Hassleback

Woke up and had coffee just like I do every morning. I like to give myself a leisurely 49 minutes each morning before heading out to work, a chance to calibrate and steel myself for the day ahead. I figured out what bus to catch the previous night, but I figured checking again wouldn't hurt. But it did hurt. I now apparently had 10 minutes to dash out the house to catch the only bus running on a Saturday that would get me in on time. I was in a grump but an unlikely colleague approached very early in the morning with a tote bag. 'I have a game I want to show you'. He produced a crudely painted wooden box with slots cut into it, some poker chips and a single dice. He explained how his Brother came up with the game as he taught me the rules. We played a round and It was indeed a cute dice game with a fun twist. We finished and I thanked him for the game. 'That's for you' he then said. I was caught off guard by the generosity, but touched none the less. Here I was, just white knuckling my way through a working Saturday and a ray of sunshine entered my world. My outlook changed and my day seemed all the brighter.

False Friday Stupour

I legitimately thought Friday was going to be a nice normal time, instead I once again found myself running on my hands to keep up with the day. To add insult to injury, the shooting crew wrapped fairly early, leaving me and the Production team in the office still scrambling to get everything sorted. Because I'm working tomorrow I couldn't quite bring myself to go out to play board games so I stayed indoors and enjoyed a Friday night all to myself. If anything, I accidentally pulled myself into a false Friday stupour, it was only much later I re-remebered that tonight was a school night. Early rise for me again tomorrow, but Saturday can't be so bad right?

Moth Missionary

Rebecca is once again out of town which can make me a little glum, but tonight I was super glad she was away. Not just because I had another big gaming session with Mark and Dan, but because the cat brought in another present in the form of a jolly massive moth. Alive too - the fella had antennas, walked around a bit all while the cat just stood admiring it. I couldn't join the fan club however, instead I dashed for the Hoover, assembled it to give the most distance between myself and it, pressed go and prayed. This moth was honestly almost bigger than the nozzle so it was a bit touch and go. Thankfully it ended up in the dust chamber and I carted it out of the house. A freighting way to close the day.

Tray 8

 I once again found myself chasing my work tail a fair bit. While trying to do the important stuff, urgent things kept coming up, and by then the important stuff had become urgent. I never know if I'm working as hard as I should be or if I'm just bad at managing my time. Rebecca tells me I must be doing better than I think which hopefully is true. But right now it could afford to slow down a peg or two.

I've put in the 8th tray into my mouth now, whole doing so I caught a glimpse of my teeth in the mirror and I noticed the change. It's been 14 weeks with these braces now and the improvements are finally bearing fruit. I'm still a ways off from the estimated half way point but seeing the results has remotivated me.

Studio Schnanigans

First in means I deal with all the shenanigans that came with our first studio shoot day. Dodgey WiFi, malfunctioning printers and fire lane farces were all part of my morning scurry session. Once the workload plateaued it turned into a nice little day, plus the caterers are only down in the car park so we were well fed. We've got through all the teething issues of this morning so we should be coasting after today.

Wet Roller

 My last day of painting saw me divorced from my beloved Grinch roller (he didn't quite dry out overnight, he is a shaggy boy after all) so I had to settled for a battleworn roller that is probably on its final tour of duty. The second coat went on though and it all looks crisp and clean. Rebecca is doing the finishing bits over the next couple of days so we can share before and after pictures when they're good and ready.

But the real heart of the day was being with Louis and Rachel for her Birthday. She rustled up a bountiful roast dinner, including some of the plumpest bits of chicken I've ever tasted. Louis made some slapping focaccia and then the homemade cake was the ultimate send off. I know Rachel loves to cook a meal but we couldn't help but feel a little guilty she did all that work - best we could do was the washing up at least! We caught the latest Wes Anderson film together too, it may not have been my favourite but we had a good time watching as a group.

Rolling with the Grinch

We're sleeping in the spare room while the main bedroom is being decorated, but we managed to make a little nook here. Some hastily assembled reading lamps were all that the space needed to give it a warm and cozy glow. The cat clearly wasn't a fan though as the first thing I woke up to was one of those lamps colliding with my face. Luckily we had no instances while painting where the cat ran into the room, otherwise we ran the risk of suddenly having an all white cat.

