Happy Halloween 2020

Just moments ago, I realised I almost ended a Halloween without listening to 'The Monster Mash'. Thankfully, I honoured that tradition just in time.

Due to the nature of the world this year we decided not to go super hard for Halloween this year. Didn't go nuts with the sugary treats, but we did carve a pumpkin a play some spooky video games while we waited for the Sun to set... Because then, we had guests. Louis and Rachel to be exact, they came over for a viewing of Psycho which was a bugger hit than I anticipated. Obviously the government's announcement about lockdown part two was arguably scarier than any film we could've picked, but for that 110 minutes we forgot all about the world and remained on the edge of our seats.

Rough Cut Call

Got to go on a little jaunt around Bristol this afternoon to do some drop offs, but not before taking advantage of the company printer to make a copy of this year's pumpkin stencil. It ain't Halloween until the scent of pumpkin innards fills my nostrils - that'll be a tomorrow activity.

As a little end of week treat all the cast and crew got together on a massive webcam chat to watch a super rough cut of everything we've filmed recently. I've only really seen storyboards, but the scenes came to life thanks to the hard work if literally every single member of the team. I can't wait to see the final product.

Bakery Breakfast

 Bid our visitor farewell this morning, but not before feeding them a a slap up breakfast of high-quality porridge and freshly baked pastries, courtesy of our local bakery. I had several odd jobs to get on with today, including going on a little drive up to our studio to pick up some post. Let my hair down a bit this evening as Mark and the producer of the show we're working on all played some games over webcam together. We did something similar over lockdown and this too had the same low-key, wholesome vibes. Though those kind of nights are often tinged with the melancholy of isolation, the joy comes in rebelling against that feeling and reminding ourselves of what life was, and could be like once we get through 2020. 

Guest Number 1

Happy to announce that we've hosted our first over night guest since moving house tonight too. An old uni friend was visiting relatives nearby and decided to call upon us for a place to lay his head which was extremely flattering. I rustled up a classic, but no less impressive, cottage pie and we wittled away the hours with board games and red wine. An incredibly warm evening all round, a rare, but wholesome encounter in these strange times.

The Walk Around

 Drove up to our studio first thing today to collect a hire car. I've gotten pretty good at 'the walk around' that awkward part where you circle round the car and point out all the dinfs and scuffs to a clipboard wielding bloke. I'm sure some microcultures would perceive this activity as male bonding, I just want it over and done with ASAP.

Back at my desk I booked a taxi and tidied up my Google Drive. Spent a bit long of time looking into new laptops again but its proving very difficult to find one that suits my needs. Nice keyboard and a large enter key is basically my only 'must have' feature and that's harder to find than I expected. At least the roaring fan on my current laptop is keeping me warm in the chilly dining room...

Return to my Home Desk

Working from home today as filming has been temporarily put on hold. Luckily, I was never more than a few paces away from my kettle and coffee grinder so I may have gone a little overboard when it came to coffee consumption. I also got to round off a lot of my odd jobs that needed doing, I fleshed out a few of our logs and squared off a vehicle hire for tomorrow morning. Best of all though, I got to spend most of the day close to Rebecca, during lockdown we grew quite fond of our little 'separate office, but within speaking distance' dynamic and deep down I could tell she was thrilled to have someone to keep her company while she worked from home.

Rebecca - Netflix

Our makeup department passed out a handful of moisturizing face masks to us lot in production the other week, though they have a feminine vibe, I thought I'd give one a shot during this lazy Sunday. After washing my face, Rebecca helped me apply what was essentially a soaked piece of seaweed with creepy slits for my eyes, nose and mouth. I looked like Halloween had come early, I felt wet and miserable on the inside for the whole 15 minutes it lingered on my cheekbones, like an unwanted mollusc. Once I peeled it off, I felt no different either. Lets just say I'm not a convert.

Another thing I wasn't mad about was Ben Wheatley's take on Rebecca which recently appeared on Netflix. It's obviously unfair to compare this film to the Hitchcock version, I went in with a blank canvas of expectations, hoping to see a creepy, but gripping chiller/drama. What I got was an unaired Downton Abbey Halloween special mascerading as a poor-man's Shutter Island. The original story is so remarkable, yet here, it fails to raise an eyebrow because it lacks any soul or identity. It's not that it's a bad film, it's just not a good one - arguably that's the most damning criticism there is.  

