of Alice, but hey... it's Russell Brand. Time is of no matter haha. By seven I was showered and dressed and I packed my essentials; Booky Wook and my camera, iPod, mobile etc. our taxi arrived at 7.30am and we got to the train station within five minutes! Barely any traffic haha. We had to wait a while (and it rained) before the bus taking us to Cardiff arrived. A man who had bought tickets the day before for a train was very pissed off (which he apologised for saying, but hey it's 7.30am, too early to be a gentleman haha) cos he wasn't told that there would be no trains at 8am, just a bus. It was an uncomfortable bus with barely any leg room, but I was so tired I didn't notice and just drifted off listening to music (on my gradually dying iPod, because I forgot to charge it xD).

Then we got to Cardiff and had a 14 min wait before our connecting train arrived. As we sat waiting I discovered I couldn't find my phone D: so I emptied my bag - no phone. Then my mum felt around it... I put in a front pocket. Which I looked in I swear o_O but apparently I didn't put my hand in deep enough ha. Panic over. There was a pretty rainbow in the sky also:



The pic doesn't give it much justice lol. Our train arrived and it was verrry comfy in comparison to the bus -_-; when we got to Bristol Temple Meads there was a #9 bus outside. A few weeks ago I googled the Waterstones Russ was at, to find directions. Google is amazing. It found me a forum thread where someone was asking for help to get to Waterstones for the Russell Brand signing! So I got info on how far it was away from the station and what busses we could catch. #9 was one of them. If we get off at the back of Debenhams. Which of course we had no idea where it was LOL so we ended up getting off twenty minutes away from where we were meant to -_-; so by the time we got to Waterstones it was 11am. I scoped the place to check where the queue started, and once I had we went off to the ladies to prepare ourselves for however many hours wait we had. By the time we re-entered Waterstones the queue had grown. It was only at the front of the shop when we'd arrived, but now (with big gaps so regular shoppers wouldn't be troubled) the queue was also at the back door. Thankfully we joined it just before it wound outside, so we were half in and half out of the store, between two doors which would sandwich us in if they were closed. We were given tickets with numbers on (like raffle tickets) to show later that we hadn't jumped queue and so they could keep count of how many people were here. There were two girls together in front of us, composing a poem to write in a card they'd give him. I sat down next to them and read as much as I could, but (like with sleeping issues I have) I can't concentrate when people are talking in a way I can hear. So eventually I gave up and just zoned out haha. The big burly body-guard type men arrived, and took control of the queue and told us that we weren't allowed to sit down in the door area because of safety. This meant I would stand up for another say... three? four hours. Not *too* bad, if you think about other things I've queued for haha. But I felt bad for mum cos she's got bad legs and I'm sure this didn't help. She did go off for a while to get us some cakes and to rest her legs, but I got bored so made her come back haha. One of the big guys came and told us that since the queue was so long that to get through it fairly we weren't allowed to take pics with Russ, just of him. Which I totally understand because WOAH was that queue huge. Over 100 of us inside and well, I don't know where it ended but this is just outside of Waterstones:



THEN a while later a woman pinned up a notice on the door, replacing one stating we should purchase the book before getting it signed. I already got Russell's book a couple weeks ago so that was ok lol. The new notice told us that the queue was now CLOSED to new people, as it'd reached it's capacity. A few moments later a couple of girls arrived and were told by the Waterstones staff member and I felt so bad. They told her in despair that they'd paid £46 on train tickets to get there! But there was nothing that could be done. (I hope they stuck around though, because Russ did entertain more then just people in the queue hehe). So we waited, legs aching and patience ebbing... then we were told that due to weather issues, Russell would be a "bit" late. He was 50 minutes late LOL. But by that time we were allowed further into the shop, so we weren't cold and were browsing books on the table we were up against. Eventually he arrived and he walked through the shop in his sunglasses with this freaking huge body guard - taller than Russell, which is remarkable cos Russ is huge haha. The guy was really thickset of course, and his long hair was gelled back. He looked like a gangster lmao. He went off, I assume round back, then he arrived back in the crowd of people NOT queuing and started to walk through it. Some of the people in our queue who had other people to keep their place went off into the crowd, me included of course.

