Mid Life Mega Drive

Returned to the Sega Mega drive first thing this morning. I have a deep nostalgia for the graphic and soundscape of that console and one of the coolest things is actually playing games I've never dusted off before - it's like planning for gold. I'm on a bit of a pre-turning 32 crisis I suppose but returning to my roots always helps ground me. 

Rebecca was smitten by a local taproom after visiting there a few months ago so we swung by for a burger and a bevvie. Was really cute to just go as the two of us, one of the last outings before we wave Summer goodbye for another year.

The Big Haul

I had a hunch I wouldn't be too busy today and that turned out to be largely true. Good for me because I got plenty of time to hit up the crew for the long awaited return of Fiver Friday. It turns out people were KEEN, we went round all the houses and everyone was so excited to play, we ended up with a single handedly the biggest pot I have ever run: £470! We got a member of cast to draw and announce the winner and I got to pass someone a 'life changing amount of money'. 

Moreso than a quick gamble, Fiver Friday gives me a chance to walk amongst all members of crew and talk to them. It's nice to drum up some enthusiasm and give a spark of fun to them, especially going into a long weekend. We really do have an A-team with us this time round. Everyone is good at their job and good people - it's rare to get that combination sometimes, even moreso when there's almost 200 people on your crew. I felt lucky to be a part of something, all I did was put names in a hat today, but that was much more gratifying than even I expected.

Dusting off the Lucky Hat

The whole gang is back at the studio and with that comes a sudden wave of crew requests. I was wrangling hire cars, post and an industrial sized scale at one point, all in aid of the mighty machine of film making. I felt like the time was right to finally resurrect Fiver Friday too, everyone has found their feet and the game wouldn't serve as an interruption. With any luck, someone tomorrow will win a 'Life changing' sum of money.

Materialists

A shorter day meant less time to cram everything in, which was especially tricky with back to back meetings to set up for. My co worker were slightly distracted though by the hottest social event of the show - a work Summer party. Alas, I didn't get the invite so Cinderella didn't get to go to the ball. Instead I tided up, sent my last few emails then bid the office farewell. I had other plans this evening anyways - a date night with Rebecca to the cinema. The film: Materialists, the second feature from the director of Past Lives. I was mentally prepared for this movie to not be the Second Coming, review scores braced me for that, but I also feel like they're doing the film a disservice. What we have here is a smart and considered piece which felt classy and mature in all the ways that matter. Anyone going in expecting a rom com will be disappointed - there's very little com, and the rom side of things is intentionally cold and distanced. Very glad we have this one in the universe.

Treacle Day

Back in the office today for a day that just went on and on and on. Again, we've kinda hit a sort of coasting velocity now, so now is at least a good time to start looking ahead to make our future a bit easier. But I live for the deadline, and without a sense of urgency it's tough to muster up the drive to properly crack on with something. Because the nature of the job is so ever changing, its often harder to unpick something you've worked hard on so you might as well wait til later to do most of the bigger jobs anyway. I'm loosing myself in the sustainability side of things now which is all just logging and reporting anyway. Anything to make the day go faster.

Swing By Set

Wifi woes hit first thing today - it's been a hot minute since I had to deal with that. It's also been a while since I've been down to set for a visit but since my plate was a little clean I decided to swing by. Everyone is always chuffed to see me, even the important people are glad I popped down. I should make more of a habit of it really, I'm going to intentionally finish up my workload quickly so I have more opportunities to call on them.

An Hour Before Sunrise

The duvet was stolen off me in the middle of the night. I went to retrieve the blanket from Rebecca (the self-admitting duvet hog) and my actions were admonished by a barely cognisant Rebecca who pulled it back over her. So I laid half awake, needing to crack on with something I started looking into old games to play so I drew up a little list. Louis is playing some retro games now too so I'm looking forward to comparing notes. When the house was awake we all got ready to head into central London for Rebecca's Mum's Birthday. We did a walk along Southbank and headed into a cafe followed by Cote Brasserie. The birthday girl was happy but we were sad the weekend was over. Back to it tomorrow in full force.

Dan The Man

En route to another trip up to London we arranged to call on Daniel who's staying in Newbury at the moment. I was desperately trying to piece together when the last time I went into Daniel's house, likely we'll over a decade ago now but the smell of his home was so nostalgic. We played a few board games with him as he talked about his latest plans to possibly move to Bristol. I didn't want to put pressure on him at all and over hype him but I was low key very excited at the prospect of him coming to live in B-town. Hopefully it becomes a reality.

Freakier Friday

Caught the bus to work, enjoying the opportunity to get lost in my book along the way. What followed was a pretty standard day, arranging biscuits for meetings and derigging radios, plus the occasional email. I was really just counting down the minutes til the evening though so we could join Louis and Rachel at the Cinema to watch Freakier Friday. While the original was a pleasant surprise, this was just a sequel. Nice to see all the familiar faces return though and there were some laughs but it didn't change the world. 

