I Don't Hate Musicals

That was the weekend that was, and for a Sunday in lockdown, it was about as eventful as they come. Went for a little walk in the snow which livened up our usual park walk. I finished up a game I'd been playing (which is always satisfying) and I watched a Woody Allen film that was new to me (been a while since that happened). Everyone Says I Love You is a homage to the musical cinema days of yesteryear. Fred Astaire and the Marx Brothers are all evoked to conjure a warming waves of nostalgia. The vibe of the film just about manages to pardon the forgettable song writing. Allen's cast of characyers are no less enjoyable here but their storylines felt a little more bitty here, probably because screen time was dedicated to the music rather than the characters themselves. Overall it was just charming enough to make me crack a few smiles, Moonstruck carries a similar tone though its probably the superior film.

Dropping F Bombs

Games with the boys is quickly becoming a weekend prerequisite. Ghost hunting was on the agenda today which we got way to overconfident in, the final round tested our sanity in ways we couldn't even predict. So after getting our heart rate to a place previously exclusive to marathon runner, we thought we'd chill out with some friendly games of Rocket League (or car football for the uninitiated). Instead, the adrenaline kept flowing like wine. 

We got swept up in a match that was nail- bitingly close, at the last possible second we lost the game which made me shout obscenities at the top of my lungs. It was also at this precise moment that Rebecca, plus her parents on a video call, decided to drop in and see how I was doing. Gosh, I went tomato red I was so embarrassed, but that only added to the hilarity of the game. Been a long time since I felt such a litany of emotions, that the power of a good gaming session.

Meet 'n Greet

Plenty of running around took place this morning. I was driving up and down between our studio and our equipment hire place to do some odd jobs, what other kind of jobs exisit in my industry? In the mimiddle of it all I carved out a time slot for my interview for what could be, my next gig. It was more on the 'meet 'n greet' side of interviews which suites me fine, we had a small chat about the project and I effectively ended it by insinuated I was their guy. Fingers crossed anyway. I'll know sometime next week.

The afternoon was busy for me too. Felt like every department suddenly dropped a big shopping list on me to sort out. Lots of sudden travel plans were made, all of which required movement orders which I'm rather good a knocking out. A final dash took us into the weekend, something I idolize from each Monday but now its here I hardly know what to do with myself.

Welsh Wanderer

Drove over the Severn Bridge today for my first foray into another nation since lockdown begun last year. Mind you, I didn't go especially deep into Wales, we're only filming there for the next day or so, but I got to see the Welsh dialect on signs and it felt 'so exotic' to me. I had to make a trip to the supermarket at one point and I made the foolish decision to announce that fact, immediatly people were giving me shopping lists and errands to run for them. Obviously I was glad to be of help, but I begun to question my generous nature while I was stood in the soft drinks aisle waiting behind swaths of elderly Welsh folk as they studied the difference between 'Diet Coke' and 'Coke Zero'.

Tomorrow morning I have an interview/meet and greet with what could be my next job in the industry. I'm keeping my fingers crossed of course but I'm really keen to hear more about the project - full interview debriefing here same time tomorrow.

Its Gotta Come Off

Almost since the beginning of the year I've been mulling over the thought of growing put my beard. 3 weeks in and my facial hair was looking pretty good. However, I always get to this stage and then realise two unavoidable truths. 1) Rebecca hates it when I have anything longer than stubble and 2) I don't possess any tools to maintain a beard in the long term. With a heavy heart I picked up my razor and shaved it all off, which was much harder to do with a dinky razor than I remembered.

With my sharp new look I was ready to work from home again today, mostly I was coordinating the passing over of the Birthday bits I bought yesterday. Apparently everyone but me forgot about the present so I had to do some poking before it finally got to the right person. The card went down a treat though and by the sounds of it the Birthday girl had a good one, despite having to manage a very busy set today.