Now We're Cooking with Wood

Posted a big batch of Covid tests first thing this morning, the cold and the rain outside mean that afterwards all we wanted to do was swaddle up indoors. But not before buying some firewood for our woodburner - the little piece of our house we've yet to test out. A chimney sweep visited earlier in the week to check our wood burner and remove any gubbins sitting inside the chimney. He wrote us out a certificate giving us the all clear and this evening we decided to indulge in a warming fire. Had a few false starts lighting it as we decided to use up some of the old, musty kindling first, but once it got going it was delightful - just the ticket during the dead of Autumn.

It was some point in the evening when the heat tickled my toes and I could see the light of the flickering flames dancing on the walls when I realised this house has become a home. 

Post-Wrap Post

I was back running on the floor today, got to mingle (at a safe distance) with our main cast members too as I travelled them to and from set which felt pretty rock and roll. Filming actually wrapped 40 minutes ahead if schedule which was delightful, our production team packed up to leave at 6 on the dot, though I'm always the last to trickle out as I print off callsheets.

Just as I was slinging my bag on my should, our Covid Supervisor walks in and informs me I need to immediately post 15 tests to upcoming crew members who need swabs before they can work with us. Typically we do this job at lunchtime, but for whatever reason this task was suddenly dropped on me, and just me, after everyone else had gone home. So I put on a happy face and cracked on with the job at hand, sending a reassuring email once I was done. Gotta hit the post office tomorrow now with a mountain of letters, hope they don't hate me too much!

Stepping On Once Again

Strapped my running belt on and headed into the fray. Though I was sold a hellish day full of screaming school kids, the day actually went pretty well. There were 5 runners total so everything just went like clockwork, I daresay I was getting a small buzz off being back on set too. Though it was undoubtedly busy, it was good work and nice to be amidst the crew I only ever otherwise chat with over email.

Also, I was blessed today with a chance encounter for the books. Just flippantly I headed towards set to check on some bits and I spotted a courier was knocking around, dropping bits and pieces off. I went up to check if there was anything for us and it was an old colleague from Coffee #1! We had a super brief chat and did the little covid-friendly elbow bump, but I was just smitten with how small this world feels sometimes. 

Won't be my First Rodeo

I was rather busy today, not uncomfortably so but there was always a set of plates to spin. Sounds like another van hire is in the cards, now that I'm a seasoned van hirer the process should be very smooth. I delighted a Fleetwood Mac obsessed colleague by introducing them to the live, acoustic version of Big Love (one of Dad's favourites). They were so enamored with it they immediately hit replay and thanked me for the recommendation.

About halfway through the day Mark ominously beckoned me into the tiny backroom office for a private chat. 'Uh oh' thought I, as I mentally fortified myself for some bad news. With a big smile on his face he asked if I could help out and act as a Floor Runner for the day tomorrow. I said I be delighted. He heartily swung the door open and bellowed 'He said yes!' And there was a miniature, but not inaudible cheer at this announcement. So yeah, for one day only I'll be back in the saddle, radio on, set bag handy and ready to work on set. Pretty excited, just want to make sure I don't let the squad down because tomorrow is a big day.

Bye Bye Cafetieres

And so, our hero returned the cafetieres and saved the production budget a sizeable chunk of money. He then rewarded himself with lashing sausage, bacon and eggs from the catering truck - a happy ending to this morning's exploits. 

The remainder of the day was spent consolidating petty cash receipts and chasing post. I got the briefly visit set today to drop off a lunch order, almost made me miss being a runner!