Our Chum Albert

With the team still split across night hours, I found my workload has evaporated somewhat, so I had the chance to dive into an area I previously put on the backburner: Albert. I started building and inputting a bunch of data into our sustainability trackers. My pride and joy being my lunchtime log which keeps tabs on every meal we've eaten, how many people were fed on set each day and how many meat, fish and vegan options that chunks down into. It's a layer of diligence that you can only truly muster enthusiasm for when it's your baby. You always hear that creating TV is one of the most environmentally destructive fields of work (outside of literal fracking). Indeed, filing all of our eating habits, waste-by-weight, fuel deliveries and transportation it's quickly becomes  apparent that things could be better. Still, the Albert initiative is less preventative than it is awareness building... But the deeper you go the more you start to be a bit more militant about sustainability. I'm just a logger though in this war though, so I can create a report full of lies, damn lies and statistics.

Heatwave Part Deux

Dressed for the heatwave part 2, but like many sequels it was a disappointment. So I sat in my shorts in the office during the day, covering the office hours as the rest of the crew are still sleeping in and resting up for their night shoot. I'm a little de-synched from it all now as a result but that means I can crack on without getting too many people messaging me.

Onto the next leg of dentistry, my appointment today was literally just 'open your mouth... Very good.' it was the quickest appointment ever, more an appraisal to see if the retainers were doing their job. I was passed on the next round of trays and the cycle begins again. On my 13th one now, so we'll over the halfway point and still feeling good about the results so far. 

Waving Hello to the Heatwave

Was holding on by my fingernails but I just about got through the 2nd Unit day. The heatwave sure didn't help things, driving around in a car with no AC does wear on the soul. Long old day for little old me too but I should be cruising for the rest of the week... At least I hope so.

2nd Unit Lucky Charm

Its only Monday and I feel totally zonked already. Think it's because we're walking into another chucky second unit day at that always ratchets up the work load. I'll be down there with them tomorrow, the 2nd Unit Lucky charm in a manner is speaking. In fact I've supposedly got a small nod to do some very light continuity work for the day - we'll see if that manifests, but in the meantime I just want to sleep.

Static, Single Sunday

While Louis ran 30K this morning, I made a sausage sandwich and bummed around on the sofa. I gotta get my rest while I can though and while Rebecca was out I watched movies, chilled with the cat and played some games. I did find a pocket of motivation to go sit at my writing desk though, mostly to tinker and to play around with some ideas in my brain - there's few things I love more than a good mind map. 

Back to work tomorrow and it'll be an odd week. There's night shooting going on but I'll just be doing office hours and going home when the others are halfway through their shift. It's a blessing though as that frees up my evenings so I can be social.

Best Man

Took it very slow this morning, we didn't have a lot going on and I had a worse-than-usual Saturday morning headache that comes with sleeping in after a long week of early starts. Our only real objective was prepping for a BBQ at our tonight - a trip to the butchers and supermarket basically and pressing burgers.

Mark and Lucy showed up just as I was tipping the hot coals onto the grill. I was trying to play it cool but I was low key a little flustered as I hadn't fully mentally broken down the order in which I was cooking each element. I was styling it out pretty well, until Mark pulled out a very nice looking bottle of sake and asked me to be his Best Man. I said yes immediately! I felt so honored and happy for him in the moment, all I could do was give him a hug.

Now I just have a few months to plan a speech... 

I'm a Hermit Crab

I started the day channelling the energy of a hermit crab. I didn't want to see anyone or spend time with large groups of people. My heart thawed as the day went on and my tasks melted away, giving way to that fabled Friday feeling. 

You know it's August too when the balloons start flying over Bristol. Rebecca and I have made a small tradition of heading to the nearby park to hop to see the balloons fly over for the festival, more often than not the launch is called off due to adverse weather, and that exactly what happened again tonight. Still we got to drink a tin of booze in a park during a golden sunset - not bad for a Friday night. 

What Is a PO?

Raising Purchase Orders is a practice that still a bit of a mystery to me. Like, we get an invoice and then we just promise to give them the money? Cash really is just numbers on a spreadsheet after a certain point... Speaking of spreadsheets and PO's, that's all I did today. I have a seemingly endless amount of logs to update and people to promise money to. In fact, I'm desperately trying to plough through all this so I can get into doing something stimulating but my eyes start glazing over after a certain point. I really do have to force myself to do the work sometimes. Copy pasting is so irrationally time consuming though - I barely have enough time in the day for some reason. Especially when our PO software crashes, undoing almost an hour of work.

Pit of Doom and Despair

Despite have a to do list of extremely non-urgent and simple tasks, I could never shake the feeling of impending doom and stress. That sounds like a Millennial worry, but oddly enough I blame my lunch. Something in what I ate today gave me a stomach 'thing' that I can only describe as a pit of dread feeling. My gut was literally telling me to panic when I knew, deep down, everything was fine. It felt like when you can't get to sleep some nights because your brain keeps telling you that you forgot to revise for you final exams. School was over half my lifetime ago, you silently protest, but that nasty feeling can't be shaken. It'll fade by the morning though, I'm too tired these days to really give much of a hoot. All I crave is the weekend.