Magic Wi-Fi Man

Brought in the latest batch of brownies I made, I passed on a good handful of them to the people in the crew who cut my hair as a way of saying thank you. They went down a treat, everyone who had a bite was very complimentary. But before my head got too big I popped out to do my afternoon post run, which morphed into a internet handyman run where I went to attempt to fix the wi-fi of our second studio. I don't really know if they expected me to magically improve their upload speed, but it was good that I showed my face - it gave the impression we care about their predicament. Rounded off my daily duties by buying more Birthday treats for a crew member, only as I write this I realise my day was just about spreading the love. I hope my actions made everyone else's day a mite brighter.

Burns Night 2021

Twas our first Burns night where we had to cook the main dinner, Rebecca stepped up to the plate and even prepared the traditional Cranachan pudding. I filled my plate with haggis while we lamented not being able to share this evening with friends like we typically do. Still, we exchanged photos of our meal with Louis and Rachel and all felt a little better. 

To honor the night, I leave a little poem by Sidney Hoddes which I'll quietly dedicate to Rebecca:

If I ever had to choose between you

and a third helping of mashed potato,

(whipped lightly with a fork

not whisked,

and a little pool of butter

melting in the middle...)

I think

I’d choose

the mashed potato.

But I’d choose you next.

Snow Day In Bristol

'Wow, it snowed!' Exclaimed Rebecca as she pulled back the curtains. The glimmer of daylight that poured in through the crack in the window roused me from my slumber, but instead of being grumpy, a flicker of child-like wonder filled my heart. After a quick breakfast, we put on our shoes and gloves and went out to greet the snowy day with a walk around Victoria Park. I have never seen so many snowmen in my life. If looked like everyone who lived near the park all came out with their kids to go tobogganing or to build a snowmen - it was really quite spectacular. I would comfortably estimate there being 50 snowmen dotted around the park, it was almost like a mini art exhibit.  

Contagion

Mentally prepped myself for a day of pure nothingness. I got up a little early to play some video games and since it was Rebecca's turn to do the weekly shop it was going to be an extended play session. Until her car didn't start that was. Being the good boyfriend I am I drove her down to the supermarket and sat in the car reading a book (still got to chill out, just had to sit in a cold car for part of my morning). Thankfully she got everything sorted out once we got back and her car is up and running again - balance was restored and I crawled back into my man cave for the duration of the day.

I did wriggle out of it to watch Contagion as it seemed apt, plus Netflix keeps recommending it to me so I finally conceded. It played out in a similar way to Soderbergh's Traffic, while I couldn't stand that film, I have no beef with Contagion. It was witty to retroactively see how a 2011 world believed society would react to a pandemic, which was pretty close to reality so points for that. It did have a compelling social horror element to it too, almost like a zombie film without the zombies. I won't be screaming about this film a few years down the line, but if there was every a good time to see it, now is the time.

Greggs

How can finishing work on a Friday get any better? When you backseat is full of leftover Gregg's sausage rolls. The route home is full if winding roads, every turn I took a bit too hard pushed around the greasy paper bags of pastry, perfuming the car with savoury scents. Once I sat down in the sofa it was game over for me, I just felt shattered after a long week. Now more than ever I'm ready for a Saturday lie in.

Slowly Coming Together

Mark shared a sneak peek at some of the assembly edits for the show with me and some of the other crew first thing today, and I gotta say, it looks super slick. Feels like almost everything I've worked on in the past feels a bit shonkey and low budget, but this is the real deal. Now more than ever I can picture this show appearing on the Netflix homepage and that got me really pumped.

Other cool thing that happened today, I delivered a giant package of batteries to a chap who worked on Full Metal Jacket. This Blog is full of some bizarre sentences and that last was is top ten material, especially out of context.

Pity Haircut

Felt fortunate today that all my jobs were quick and easy fixes. Someone had a problem, I solved it end of story. The only exception being a cherry picker I've been slaving over recently to get hired in time finally turned up on our construction site, except it wasn't a cherry picker at all, it was a scissor lift. I rolled my eyes, made a call and even got that sorted quickly, not that it should have happened din the first place, but still it's all good.