Cafetiere / Coffee

I've become accustomed to late starts at work, so when we get a call time of 7am it felt incredibly foreign. It was still dark when I arrived in fact, but that didn't stop me smelling out the 'Meat-Free Monday' breakfast menu. Settled into a nice working groove today despite making a blunderous faux pax. Our 2nd AD came in, gestured towards the cafetieres and asked if we had any more. Lip reading is hard to do with facemasks so I told him no but we can go out and get some. So I sent someone out to grab some more French Presses, I presented them to him and he was like 'what the heck are these for?' Turns out he wanted coffee, plain and simple. I felt so bad for the runner I sent out I elected to take the receipt and return them all tomorrow to make up for their wasted time.

Return to A&E

Finished writing my blog last night, sunk my head onto the pillow and got ready for a well deserved rest after a long hike in the countryside. No rest for the wicked though. In the later hours of last night, Rebecca developed some bizarre stomach cramps that didn't subside. We called 111, who ultimately recommended we visit A&E, so that's what we did. I drove her up there while such was hunched over a hot water bottle, bless her. Once she checked in I was told I couldn't stay in the waiting room for Covid reasons, so we had to separate. I sat in the car as it was a darn-sight warmer in there than outdoors! A few hours later, Rebecca got a blood test, was tended by a nurse and given the all clear. The pain lessened in that time thankfully and we all headed home just before 4am... Suffice to say, today we didn't get up early... or do anything too strenuous. This time last year Rebecca drove me to A&E, good to know we're even now after this trip.  

A bit of rest did her well today though, and after I knocked out some nourishing burritos she was right as rain. Looking forward to getting some real beauty sleep tonight! 

Book Barn

Big day in the great outdoors for me today. Rebecca has long wanted to visit the Book Barn, an international book selling warehouse with a fun reputation. Pictures online make it look like a weird and wonderful looking library - right up Rebecca's alley. When we got there though, the charm wore off the moment I realised it was effectively just a really big Oxfam bookstore, with an inexplicably unwhelming selection of books. Rebecca seldom leaves any bookshop without picking up a little something, but we left empty handed...

Still, we had bigger fish to fry. The Book Barn is located on the outskirts of the Mendips so we looked up a good hike to go on and just did it. In just over three hours we did it all. Saw every farm animal, walked through a cow and sheep field, crossed muddy paths, shallow streams and went through more kissing gates than I'd care to count. We were planning on taking a cheeky shortcut at one point, but a dog that belonged to a passing hiker got alarmingly territorial and literally blocked our way forward. So we took the scenic (and muddy) route back. The magic of the walk waned in the final half hour though and all we wanted to do was get home and cradle a cup of coffee.  

Fantasy Weekend

Despite only being a 4 day week for us, you could tell the crew were all shattered and ready for the weekend. The Production team were all counting down the hours until home time, each of us had our own little dream weekend planned, a fantasy that'd carry us through til the end of the day. Mark kindly grabbed a few of us and gave us a sneaky tour of the set Art Department had built for us and their work really is astonishing. Though I only see very little of what's being shot, I can't wait to see the final product.

Stapler Swiper

 

Smooth(ish) sailing for me at work today. Got a lot of small jobs done and ultimately ticked off most of my jobs. I actually got a little bit of time to read through some of the scripts which was remarkably helpful for understanding future shooting days.

My last job of the day is always doing bundles of printing and stapling. Currently I'm using a stapler I swiped from Rebecca, but now partly out of guilt (and partly because its a sub-par stapler) I've turned to the internet to buy a posh one for myself. I'm not sure if it really is something worth bragging about, but I'm legitimately excited about upgrading my stationary game.

Cheeky Eggs Benedict

Because I got home pretty dang late last night, I earned the right to a little lie in - I didn't need to be at work until 12:30. So I caught up on Bake Off, played some games and just had a chance to drink a coffee with Rebecca which was probably the highlight of my day. 

Work itself went surprisingly smoothly for me, I was just cracking on with some little bits of work and ordering some more stuff for our crew online. We got treated to a special brunch first thing though so I got a 'second breakfast' in the form of an Eggs Benedict. The catering makes the long days worth it.

Where's my Pizza?

First shoot day that bled into the next day, I finished just a little past midnight this evening (by design mind, we all got a lunchtime start to compensate). After 6pm rolls around though the emails flat line but I still had plenty of odd tasks to occupy my time. Strangely enough, ordering a pizza ended up being the most stressful part of my day. In between dodgey bank card readings and a delivery guy that got lost it translated into a bonkers hour that frankly, should have been super easy.