Easing Up a Touch

Relative calmness passed over me at work. Nothing pressing, nothing urgent, just me and my spreadsheets, copy and pasting for hours and hours. I think we're stepping into a less logistical phase now so we can loosely afford to take our foot off the gas as we return to do our due diligence. If there's one thing commissioners love more than profit it's paperwork. 

Reality Whiplash

The best and worst thing about everyone coming back after a week off is that we are all united by the same sentiment. Non of us really want to be here. Some flew back from their sunny Spanish holidays only less than 10 hours before work and the tonal whiplash was visably crushing for them. At least we're all in the same boat on this one. There was some expected 'back after a week' stuff to crack in with, all of it came at a good pace and thankfully the day was over before we knew it. I even got off a little early so I got to do a wholesome thing and meet Rebecca at the supermarket to take her home.

Reality crept in. Now its taken its shoes off, helped itself to our teabags and don't want to get off our sofa.

Heading round the Mountain

The final day of my time off was spent doing a lot of low-key special things. Rebecca and I did a walk around Hengistbury Head and popped into a local tea room for luncheon. Bournmouth Pier always looks so far away from up there, I suppose it mimiced how in felt by leaving that place behind. The car ride home was admittedly just something we had to white knuckle our way through, being in a hot car for three hours is rarely my idea of a good time but we made it work. We were rushing back for a video game session with Mark and Dan, we've finished Baldur's Gate now so we're on the hunt for some new hangouts and by gumbo we struck gold. R.E.P.O. is yet another 'dudes in a dark room' game which is ripe for scares, but this one leans further into comedy than it's contemporaries which gave it an edge. Then to cool the tension we hopped into Peak, a mountain climbing game where rationing coconuts and giving each other a helping hand is the only way to guarantee success. Mark was giggling a lot towards the end and that energy was infectious. We ended the night on a disastrously hilarious hail Mary attempt and a vow to return to the mountain.

Weird thinking this morning I had so much to look forward to in the day. Now in bed my thoughts turn to Monday and returning to work. I haven't got the Sunday Scaries, it's more like resignation to another leg of work until the next stint of free time. 

Asian Carbonara

Made it down to the beach. Pity the Sun didn't quite get there too but we made do. Rebecca and I read on the sand til the sunshine just about poked out so we took that opportunity to dash into the sea. Well, we didn't so much dash as timidly wade in while making chimpanzee noises as the cold water hit new spots on our skin. We got over it and had a good paddle though - might be my first and only time in the ocean this year.

Picking up from yesterday on the topic of Bournemouth traditions, a new one I'm in the process of making is 'Theo goes to the Korean Supermarket, buys a bunch of stuff and tries to make a meal out of it.' It always yields fun results. I wanted to make a noodle broth bowl tonight so I did my usual steps while adding a Pho stock cube to the noodle water. Said cube must have had some mighty thickener in it though because when it came to serving up it all kinda emulsified to the noodles, like an Asian Carbonara. It wasn't the vision, but it still tastes jolly good. 

Back again to Bournemouth

Made it down to Bournmouth for the final leg of my week off. Staying down there is still steeped in Summer holiday traditions for me, day one is always a Winton High street day. Popping into G&T's, Lidl and more recently the Korean Supermarket. We did take a trip out to Wimbourne as a afternoon activity, just for coffee and a mooch though, plus a cheeky half pint at an independent looking public house. But then we got KFC once back in the gaff and everything was right again in the world.

Not Lapping up the Laptop

It's a little bittersweet to think that the last thing your laptop will likely do is help you research a new laptop. I spent most of this week waiting on a brand spanking new device to arrive and today was the day. I peeled away the layers of cardboard housing the new bit of kit, only to quickly discover that I just didn't vibe with it so I had to return it. Bit sad really, but I'm trying to 'buy nice, not twice' at the moment and if I already had problems with it I just knew they'd haunt me far into the future. So dealing with all that took up most of our day, thankfully we left all that stress in place in Bristol as we headed over to Newbury. Dad had just got back from hand surgery (nothing too serious) but everyone was in good spirits. It's a bit of a lay over today though, our final destination is Bournmouth where we'll be enjoying the sun for the final few days of my time off.

Bash the Fash

My day was full of (relatively) unexpected Nazis. My breakfast YouTube video was all about the Nuremberg Trials. We watched Cabaret this evening which has our fascist friends bubbling away on the periphery. Finally the new Indiana Jones game went on sale just as I was thinking to myself 'gosh it's been a long time since I punched a Nazi in the face.' 

Otherwise the midway point of my Hiatus has come and basically gone. It started off as an ocean of opportunity, but it's drying up into a lake of maybes. Time at home has been productive in a different way, but now I'm ready for one last change of scenery before I'm back to it on Monday. Bournemouth beckons... 

My Best Friend's Wedding

On the topic of spending each and every day of my holiday we'll I'm proud to say I did something that I have been putting off for far too long, (and maybe you have too).