We did the first two coats of ceiling paint before moving down to the walls. Our very best roller is this thick, green fella that's reminiscent of one of those mechanized car wash pillars. I dubbed this roller 'The Grinch' and he made light work of the afternoon. We got a whole base coat on the walls too so now we have a good idea of what the room is going to look like once all is done. Despite visiting B&Q three separate times to debate shades of off white, we ended up coating the room in a pretty standard shade of white 'with a suggestion of grey'. Jokes aside, it looks nice and I can't wait to sleep in a room again where I'm not assaulted by flying lamps.

Bedroom Paint Day 1

Bedroom painting day 1. This is our big prep day where we rearranged the furniture, threw dust sheets over everything and taped up the skirting boards. This is arguably the most tedious part since you don't see any results nor is  there anything to really get exited about. But it's an important step nonetheless, the canvas is blank now, all we have to do is rock up tomorrow and we're well on our way 

As a treat to us for starting the decorating, Rebecca and I popped to the cinema to catch the latest Mission Impossible film. We held hands for the first 15 minutes or so but I had to shake free - the circulation in my hand was waning as her grip grew unconsciously tighter every second. I think that's all you need to know about the movie!

Happy Fri-Yay(?)

Despite signing off a good couple of emails with 'enjoy your weekend' this was another Friday that doesn't quite feel like one? Maybe there was a small bubbling energy to the fact it was a long weekend, but most people in the office surprisingly didn't really have big plans for the longer break. Everyone just wanted to sleep (which I can totally empathize with). Rebecca is back after her long stint away and I'm already thinking of all the fun ways to hang out with her again.

Premium Pen(?)

New book on the bus which I've already buried my nose in. In fact the book has been the highlight of my day. The low light was being sent on a wild goose chase to purchase a birthday present in the form of a nice pen. I'm a chap with a collection of nice, but not indulgent pens so I have a good basis for what could be considered a gift pen. The brief that was given to me is that they needed it for today and they wanted it engraved. It was already mid morning when this request came in so I had to scramble. A reliable stationary place where good enough to humour my request over the phone for some photographs of their selection. I also knew there was an engraver up the road from them who could turn something around same day. I tee'd it all up and sent the best option to my boss. For reference, I offered up a Lamy AL Star, a £25 pen, metal build and highly ergonomic. 

It was rejected as they wanted to buy them something in the £100 price point, which can only ever mean a heavy piece of metal from an overly prestigious brand. I get it for fountain pens (maybe) but for a rollerball they're a fat load of nothing. My bespoke recommendation was sidelined and a colleague thankfully swooped in and managed to find a website that does engraving a speedy delivery for a bonkers fee. Shame, I was only trying to make them look good and spend their cash with power.

Book On a Bus

With Rebecca our of town with the car I've been getting the bus into work, bonus points for bringing my book onboard to read too. I had about 40 pages left which should have covered both trips, to and from the office, but after I sat down I chewed through the first 20 pages and the rest turned out to be acknowledgements, notes, glossary etc so I had nothing to tuck into on the way home. I'll bring a new book in tomorrow though so I'm ready. 

With Rebecca out it also means I have zero people to impress when it comes to cooking dinner. I got back close to 9pm too so all bets were off. There were sausages in the freezer and a lot of leftover Mexican style condiments so I decided to try and make a pork tortilla with sausage - at worst it could only taste like a breakfast burrito right? Right?! Turns out the moment you 'over salsa' a sausage wrap it just tastes like tinned spaghetti hoops with those utterly vile cocktail sausages. That dinner should have been illegal but it kept me alive long enough to face another day. I'll try harder for supper tomorrow.

Base Warmer

Pullee up to our unit base fully prepped to go to war about the wifi setup. In reality, everything was fine and I just cracked in with my day. It was good to be back on the truck, even if it was just a fleeting visit. Hanging out with the base squad and ensuring the day was ticking over smoothly, that's my jam. What I didn't miss so much is when the call sheet needs to all be changed last minute and I elected to stay behind to to help. Silly me.

Travelling down a Rabbit Hole

Locked in for another week, my first day of which was back in the office doing my thing. A deal on parking in the city center that I've been trying to wrangle since I started wearing my braces in February went cold on me - my teeth have made more movement than my parking dilemma. But you gotta laugh, that was the main takeaway of the day. I should know because I sit next to the travel and accom person who basically dies a thousand deaths every day and they take it in their stride. 