Over The Wire

Got another Monday off which meant I got a lot of extra curricular fun stuff done. Baked a whopping big batch of brownies for starters, was hard waiting for them to all cool off before enjoying a sample bite let me tell you. I bing played Silent Hill 2 and ended up completing it, it gets a up-nod of approval from me, not too scary though. Lastly, Rebecca and finished the penultimate episode of The Wire, took a look at the clock and said 'To hell with it, let's finish this show' so we did. Just over two years ago I agreed to watch Downtown Abbey if Rebecca watched The Wire, and now, collectively 135 hours if TV later, we are both square on that deal... Only problem now is we don't know what to watch next!

Embracing The Spooky Season

I'm feeling the Halloween vibes early on this year and I curiously find myself wanting to surround myself in all things spooky. I started playing Silent Hill 2, gripping the controller tightly while I meandered through pitch-black abandoned apartment. I also borrowed DVD form Halloween and Scream - two of the most iconic films I've not seen yet because I've always been too much of a scaredy cat to give them a shot - Rebecca expressed some interest too so I won't have to watch them by myself. We rounded the day off with a gaming session with friends that was only meant to last an hour or so, but we ended up going for more than three hours on just one game! Guess we were all having too much fun.

Porky Walk

I slept in while Rebecca got up early for another cat sitting job, when she got back she detailed her dealings with an overly energetic kitten which made me chuckle. Around mid day we headed out to Newbury to see my parents, Mum is low-key anxious about another lockdown soon so she wanted to see me, Louis, Rebecca and Rachel before the beginning of next week. Dad rustled up a delicious leg of pork for lunch which we walked off on a short hike around some nearby fields. Louis cooked Gus signature scones for an evening supper and we chatted the night away with a coffee in hand. Really lovely to spend some more time with family today, fingers crossed we can meet up more in the coming months!

New Set of Wheels

Was having a lovely chill morning before work, played some video games with Rebecca, had a nice breakfast, the whole she-bang. Then an email came through telling me I had an hour less of my morning than I anticipated so I had to dash away. Ended up getting to set early as a result!

Got a new hire car today too! Bit sad seeing my old one being slowly driven away by two burly blokes and already, my new one lacks the rustic charm of my old Skoda. Few more drives though and I'm sure I'll get to grips with this new set of wheels.

A Bouquet

Our unit base today was actually our main office, no more diesel fumes or sluggish WiFi for us! My main task today was actually doing something I'd never done before: buying a bouquet of flowers. It was weirdly stressful trying to get the right variety and colours but I settled on something very nice in the end. The sun begun to set on us just as we were halfway through our day, I stuck around in the office until almost midnight, the folks filming were out a bit longer than that. Another late one tomorrow, but now my body-clock has adjusted I'm pretty nonplussed by it.

Knee Deep in Grime

Wow, I thought yesterday was rough at work, but today was on another level. Later start was nice, though it always means a later finish (got to drive along the same closed roads on my way home too). The mud and the rain just meant everything was slippy, someone managed to slip and smash a phone, someone else twisted their ankle a little bit after taking a tumble. Lots of little fires to put out today, but when that happens you gotta just keep on soldiering on!

Remember the Alamo

Good golly, what a day. I was just busy all the time. Once we wrapped at the end if the day though things really ramped up. I was back on booking taxis and due to a road closure and the fact we were out in the middle if nowhere the cars just weren't arriving at a decent rate, despite pre-booking them. Never mind though, everyone got bundled into a car by the end of it all and two hours after we wrapped, I hopped into my own car... Only to discover that road closure was a lot more devastating than I expected. It doubled my 35 minute journey. Google maps wasn't accommodating in giving me alternative route either, so I made my own and ended up on a road that even a tank would've struggled with. I got flashbacks to my scouting overnight hikes, aptly called 'Alamo's' - well this was another Alamo I won't soon forget.

Happy 10th Birthday to The Blog!

"The blog, which you lovely people are now reading, will be updated daily, we'll see how long that lasts."