I defrosted my freezer.

After that I was actually invited to the cinema to go catch 28 Years Later but plans fell through at the last minute with the chaps I was meant to be going with. Instead Rebecca and I continued our Rom Com fiesta with My Best Friend's Wedding which was not great. 

I read a few user reviews of the film who argue it works better when you embrace the fact that you're meant to accept the fact that love makes you so crazy things, even if it makes you the anti-hero of your own movie. I can respect that if it was the intent but somehow I doubt Hollywood would attempt something like that. The script was dead on arrival, minus Rupert Everett, who's charm and charisma carries the whole thing.

Farewell Cottage

With heavy hearts, Rebecca and I packed our bags to leave the cottage and our chums behind. Back to a fragment of reality at home but we are still on our holibobs so we're going to do the most we can with it! We went out for lunch almost immediately after getting back to Bristol up at the Sundial Kitchen. I've never had lunch there but never had any doubts about it's excellence, indeed, we left stuffed. While waiting for our food I drew up a little list of all the films I want to try and watch this break. I put 10 on there, an ambitious but achievable number and so far I've already seen two of them so I'm well on the way. Gotta try and do a lot of the things we love this week.

Sunday Stout

Pretty perfect Sunday all told. Rebecca and I wanted to repay our most gracious hosts by cooking them a meal, so a short trip to the local Morrison's was in order. We left with all the ingredients for a chicken picatta (one of my new signature dishes) but we had plenty of time to kill til supper so we played Mario Kart and Bananagrams. We fancied a walk latterly so we all ventured down to the nearest pub, only a brisk walk away. We all discovered Nightjar Stout and quickly fell in love with it (and the non-city prices). I brought a few games to play on a pub bench for a change of scenery and we stumbled home. 

Very glad we agreed to stay on another night, it just meant we could all enjoy one extra day here. There no Sunday Scariest niggling at the back of our minds, just an upcoming week of easy going and recharging. The only thing I will be thinking is I don't think we'll be able to top the last few days out here in Hereford anytime soon. 

Transparent Needle In A Haystack

The porridge that lined my belly was more than enough to take me up Hay Bluff. We parked up the car, pointed at the big hill and said we're gonna climb that. A short while later we were stood next to a Trig point, admiring the view while surrounded by Welsh sheep. We headed into Hay on Wye for some book shopping, Rebecca was in her element and gave us all the best venues to pop into. Just as we were headed into the final shop I put my hand into my pockets to check for my belongings and noticed I only had one of my Invisalign retainers... I sheepishly informed Rebecca then even more sheepishly retraced my steps around town before resigning to the fact my upper retainer was lost to Wales. I tried to play it cool all the way back to the car, after all it would be near impossible to find a set of transparent dentures in a busy village. 

'Oh, are those them?' Matt asked, pointing at the side of the road where we parked the car. I'd recognize my teeth anywhere and lo and behold, Matt found a needle in a haystack. A quick rinse and they were back in my mouth.

Mum read the Blog yesterday and messaged to say the cottage we're staying at sounds a bit like the one from Withnail and I, which I chortled at, then immediately clarified that it was in fact very lovely, in spite of reading about a past incident in the guest book involving a dead owl and the wood burner. Gosh we found that entry funny, until we ourselves heard a flutter inside the wood burner. 

Rebecca bolted out the room while Matt and I fashioned a cage out of a laundry bag which we pressed up against the cast iron doors. Gingerly, we opened it up. Yet we heard no commotion, nor could we see a sign of life. Had it escaped up the chimney? Maybe died of stress? We moved aside to investigate further, dropping our guard for just enough time for the sparrow to fly into our faces and around the room. I dashed to open a window and it got the memo and quickly flew out.

A beer was in order after that, so we opened the fridge and settled into a lazy afternoon of games and drinks while Ben busied himself with slow cooking a joint of lamb. Every second of marinating and slow cooking was worth it when it finally hit our plates. I just went very quiet as I slowly and deliberately took mouthful. It was that good. 

One more full day in the cottage tomorrow, I doubt it'll top how eventful today was, but I don't want to speak too soon.

Fantasizing about Fun

 The anticipation for wrap was on the mind of every single crew member. The promise of a week off was impossible to put out of our minds. Some are going to Spain, others Corfu, others are having a staycation. But everyone will get the chance to rest and recharge thoroughly and holding that thought in the mind is a very powerful thing indeed. 

For part one of our hiatus fun, Rebecca and I drove along the windy roads up to Hereford. Matt and Ben have a relative who partially owns a cottage there which we're all staying in. Frankly, it's a miracle I can post the Blog tonight since the service it patchy and there's no WiFi here (but after slamming my out of office on, zero interest sounds like a blessing). We dusted the cobwebs off our bed, drank beer in a cost living room and discussed plans for the coming days. Holiday starts now!