They also started the day listening to an audio book they are really into and apologized in advance if they started tearing up - they love the characters that much. I remember when I loved things as much as they do, but I feel like I subconsciously distance myself things now because I fear getting hurt. That or I don't like being associated with being a mega fan of a thing, they're level of engagement is something I look down upon, but is that because I was that person once upon a time? We hate what we were, but maybe a part of me wants to go back to start enjoying things with all my heart. I started thinking about the games I might talk about in my end of year round up and nothing qualifies for en entry just yet. Played nearly 20 games and nothing even registers. I don't think I'm emotionally numb but I find myself chasing a game or a movie that rekindles that spark - I put a lot of pressure on things and myself, maybe that's why nothing lives up to my inflated standards? All this from a small comment from a colleague.

Balloon Day Tripper

Our guest dashed off after a bowl of porridge and Rebecca left shortly after to attend a wedding. That just left me home alone with the cat, and quite frankly, I was incredibly ok with that. I used the time to recharge my social battery after a big work week and a bigger Eurovision party. I caught up on video games, clutching through some hard as nails retro titles before buying a brand new narrative adventure game which is pretty esoteric right now but I've heard rumours it goes places. Very excited to play more already.

Mum popped down to Bristol for her hot air balloon ride we arrant for her a few months back. Technically she won't know if the event will go ahead until their dedicated weather hotline provides the all clear, but it's been so lovely recently I think she's going to be ok. 

Eurovision 2025

 Twas the morning before Eurovision, and all I could think about was the food we needed to prep for the evening. The first thing I did, before breakfast, before coffee, was prep some the lemonade. Actual breakfast turned into brunch at our favourite nearby spot, that turned out to be some much appreciated time outside of the kitchen before it was crunch time. The butchers provided me with a shoulder of pork which I carved and prepared for slow roasting in its own juices - a redemption of the carnitas I attempted to make two years ago. This time round I kept them juicy and the results were so much better.

The guests for Eurovision poured in as I was shredding the meat. Best part was some people wanted to get involved in the making of the food too - Matt and Ben rolled up their sleeves and Mark dived in like a hero to prep the guacamole. It all came together beautifully and everyone was dead chuffed with the scran. Scorecards replaced plates as we settled in for a marathon of music. For the first time ever I did a bit of research going into the final and developed a favourite for Austria. What a joy it was to see my favourite take home the trophy after such a close final bout of scoring. Just before everyone left we threw some candles into a jam rolly Polly and wished Mark a happy birthday (it ticked over past midnight). A really fun Saturday made possible by plenty of planning and even better friendships.

Fridgid Friday

The sun was still rising when I got into the office. Doing the early, early shift was quite refreshing in some ways, I had plenty of scope to check my emails at a leisurely pace, plot my day and read a bit of the news. In fact, my whole day felt a bit low paced which is quite nice as we get a bit of respite, but it had a weird side effect of making a Friday not feel like a Friday. I left the office weary and a bit hungry, but there was still lots to do ahead of the weekend. Rebecca and I did a big shop, cooked dinner, made two types of pickled red onions and two types of lemonade... All before our guests turned up! It's Eurovision weekend and we're going to be cooking up a storm tomorrow.

10% - 90%

Arriving at the terminus in the job where my workload is full of 10% and 90%'ers. Now everyone is in set, my role becomes a lot more admin based which I can do in my own time. But then the phone rings and suddenly nothing else in the world is more important than this one thing that needs resolving now, now, now. The key I've found is to take the energy from the former into the latter. Just being fairly zen when dealing with those high stakes requests is helpful for me and for the person on the other end of the phone, if they're at ease so is the situation. It's just telly after all. I just don't want to get shouted at if I mess some up - that's my cross to bear though.

Becoming a House Car?

I'll be splitting my shoot days between being on the truck and being at the office for this one and today was my first day hanging out at my usual office desk. Different day and different dynamic, now when people need problems solves I have to differ them to whoever has taken my place. The trade off in being a middleman is I get the chance to get a lot of other stuff done - namely all the bits I've been putting on the backburner recently. While I don't think I'll ever prefer office life, not having to do 90 minutes of driving is a big perk 

That's Show Business

Continued dodging the rain and completing our days, a little ahead of schedule as it turns out so a bunch of us got an early off. That was a nice bonus after going on a bit of a wild goose chase for a left of field request. It was one of those 'Red Alert, lets get every member of Production looking into it' ones, which filtered down to just me, which then got banned off only after I put everything in place. That's show business though - ain't nothing like it. 

