@spurriergate

It was off to York for Cameron this afternoon. My mission was to see 'The Impossible', a film about the 2004 tsunami in Asia which my local fleapit has inconsiderately declined to display. And see it I did indeedy doody. York looked particularly sparkly and gleamy and as full of intriguing little nooks and crannies as ever.
I have seen Mr Star Wars Stormtrooper here wandering around the city centre before but this is the first time I have managed to grab a halfway decent photo. He certainly seems to be a hit - that orange bag had at least 30 quid in it, and just before I took this photograph he was posing gamely for shots with a wee lad who had passed by with his mum. The little laddie looked about 8, so would probably have just been getting to grips with the whole walking and taking thang when the last Star Wars film came out. He still looked like he was having a grand ole time though...
I,mon the other hand, am just about old enough to have seen the very first Star Wars film at the cinema. I was only a rosy-cheeked nipper at the time of course, and so went with my Mum. And I was just as bug-eyed with excitement as the lad was to meet Mr Stormtrooper this afternoon - probably more so! We were visiting San Francisco for Christmas at the time and one of my presents that year was a Star Wars digital watch. I can almost still see it, with its red digits and picture of C-3PO....few presents since have been quite as exciting...
So anyway, as I walked past Senor Star Wars this afternoon I threw a coin into that bulging bag and he greeted me with a salute and a helmet-speaker-distorted "thank you, young man!" Yes, "young man"...