Hiatus Incoming

The morning to midday leg went really slow. Then the afternoon just melted away like it always does, leaving me scrambling. Just one more day of work til our week away and by golly, everyone is gagging for it. I'm just excited to rest up and recharge more deeply. I want to watch a boat load of films and take my foot off the gas for a minute or two. Til then, we got one more day.

 

 

Tracking Wide Shot

Made a royal fool of myself on 2nd unit in front of the whole damn crew. I had to go see someone who was on a far side of a field where the cameras just so happened to be pointing. So I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me so I could duck out of the big wide shot. The were nowhere near ready to turn over as it turned out and everyone just watched, their heads tracking me as if I were a very slow moving ball at Wimbledon. 

Everything else went smoothly and I wished my Mum a happy birthday too. She's going off to eat Ramen at a favourite sushi place. I so very much wished I was there. I just had a pale ale for dinner and I'm thinking of chasing it with under 7 hours sleep before I do it all over again. 

Holding My Breath

Got pulled in so many different directions today that I actually found myself booking taxis for people - far from my job role but needs must. When folks weren't getting in touch over email I ended up calling and getting properly involved in their movements which meant my head was constantly shifting gears between a variety of things. On top of that I was prepping a 2nd unit again and arranging a suite of other behind the scenes bits. I didn't really get a chance to catch my breath, quite literally because I noticed that when I start feeling a bit stressed or anxious lately I have a tendency to hold air in my lungs. Everything went fine though so no need to torture myself, but still I wished I could afford a small moment of respite.

First One In, Last One Out

Back to it on Monday morning and the day had some choppy pacing. First one in the office so had about 30 minutes to catch up on all the stuff I may have missed out on while I was away. Next hour or two was just tinkering away. Midday was crunch time as several little jobs all landed on my plate all at once. Then outro into the evening and it was smooth sailing. I was also the last one out the office. What I really want is a day where no one messages or throws me through a loop where I can just crack in with all the other bits that have started to pile up between the cracks. Instead I'm doing a three legged race with myself, limping over the finishing line til our hiatus.

North East to South West

For all intents and purposes, today was a travel day. We packed down the Air B&B in the morning and got back into Bristol in the latest portion of the afternoon. In between there was a Tesco meal deal, a pull over for some plane spotting and a moderately delayed train (entitles us to some money back at least!) To pass the time I stuck my nose deep into the new Donkey Kong game which I just about ended up finishing an hour ago. Gotta get my head out of holiday and video games mode though as another week of work looms... Then it's hiatus time!

Beach Hut Brigade

 With all the wedding business out the way, today was a planned come down of sorts. We were invited to a beach hut to spend the last few hours of the Saturday out on the sand. Put a bunch of 20 somethings out there with a spade and eventually they'll just start to dig a hole and we were shocked at how deep they got it so fast. On e the crowd dissapated Rebecca felt a bit cheeky...

Afterwards we paddled in the water, collected shells and was visited by an especially curious seal. The rain called off any later plans so we all hundled underneath the beach hut and took shelter. While the weather wasn't ideal, there was some bonding to be had with 20 people hunkering together as the yonder was pelted with raindrops.

Back at the Air B&B only one thing was left to do on the beach vacation bingo card: get fish and chips. Bags are mostly packed for the long trip home tomorrow, it's gone pretty quick the last few days - hopefully my time off soon goes a little slower. 

2025 Wedding Number 1

Wedding days always go so fast. One minute I'm cooking brunch at an Air B&B while pressing my trousers, the next I'm getting pats on the back from the father of the groom for cutting shapes on the dance floor. Somewhere in the middle there was a ceremony, wedding breakfast and cake cutting, but something about drinking champagne at midday has the capacity to distort time and space. 

The turnout on the dance floor has always been my barometer for how well loved the family is and this wedding was full to the brim. I'm always humbled by being merely invited to weddings and this one was a corker.

Getting my Kong On

While we had a big leg of of journey to do to get to the weekend's wedding - my priorities were loyal first and foremost with Donkey Kong. I missed a bus, got caught in the rain and attended the most vacant feeling Argos I'd been to in a long time, all so I could get my hands on the new game. With that in hand, I was ready to sit in the backseat of a car for over 3 hours, heading up from London to Wells-Next-The-Sea.

We did a quick whistle stop tour of the town (a trip down memory lane for Rebecca and her parents) then headed to the first of many wedding engagements: the family BBQ. The parents of the bride and groom are the generous sort and provided burgers and merriment for a staggering amount of people - I reckon they're super grateful for everyone making the trip up this weekend and I'm equally grateful to be invited. 

Bloody Cheekbones

Did the next round at the dentist with his tiny saw inbetween my canines. Only 15 minutes in the chair thankfully getting parts of my skeleton permanently shaved off. When we were done I went for a light rinse of water and the liquid ran red once again. The nurse had to get a wet wipe to dab at my cheekbones as blood somehow got up there too. I'm at the halfway point of my treatment now (in theory) and things are still going well, just gotta keep on trucking.