I was summoned to the hair and makeup truck later on this evening, a few of the crew members took pity on my Photoshop loss yesterday and offered me a haircut - I jumped at the suggestion. They lopped off 6 months of growth and now I feel like a new man. Half scared Rebecca when I walked through the door.

Photoshop Loser

For some oddball reason, we held an impromptu Photoshop competition at work today. Whoever made the funniest picture (as selected by our director) would win a prize courtesy of the makeup team (they always have lots of goodies). What ensued was perhaps the greatest miscarriage of justice I've even been subject to. I had a hilarious idea which I was scrambling to get submitted, just as I was doing the final touches I got a phone call asking for an important email to get sent over. During that window, a colleague posted what was effectively my idea, we used the same movie reference and an identical reference picture, albeit a lower quality version. My thunder had been stolen a little bit but I saved face and jabbed back quickly with my own submission - in a side by side, mine would have been the clear winner... So when first prize was announce I was mortified to hear that colleague took the trophy. I'm not a bad loser at the best of times, but this really pushed my buttons - then I heard what the prize was I was beside myself with jealousy: A free haircut, compliments of the makeup department.

I haven't had a haircut since September and my shot at one was very literally snatched away from me. Spent the next 10 minutes stewing, I won't soon forget this incident. Every time I look in the mirror now I'll be reminded of this moment as I gaze upon my shaggy, shaggy hair.

Blue Monday?

You can't keep me away from vans now! In between doing a few jobs today I got willingly roped into helping our Covid team move one of their vehicles. Little road trip broke up the day rather nicely. When I was back in the mobile office there was homemade banana bread to scoff and some actually nice jobs to get on with. As far as Monday's go, this one wasn't so bad.

Social Screens

Daily screen time was pretty high today, for both social and hobbyist reasons. Facetimed with Rebecca's family then hopped onto a rare video chat with my family too. Everyone is generally in high spirits which was nice to see, plus I got to thank Granny Sue for our annual Christmas hamper full of non perishable goodies. Obviously its not as good as a face to face 'Thank you' but it's the next best thing. 

Monday looms once more, I'll be around the Chippenham area this week to make for a change in scenery. Set is meant to be amazing here to so I may have to take a cheeky trip down just to have a little nose about.

Meaty Movie

Have an appetite at the moment for a meaty film. One that will fill me right up with it's content and characters and wow me with its screenplay. So naturally I turned back to the Corn Brothers and inexplicably I somehow managed to convince Rebecca to watch No Country for Old Men. Took me right back to going to the cinema with Dad to watch it way back when, and probably when I was too young to see it too. I always think back fondly on seeing movies at the tiny screen at the Corn Exchange. Saw some of my most cherished films there. Maybe I'm just feeling sentimental as I haven't been to the cinema in about a year now, miss that feeling of anticipation when the BBFC certificate comes up after the screen gets wider and walking out the theater while the credit music twinkles in the background. First thing I'm doing when lockdown is legit over is watch something at the cinema.

One Year A Homeowner

Rebecca reminded me that today marks being a home owner for one year. Crikey, it doesn't feel like a year especially after the turbulence that was 2020, but it got me pacing around the house and reflecting on how good it's been to us over the past 365 days. It was oddly fitting then that Rebecca's (now very late) Christmas present from me finally arrived after getting severely lost in the post. It's a tiny little framed print of a cat giving life advice which she was smitten with - just got to figure out where to put it now. Every step in decorating helps make the house a home and every day we are still making this place more and more like ours.

The Skiff

Me and The Skiff clocked 400 miles today. I put my keys in the ignition at about 8am and parked him up for the night at 6pm - in between was pure driving. Along the way I probably hacked off a half dozen London drivers due to dodgy lane changes, in fairness Google Maps wasn't doing a stallar job in the city center. It took me down a narrow dead-end street at one point, The Skiff and I only wriggled free from there thanks to a kind hearted street food chap who gave me reversing aid. I also missed a junction at one point who h added a hefty 25 minutes onto my route. All in though, it was a fairly painless trip. I handed off all the good to our art department team who were delighted, so much so they gave a me a beer to enjoy when I slumped onto the sofa at home. Forgot how to walk when I got out the van, I'll wear those cramps as a badge of honour for my first long-haul trip.