It's not very often I get the chance to quote myself, but exactly ten years ago today I wrote those words. My 17 year old self would be shocked to hear that I kept up blogging this long, but more than that, he'd be stunned to see the person he'd become.

This blog started as a cute little way for our YouTube gang, Cafe Studios, to keep in touch with our fan base, somewhere to share behind the scenes pictures and glimpses at our latest film projects. It feels oddly fitting then to note that for many of the group's original members, our fledgling hobby has blossomed into careers. Mark and I in particular are embroiled in the biggest production either of us have ever worked on, and it's humbling now to reflect on our roots. 

As ever, I must thank all the readers of this blog. Your support and kind words of encouragement never fail to put a smile on my face. Whether you've only read a single post, or if you tune in regularly, it's beyond comforting to know that someone is always interested in my life. My readership may be small, but hey, that's never bothered me.

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Ten years and counting... Writing a daily post has become a part of my nightly routine, and honestly, it's become a part of my identity. Already I'm thinking about what a 37 year old version of me looks like, and whether I'd want to share a beer with him? I certainly hope so.

Not much more to say... other than cheers!

Running Laps with Laptops

I went to bed last night a little conflicted. I'm thinking of buying anew laptop since my old one is starting to chug in a way that's just a little beyond endearing. This time last year I was about to source Rebecca a perfect laptop for her on my first try, naturally I assumed it'd be just as easy for me to find something, but alas, finding the right laptop for me has be a real trial. I even headed out to a computer shop today just to look and feel some of my front runners, this gave me a tighter shortlist but so many of them are out of stock thanks to students buying them all up. Reckon I'll take some names for now and just sit tight. 

Other than fretting about new hardware, I did plenty of cooking today. Rustling up a nice meal is something I've wholeheartedly missed doing since I started this new job, but I'm always glad to do it over the weekends. Classic scrambled eggs for breakfast, baked Camembert and garlic for lunch and a mini roast plus homemade Yorkshire puddings for dinner. The latter was paired with a really exceptional wine a colleague gave me as a 'thank you' present last month. I've already made a mental note of the bottle for future present giving.

Non-Alcoholic Hangover

The weather has continued to stay miserable so Rebecca and I minimized our contact with the outside world. I also woke up curiously feeling rather ropy, almost as if I were hungover despite not drinking anything last night. A fuzzy headache plagued me for most of the day, neutering my motivation to do many things. So, we treated the day as a recovery day and ended up ordering pizza, cooking popcorn and watching Hot Fuzz while swaddled up on the sofa. Rebecca only saw it once on a coach trip and was still shocked as the twists and turns emerged in the story. Feeling much better now though, maybe I was just knackered after a busy work week.

Soggy, Soggy Friday

Boy it was a wet one today. Soggy shoes and sodden umbrellas all round, stepping off our nice, warm truck meant subjecting yourself to amber-level weather that persisted throughout the day. Didn't feel like a Friday as a result, until the last hour, then all I could think about was the weekend. Another week of filming down though, I feel like it's all starting to find a nice pace, still one ore two growing pains but we're working hard to quash them. Rebecca popped by to see our unit base too, while it was a fleeting visit, it was the highlight of my day.

Back at home I hopped onto a gaming sessions with some high-tier YouTubers to play some online games. I mostly kept a little quiet but it was a thrill to hang out with that crowd nonetheless.

A Good Looking Truck

Just another day in the truck for me, wrestled slightly with dodgy internet, but otherwise filming has picked up some pace. In fact, you can even read about our exploits here. The journo's even got a very underwheling photo of our location where the truck I had a nightmare renting features very prominently:

Walked home from set (bucket list item ticked off), got home and immediately packed up my things to head out again. Rebecca hosted a book club tonight bringing the household total up to 6, but only if I wasn't there. So I camped out at Louis and Rachel's for the evening, until the coast was clear that is. We shared some craft beers I picked up and played Skull, a new board game Louis got me for my Birthday. It looked alarmingly simple when I went through the rules, but it very quickly blossomed into an immensely satisfying bluffing game - had a real hoot with it.