I drove to Unit Base straight from the dentist to complete typing up my handover and doing all the other bits to clear my backlog before I bowed out for the early weekend. Rebecca's Dad drive us up to London where we're staying over before doing the next leg tomorrow. Lot of travel over the next few days but it'll all be worthwhile to have a boogie in my suit.

Wedding Packer

Laughed about a very old call sheet that dumped me with an 13 hour work day... Then did almost the same hours today. Prepping things for my hand over and running between the office and the studios means that a lot of my time is eaten up super quick. And when I got back home all I really did was pack my suitcase for the wedding I'll be at the weekend. At least that drummed some excitement into me for the long weekend I have coming up, all my hard work will be rewarded with a nice spell away and a party to dance at.

Surprise Distance

My day was full of little surprises. I was mentally prepared to do a full day at the Studio, I set up my desk just right and a pot of coffee had my name all over it. The. I was summoned to the truck on location so I took my coffee to go and worked from there.

Back home I noticed how cool and breezy the temperature was, it would be a shame not to go running in it. So I strapped on my shoes and popped out for a quick jog. But aforementioned weather was so nice to run in that I decided to take it slow and see how far I got. I ended up pushing myself in all the right ways and did my first 5K run since Covid. You always feel best when you inch yourself out your comfort zone, but the hardest part is always starting... I almost couldn't be bothered to head out today, but I'm so glad I did. 

Broski BBQ

The Sunday gods blessed me, I awoke with no hangover whatsoever, just in a tiny pool of my own sweat as the Summer heat rinsed me. I could just about muster a trip to the supermarket to get bits for a BBQ later on. We invited Louis over for it to, I'd totally forgotten he'd been to a stag due this weekend so he was looking more hot and bothered than me. We fixed him a plate though and he perked right back up again though, in fairness if I was in his shoes the prospect of have a free grill up would be hard to say no to.  

Boat Drinkers

 After recovering from a night out it was only fitting to go day drinking. My colleague booked in today way back in March so it's been a long time coming. We went up and down the river with beers in hand. Before I knew it it was almost midnight- that's the power of drinking with people you enjoy being around I suppose! 

Bouncing Back from a Bender

 I told myself a keen lie last night. 'A late night and only 5 hours sleep before work won't hurt me, I did some mad nights for Youth for Europe so I'll be fine.' Turns out, I'm no spring chicken anymore who can bounce back from a bender. I arrived at the office and all I really wanted to do was find a secluded office, shut the door and close my eyes. Alas, I was basically in charge today since the rest of my team were on a mandated day off, I got to run around and keep the ship afloat. I was also an Assistant Director for a lot of the day, putting cast in cars and moving them around the studio. Lastly, the day finished with me driving a Luton up the road (it's been a while) before closing the day with a cute pint with Rebecca.

I cannot wait for sleep. 

Us and Them Myth

Unit base was like a runway strip. Perfectly level concrete as far as the eye could see. And the temperature was like taking your first step off the plane as you start a holiday. 'Thank God for air conditioning' said our Line Producer. At the time I agreed with her but I felt for the crew down there sweating it out on set. 

That's the common perceived disconnect between crew and Production. Like generals in the army, we point the finger from afar and make them fight our war from our cool, cool office. The key is to try and bridge that gap between the two sides - this is where crew drinks comes in. Historically I was often the only member of the Production team willing to be out for a session. But tonight we got 4 of us, plus a sweep of other departments (including catering) to come out for a drink, or two , or three followed by some dancing. Heaven knows we deserve it. I burnt the candle at both ends a bit as I'm the only one out tonight who has work tomorrow, but I showed my face and that counts for an awful lot.

Knickerbocker Glory

Slept for over 8 hours and had a day where I could finally catch my breath a bit. It was also cause for some celebration as we hit a milestone in filming - a Mr Whippy ice cream truck parked outside and we all dove into Knickerbocker Glory's (Which I'm still recovering from). All I really want right now is a nice long weekend but we're only halfway through the week, still I'm on the mend now, just hacking up all the residual horribleness leftover from the cold. 

Summer Cold 2025

Stressed myself over nothing with the 2nd Unit. I still got it. Everything ran like clockwork and everyone was super chill and happy with the day. In reality I spent most of it blowing my nose inside a cast trailer, I suffered a small relapse in health after feeling perky again yesterday... Tomorrow though... That's when I'll really be in the up. 

Rebecca has taken time of work to get over the sickness too. Nothing worse than a Summer cold, especially when your nostrils are already chafing from hay fever. 

Twelve Hours

Actually got some sleep last night and elected to work from home to avoid putting too much strain on myself. Which turned out to be counterproductive because I got a phonecall at 07:30 and the work didn't stop for me for another twelve hours. My busiest days are always the ones where I can't do anything for myself, it's not that I don't trust people but coordinating things always takes more time and effort when doing it from afar. Our first 2nd unit day commences tomorrow, think I'm a little rusty but we'll see how the day goes. At least I'm feeling a whole lot better... But I have given whatever Lurgy to Rebecca now.