Russ is so funny, he grabbed random shoppers who probably weren't all that interested in him and kissed them roughly on the cheek, then he grabbed his fans and kissed them on their lips haha. And he waved and said hello to everyone he could.



The guy nearest the cam was the body-guard I just described. He's ultra intimidating. I was so amazingly close to Russ haha, he didn't grab me and kiss me but that's ok cos I was busy taking pics and well... taking him in haha. It's lucky I've seen him in RL before because otherwise I would've been so starstruck I wouldn't be able to move. Actually... I didn't move (out of the way fast enough anyways)... I was busy with my camera and I took this:



And that's not zoomed. He was this close, yelling hello to someone LOL. And he walked into me LOL. I was like "whoops sorry!" and he smiled and just carried on walking around, grabbing people and harassing them LOL



Then he left to back behind the scenes or wherever he went (couldn't see from our queue if he went into a backroom or what lol). We waited for a while, and eventually the queue started to move, slowly as people at the front got their books signed. It took around 45 mins before we got to him, and it was hard to get pics of him when we got near enough cos of course there were people talking to him haha. But when it was my turn, mum wasn't allowed to go to the table, just stand to the side cos she didn't have a book. That was preeeetty perfect because I gave her the camera to take pics of him, and then my bag and my jacket (at this point the guy who was controling the queue was like "You better not take anything else off!" which made me lol). I'd noticed before getting near enough to properly observe, that the ladies who visited him got a big kiss from him. I wondered at first if they were asking for one, which I knew I wouldn't have the guts to do, because I'm a reserved creature xP but as I got nearer I realised that he just grabbed you and kissed you. You pretty much didn't have a choice which was fine by me haha.



Russ just about to grab someone to kiss them haha



The girl in front of me who wrote him a poem in the card. This is his face when she told him, cos he asked her in this semi-serious way "Is it about sex?" and wouldn't believe her when she told him it wasn't (it wasn't, I heard her recite it to her mum on the phone haha).



This girl was the other's friend. Her arm was broken and in a sling, and he cooed over it and asked what happened hehe.



AND OMG IT'S ME! Ignore my round shoulders D: argh. (BTW if anyone gives a hoot, I was wearing this outfit with my baggy jeans haha).

Ok so earlier in the queue someone went around with post-its and stuck our name to the book so he didn't have to waste time finding out how to spell our names which was cool. I said hello and he signed my book, and I just stood there quietly. A lot of other girls I'm sure were talking to him during this point, but my mind was blank of anything to say LOL. Also I was really interested in watching him, his writing is MASSIVE lol, you'll see in a mo... and he is quite mesmerising haha. When he'd finished he took my right hand in his, and gave me back the book in my left, and said "You're really lovely, you are," and grinned his gorgeous grin. Which totally took me by surprise because A) I hadn't said a thing to him but "Hello" so it wasn't as if I'd just showered him with love LOL and B) I was standing there with zero make up. My eyeliner which I'd applied at 7am was gone by then. Actually I had felt a bit wary when I saw all these girls applying make up and lip gloss... but I remembered what Russ said in his show when two girls put some on as he was walking around us. That he doesn't like lip gloss cos it's sticky and yucky to kiss with, so I felt better. ANYWAY it's amazing that, even though I'm fully aware he complimented every girl he saw that day, and kissed them... he left you feeling really sorta unique o_o lmao. I know that sounds lame but yeah. It's like he genuinely meant it, even if it was just a line or something. No wonder he's so damn good at getting girls LOL After saying that he pulled me down and kissed me on the lips. Which of course was my fave part. Mum said she tried to take a pic of it but it didn't work x_x lols. Which by her angle would just've been my back so it's no biggie. He also squeezed my hand twice before I left hehe.

This is his awesome signature:



When mum saw him do this on someone elses book, with his massive writing all over the page she actually laughed and he looked up at her LOL I don't think he knew what she was doing, standing in the corner waiting for me and snapping pics haha.

So yesh, this was my fun Russell day! Russell is now the first celeb I've ever kissed (not that I didn't try to get one from James Marsters lmao) and pretty much the most gorgeous man I've ever kissed LOL. OH and I don't care how many germs were on his lips, so neh! :P