We're planning the dishes to prepare for our Eurovision party this weekend. Louis and Rachel offered to make some salads to compliment our bits and pieces. When I wrote it all out in our WhatsApp group I had to take a step back and say 'damn, that sounds tasty'. The best part is, it'll look like a lot of effort went into it - very excited to take some photos of it too.

Shoot Day One Down

 First shoot day went about as successfully as anyone could really hope for. I was slammed for the first couple hours of the day, mostly printing scripts and schedules, but once everyone has their paperwork everything plateaued and we had a chance to enjoy the day. All the cast and crew were just delighted to be back which was such a lovely thing to see. I even had the chance to run down to set and make sure everything was ticking over. I instinctively gravitated towards a monitor to start taking notes on the camera metadata and write shot descriptions, but that aint me anymore.

DVD Menu

While Rebecca continued snoozing in bed I finished watching the original Jumanji, a film I remember there being a trailer for at the beginning of one of my videotapes growing up. I was saying to Rebecca just the other day that I miss the home release DVD menus and trailers before you can even watch your film. Something about them just got you excited to watch your film even more, an you remember the names of even more films you're excited to see. Advertising at its finest.

Shoot day one tomorrow. I'll be around Unit Base just to make sure everything runs well and to order. Gradually it sounds like I'll be relegated to the offices to monitor things from afar and answer emails. It'll feel weird being so divorced from the action, but this is the role I signed up for, I just gotta own it.

50 Shades

 In the recent heatwave our garden has exploded into life. And by that I mean our weeds have erupted into new heights. I'm half convinced we have a final boss weed growing at the very pit of our flower bed. It's like a Dr Who villian, every session there's always a new baddie to combat in the backyard. This time round it's a broadleaf that grows upwards, climbing up and out for sunlight. I yanked it all out and now the space is ready for whatever new, wacky and wonderful weed will take it's place.

Rebecca and I are also in the midst of picking out a new colour to paint the bedroom and I'm once again blown away by the nuance in the shades of 'off-white'. There's perhaps more greys than actual colours in the rainbow and we're wrestling with finding the whitest gray, or the grayest white... I daresay there are more than 50 shades of gray so settling in just one is a tall order. There samplers smeared on all walls now and we've been scrutinizing them every time we walk past. The stakes couldn't be more low but we care so much!

100 Degree Mental Gymnastics

I was fully expecting to be in the office until about 10pm tonight. The final prep day before shoot is always manic but we got through this one without kicking and screaming. That said, my brain felt hot after all the mental gymnastics it had to do, spinning plates and making sure I got everything done in a shrinking timeframe. There was so much going on I almost forgot there's a whole weekend to enjoy right now. I aim to recharge mostly after a few long evening stints of work and maybe do something special with Rebecca before I start back up on shoot days. 

Those 12 weeks of prep really flew by, week one will be busy as sin but it'll settle down into a nice rhythm soon - at least a I'll keep telling myself that.

Compound Stress(?)

 I felt Uber stressed going into this week and fully expected that emotion to be compounded as it went on. In reality I took a machete to the big jobs early on, cut them down and not much has sprung up in its place. Feeling quite calm all things considered, which I've never felt this close to shoot. The feeling must be fairly mutual though as a big group across all departments went out for some post-prep drinks. I barely drank but I still lost track of time just chatting to people and soaking in the good vibes.

One more day til the marathon starts.

Switch Come... Switch Go

The Switch 2 launches next month and I rather uncharacteristically haven't pre-ordered my console yet... And at this point it might be tricky to get hold of one. I put myself on a mailing list this morning for a website I got a top off about getting a very small restock in for. At lunchtime today I got the email and hopped into the online queue to secure my place.

I still get a little star struck by cast members, even moreso when they drop me an email. A couple of them come to me for scripts now which is fun, printed or digital copies. My only lament is someone asked for scripts as I was in a virtual line for the Switch 2. I took my eye off the tab for a couple of minutes to be professional at work, I glanced up afterwards and I learnt how quickly I'd sacrificed my shot at getting a rare console. I won't let the next chance pass me by I decided.