Christening The Van

Rented a van for myself today. I'm calling it The Skiff. Figured it needs an endearing nickname as I'll be driving it for 8 hours tomorrow on a cross-country trip to London, Cambridge and back to Bristol. I already have my travel credentials for heading out in Covid times, all I need now is to make a banging playlist to keep my brain from turning to porridge. Hopefully there'll be stories to be told when the day is done... The good, heroic kind, not the I got into a scrape on the M4 kind, we'll see!  

I'm a Prickly Pear

Got thrown into a high alert situation first thing this morning, the details of which are boring because it turned out to be a false alarm, but I never quite settled into a neat working rhythm afterwards. I was mostly updating spreadsheets and writing up my petty cash form, tasks I can normally zone out into but I just felt antsy. It's the worst kind of prickly attitude I developed, sometimes you want to be grumpy and stew in it a while, today I just was that way and I'd do anything to come out of it. I'll bounce back tomorrow no doubt.

Receipt Juggler

Amalgamated my petty cash receipts amongst other things while sitting on the truck. Need to claim back more than 2 grand in expenses on the company card, good thing I haven't lost a single receipt - I'll be working on part two of that tomorrow no doubt. Once I came home and switched off for a little bit I was horrified to discover just how exhausted I felt. Wasn't a big day by any stretch either, doesn't bode well for a Monday...

Grateful Working

Though I only had one day off this week, I enjoyed today to the fullest. Played plenty of games, cooked a big roast dinner and generally just relaxed in a manner befitting a Sunday. The shadow of Monday lingers over me now though, plenty of stuff to do first thing tomorrow and undoubtedly a few new jobs lurking in the shadows. Grateful to still have work though, at the moment lots of things are going to hell in the midst of the pandemic, even though home working isn't feesable in my industry, our new covid team give me nothing but confidence as we head into each new day.

Don't Offend the Director

Saturday working is never gratifying, especially when Rebecca is enjoying her day while I'm tethered to my desk. I occupied myself with plenty of little odd jobs. My old uni housemate Lincoln shared a new project he's working on which I gave some feedback on. I may have gone in a little too hard in the criticism as he told me I may have offended the director, a point we both chuckled at but I felt very guilty nevertheless.

That 6 day week went by fast! Gotta make the most of my one day off, in lockdown though the options are limited. Mostly I just want to decompress I think, tune out of the world for a bit and live outside my head - guess that's what games and films are for.

Oscillating Workload

The floodgates opened early this morning as jobs poured in simultaneously. Felt like working gin the cafe again and seeing a big queue in front of me, and just like the cafe, the work load today oscillated for sure, but it never stopped. Friday I guess though, everyone wants stuff done by the end of the week so they can tie a nice little bow on it. Only we're working tomorrow too, lord know it'll be a quieter day than most while working on the weekend. Luckily I have the luxury of mostly being able to work from home again tomorrow, best excuse I'll ever have for not having to do the weekly shop!

Freezing Fog

Biggest job of the day: buying Birthday presents for our most prolific actor. Did a good job too, headed to M&S to get some posh foodie bits, because the show has an eco message i managed to get a craft beer with an astronaut fighting for the planet on it, felt appropriate somehow. While getting all these bits I got to drive around in a mist that quite genuinely lingered around all day, I've never seen anything like it before. A freezing fog was hanging over Bristol, some say it may even snow tomorrow - what a delight that'll be if so!

Accidental Pyjama Day

Kept myself occupied working from home, brought back a little check list from yesterday and continued to play whack-a-mole with jobs whenever they cropped up. In fact I was so busy I forgot I was still wearing my pajamas at 11am! Guess that's a perk of homeworking(?) Though the real best part is being able to make coffee in my own kitchen, then walk it back up to my desk and calmly check my emails. 

Theo In One Car Not Getting Coffee

Queued up like a penguin for my complimentary back to work Covid swab. The Sun wasn't even up at this point so my toes were swiftly going numb, lucky for me though, I got to sit in my car for 50 minutes while I waited to get my result back. I'd been at work for two hours before I'd even got to do any proper work. 