The Savour of Baldur's Gate

 Last night I attempted to manifest a good night's rest before signing off on my blog. The second I hit publish I laid down and couldn't sleep for three hours. Eventually I got up, made a lemsip, sat on the sofa to wait for it to cool down, next thing I knew it was morning after I sprawled out on the coach. The remainder of the day was spent feeling sorry for myself, even when the universe was at it's kindest. Rebecca was as patient and caring as ever while looking after me, our Sunday arancini guy gave us a free one, and the takeout we had for dinner bundled in a freebie too. Doesed up on meds, I'm ready for a real sleep tonight.

After 18 months in the playing, Mark, Dan and I finally finished our playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3. For a near hundred hour campaign, I am blown away by the fact we kept it going and it didn't fizzle out. The final battle is done, the victory lap was savoured and the adventure is over.

Sizzling Sinuses

My throat and nose were sizzling when I woke up and they maintained that level of nastyness long into the day. While I wasn't knocked out by the illness, a day of respite was in order. So Rebecca and I camped out in the sofa and watch movies (including Chicago, the only Best Picture winner from the 21st century I hadn't seen yet) as the Summer rain lashed against the window. Rebecca frequently remarked how hot I was to the touch, likely my body is fighting off something but with any luck I'll be in a better place after a better night's sleep.

Friday Lurgy

The thing that was causing me a barrel of worry has finally been resolved so I wanted to spend my Friday smiling. A few people in the office have some kind of illness but I also thought I caught something recently so I was totally immune. Went up the road for beers and board games, took one sip of stout and then it all hit me. Bunged nose, sore sinuses, fatigue, the works. Guess that's my weekend plans now - getting rested up.

Swelling Dread

Experienced yet another day that went by far too quickly for the amount of things I actually got done. I'm sat on my hands a bit again though as I I'm waiting on other people authorizing various bits and pieces before I can do anything. We got a 2nd Unit coming up (my specialty!) so I'll be across that no doubt in several of its aspects. In the midst of all this, I can't shake this feeling of impending doom lingering in the pit of my stomach. I honestly can't place where it's stemming from either...

Perfect Facsimile

We hired a temporary member of the Production to help us around the office, and without hyperbole, he looks exactly the same as me. I kept getting messages from the team laughing about how he's my clone and how our boss will keep having to do a double take. It actually put me in a bit more of an emotional spin that I had prepared for. Here I am, believing that I'm a beautiful, unique snowflake and all that jazz, yet here is my perfect facsimile, walking around the same office, in the same department as me. I know we're all instantly replaceable in the grand schedule of the job and this brought that to light in a way that was more uncomfortable than I expected.

But to be fair, it's also pretty funny. He's with us for two weeks, I wonder how long the comedy will stay fresh.

An Easy One

Got back into Bristol after a work day that went far too quickly. My team all stood behind their desks, unpacking their laptops after everyone went down to set. 'This'll be an easy day', one of us said. I also think that was the last thing that was said to each other as we got our heads down and powered in through the day. I came out the other side wishing we had a few more hours of the day, but that was all reserved for travel back home which felt painfully long. Time is relative as they say.

Time and Memory

Drove down a very literal memory lane first thing this morning. First two hours were admittedly not super nostalgic, but when I slowly approached the location that was so synonymous with Malory Towers in my mind, I started to feel all warm and fuzzy. Is there a word for a homecoming for somewhere you've never lived? The Germans or the Japanese almost certainly have a phrase for it, but we'll just call it a bittersweet sense of relocation. So many memories of Malory came flooding back on approach. The wrap parties, the landscape but most of all the people. Like all the cells in our bodies, coming back felt so alien yet so familiar. Something old and something new at the same time.

Somehow I lucked out and landed in the same accomodation wing as all of our big dog HOD's. (It was also where we put the cast up on Malory). We threw darts, shot pool and drank arguably too much for a school night. All the while I glanced at the pub tables and booths where past crew members and I sat. I remembered the conversations, their energy, their ghosts. But in this space I made new memories, just as fond as the old ones. Their moments overlap and interwine all at once, not unlike remembering multiple Christmases from long since past. What a hell of a thing time and memory is. 

Speedy Sunday

Heatwave out so the perfect day to drawn the curtains and stay indoors. After a big Saturday it was refreshing to lock myself away and potter around. Movies were watched, games were played and dinner was cook, consumed and washed up. Monday frankly has come around too quickly, especially when I had to spend a small chunk of the day packing for an overnight tomorrow - I'm a little out of practice since the last job but thankfully I can just about remember how to pack a pair of underwear. 

Pampering #1

 Without really planning to, today became a bit of a self pamper day. First up was a trip to the barbers, the guy recognized me from last time and he did me a really good cut - really Summer ready now. Up next was a trip to town for some clothes, I'm running low on hot weather wear but I emerged with a new polo top and a more utilitarian shirt. Last up, I've been eyeballing a fountain pen for a little while so walked up to a nearby stationery place to scope some out. All the ones I was interested in were behind a display cabinet so I had to ask to try before I buy. The clerk produced the sanctioned 'test unit' which to everyone's dismay, he couldn't get to work. Then, lightbulb. He remembered he had one in his personal bag. A few moments later he reappeared with the exact pen I was looking to get (clearly we both have great taste). So I played around with it and decided to pull the trigger on a little present to myself. I walked back home with a new haircut, some new clothes and a swanky new pen - a whole new me!