Adult Balance

Tended the camera test and donned my Catering Coordinator hat once again. Thankfully all I really did was make a few phonecalls and the venue took care of the rest, but building rapport is half the battle. I had intentions on leaving the shoot after lunch as everyone seemed to be getting on just fine, but every time I got mentally ready to go more work appeared out of the ether. Guess that's why I was there but when will this workload let up? I'm so tired this week, on the one hand I want to sleep, on the other I want to do things in the evening. That's the adult balance we must all figure out for ourselves.

Double Bubble

Rose early to bid our hut and our holiday goodbye. I was driving to work come hell or high water because it was double pay today! Perks of the unions fighting for our workers rights, I got enough cash today to not feel guilty about buying in lunch. 

We're gearing up to do a camera test on one of our locations tomorrow. As the headcount spiralled it became increasingly clear they were going to parachute me in on the day to make sure it all runs ok. So now my car is full of teabags, water pumps and mobile Internet routers - everything a production member needs to ensure a smooth filming day. Beyond that, anything is possible with a smile and enough cash.

'Tick'ed Off

I thought this late Spring heatwave would never end so I only packed shorts rather than including long trousers. I learnt that was a mistake the hard way, not just because I got chilly knees, but because I got my first ever tick. We got it out safely with tweezers mind, but I was a little grossed out by a bug just kinda sleeping inside of my skin.

In better news, we visited a burger place that we wanted to try two years ago when we were last in a Shepherd's hut. The book up FAST so we were lucky to get a place today. It was a burger two years in the making, but it was worth the wait! We walked it off with a trip around Goodrich Castle then headed back to the hut for our final night. Wine, board games and then a atmospheric horror game... Which in hindsight we shouldn't have played in the middle of a field in the dead of night. But maybe it enhanced it?

Here's Rebecca looking scared after I locked her up in the castle's dungeon.

 

Hot Tub

Just before I started filming on the first series of Rivals, Rebecca and I headed West and over a bridge to spend some time in a Shepherd's hut in Wales. Well, we're repeating the trick only a few miles away from the site of our original holiday, but still in a wee hut. The key difference with this place is there's a hot tub only a few paces from our gaff, the host warmed it up for our arrival so it felt rude not to dip in. It dawned on me that outside of swimming pools, I don't think I've ever been in a hot tub before. Based on all the games of The Sim's that I've played I associate them with the high of luxury - they were always the most expensive thing in the in-game furniture catalog, and a worthy reason to use the Rosebud cheat code for quick cash. Stepping into the tub I realized there really ain't too much special about it... It's just kinda nice to be in some warm water while outdoors. The novelty wore off once I clocked it was just like sitting in a big hot bath, except I also got bit of nature falling into the water too and I had to shower the chlorine off my body afterwards. Not the life-changing experience the late 90's promised they were.

Email Nirvana

We held our Production meeting in a nearly carved out spot of our plan offices. About 40 people held and important meeting about how the next couple of months olare going to play out, all the while I was trying to muffle the sound of my typing as I was only 10 meters away from them. Everyone left happy and informed though, but my inbox exploded the moment it was all over. I've always been the type of person who hates having unread messages hanging over them, yet today it kinda got to a point where I had 15ish unread emails and an almighty calm washed over me. I achieved Nirvana as I realised I didn't need to rush around all the time. Everyone else answers their messages when they see fit, I get round to your messages when I finish everything else. Perhaps I projected too calm an energy because a couple of my other team members were in high alert trying to buy a curtain for ASAP. I must have sounded quite blasé about it despite it being the most important thing in their world. Maybe my anti stress balanced it all out, or maybe I'm turning into my Dad? Mum always says if he was any more laid back he'd be horizontal. I just keep remembering 'we're all just making telly at the end of the day'.

Doughnut Treat

 The final coffee run had us stationed in a well loved doughnut shop in the center of town. So right after we passed out the final beverage we returned and order ourselves a little treat for a week well done. I continue to feel like I'm playing whack a mole with my to do list, whenever I sit down to try and crack in with something meaty I'm cornered by other requests popping up all over the show. Still got everything more or less done but still feel like I'm treading water. What was a nice gesture was our team were all invited out by some of the visiting London lot for drinks tonight. I was a little shattered but I made the effort to show my face and I'm glad I did (like I always am with these things.) I'm always keen to try and attend the social things after work because they allow people to get to know each other and build rapport. It always ends up making my job easier as it's easier to ask people for favours if you've shared a pint with them.