No matter though, when I got to my desk I was gifted with an unwanted Christmas pudding, already the day was worth it. Following that was some driving, printing and WiFi dongle hunting - the usual. The day funnily ended in a similar way to how it began. Me sitting in a chilly car for 50 minutes waiting on the rushes. Long day, but at least I got that pudding!

Cold Open

Forgot just how cold it can get in our house this time of year. While I was still working at the cafe I had to get up at some ungodly hour then go eat my breakfast in the walk-in fridge that is our living room before the heating turns on in the mornings. Well, lets just say this morning gave me some deja vu. 

In spite of the cold open, the day went by pretty quick. I had lot of loose ends to tie up and now we should be ready to hit the ground running tomorrow. Despite the latest lockdown we're pushing on for the foreseeable future. I'll be getting up just as early tomorrow, but at least this time I'll be mentally prepared for the chills.

Bye Bye Christmas Hols

My work bag is packed so I'm ready to hit the ground running tomorrow. Well actually, I'm working from home tomorrow minus a brief detour into our studio to drop off some print outs, but otherwise my first day back on the beat will be (hopefully) gentle. Got a tiny backlog of emails to chase up, plus old receipts to reconcile. No doubt there'll be taxis to book and problems to solve, but that's what I'm here for. I had stars in my eyes while dreaming about how I'd spend the final day of the Christmas hols. Mostly though I did what I've been doing for the past two weeks, enjoying the pace of life and curling up on the sofa with Rebecca. Day wasn't wasted by any stretch, just wish I'd planned something a bit grander to do before marching back into the world of work.

Sleepwalking Daze

Though we were blessed with a dusting of snow later on in the day, Rebecca and I took a stroll up along The Downs with a friend of hers. The mud had frozen over a bit so it was less 'squelch city' as we roamed across the grass. The walk did me good, I had a lot of trouble getting out of bed this morning, though even now I'm wondering if I ever truly woke up today. Slowly coming to terms with the idea of heading back to work too - not that I'm reluctant to get back into the thick of it, but after you've spent almost 2 weeks snuggled up in PJ's, it's hard to want to do anything else.

Life of Kings

I told myself if I had to get out of my PJ's today then I have failed to enjoy my New Year's Day. Well... mission accomplished. For the first time in two years, I've had the opportunity to completely squander the first day of the year thanks to working outside the hospitality sector. Stoked the fire, brought down the duvet and sat on the sofa with Rebecca watching TV. Actually, I did get to feel a little accomplished today, I ticked off my 1,500th film with The Help, a fine film to clear that milestone with. Had a big old gaming night with Mark and Dan too, lots of zombie killing and ghost hunting, maybe a little too much fun for one night.

Happy New Year 2021!

Had to do something positive with the final day of 2020. Rebecca drove us up to Ashton Court for a Wintry stroll amidst the golfers and dog walkers. Then we bundled up indoors with turkey and cheese toasties and a pair of films, Tokyo Godfathers and Roman Holiday to be exact. Both great films to wile away the New Year's Eve hours.

Obviously, 2020 threw us all through a loop. Covid kept us indoors and distanced from our loved ones. I was lucky to spend Christmas and some other occasions with my Brother, but meeting with my Mum, Dad and Grandparents were scaled back - I'm sincerely hoping I can spend more time with them in the New Year.

However, there's a lot I have to be thankful for this year. I sharpened my writing skills on a nearly daily basis, writing game reviews, Louis game and the first draft of a personal project of mine. Moved into my new house properly and had plenty of time to put some personal touches to it. I also finally shed off my old cafe job and landed in a role as a Production Assistant on a Netflix job no less. I spent more time than ever with Rebecca by my side, it's a wonderful testament to the strength of our relationship that we never got on each other's backs during lockdown. I'm extremely fortunate to have her in my life, we lent on each other through the uncertainty and kept each other going.

Finally, I bought a lemon tree, seeing as 2020 gave us lemons.