We had a picnic in the park with a few friends and they're very well behaved dog in the evening. Rebecca pulled out all the stops with a main course, side salad and she even packed the plates and cutlery. I just brought beer. 

Rushes Runner Revisited

 Friday vibes almost all day. Early wrap on the cards, Glastonbury in the background, all the grown ups away - it should have been a certified slam dunk easy Friday. After midday everything changed and we were suddenly bombarded with stuff that hit like a ton of bricks. The light at the end of the tunnel was doing the rushes run - something I actually quite like doing. I know that passing a media card over is the final job of the day and there's some nice closeure to passing it to the staff at the edit house. That member of staff ended up chatting with me, small talk at first, then read my name on the signing sheet and recognized me - I gave her one of her first work days in industry. It was just lumping a load of boxes between The Bottleyard but someone had to do it. Funny to think such a flippant exchange at the time can have such ripples and impact on other people's lives. It made a ropey afternoon much brighter knowing that I made a real difference.

Always the Right Call

Bizarrely, I spent the entire day on the Production truck being the most senior member of my department on board. But without an awful lot really going on it was just kinda nice? A colleague had her Birthday today so we decorated the truck, brought a cake and flowers for her - all the usual stuff but it's the first real one of the job so it was fun to do little bits like that. We went to the pub after work too for a small hangout, I had the choice of doing that or going home to play video games by myself (my all time favourite thing to do) but it was the right call to be sociable. In fact, it's always the right call.

Demoralizing Run

After cramming in another batch of important crew members into a minibus for tech recces, I suddenly found myself alone in the office for a couple of hours. Between the night shooting and some other shenanigans, it meant that my hours were the only ones that aligned with the morning shift. Thankfully, I ran everything smoothly, answering questions as they rolled in and putting stars in cars as required. I rewarded myself with a little run after work. Considering I did exactly the same route during a heatwave last week, I oddly found today's run excruciating. That's the classic demoralizing outing though, the one where your gains stop and you question if it was all worth it? Will I ever run a further distance? Is this the end? Will they turn me into glue? But nah, you just have to realize it was a 'bad run', plenty more chances to do it better.

HOD Scraps

Loaded 40 coffees straight into the backseat of my car and sloooooowly drove them out to our recce location. Down  country lanes and one way traffic, and only spilt a single drop. The Location team were super pleased with all the support today and brought us back a couple of leftover bits from their buffet lunch - HOD table scraps often find their way into the communal fridge. The unit are technically on night hours today and I'll be bedding down before they wrap. Always a weird thought that. My phone will still be buzzing through updates but I'm not on the clock to give a damn. Same again tomorrow.

Midnight Dodger

I never am too sure where the time goes when I'm at the office. Likely pootling around on the computer doing small jobs as they trickle in. Our hours are about to get all kinds of crazy but I'll be doing an early morning coffee run for the grown ups for their tech recces tomorrow. Guess that's better than working up until midnight though. Rebecca and I went for a couples run again the evening too, now that the heat wave has passed I'm more inclined to get hot and sweaty again. Did the same route as last time but it gets easier, that the nature of it. Like putting one foot in front of the other it's a slow process but you get better every time you push yourself.

Mr Play It Safe

We're in the market for a new dresser unit of sorts so Rebecca and I walked into our favourite 2nd hand furniture place and had to do a coin flip on a chest of drawers unit. Candidate #1 was a classic pine unit, akin to the one we already had. Candidate #2 was a two tone oak unit with brass handles and a touch of personality. Usually I'm Mr Play It Safe, but we both dipped in for the rouge choice. It'll be arriving later on in the week so I guess we'll see just how well it goes with the room, but we're already jazzed about what we'll use it for... My plethora of winter jumpers will finally have a home! 

On the walk home we managed to walk through a film set and I bumped into an old colleagues. It would have been a beautiful reunion if it hadn't been raining and there wasn't an AD shouting 'get out of shot' to us, but we know the biz so we shuffled to one side. I'm back to it again tomorrow too, up first thing getting sausage baps for our next round of tech recces. If I'm lucky they'll be leftovers at least. 

On Call Drinking

It wasn't until my third coffee of the day that I started to feel like myself again. My Saturday morning headaches are crippling to my energy levels, but I mostly think it's because I'm catching up on sleep. I also spent the entire day on tender hooks to go day drinking with some chums from work, I just had to await the call. So I waited, and waited, and waited. Until finally, after the sun had gone down on the longest day, I got the message to go out with people. Problem was my social battery was a little low and I was already in my pyjamas so I opted for an early night instead. We'll paint the town red next time.

Weekend Cheese

 Our unit base was situated on a working farm with their own cheese making premises so I naturally had to buy a little souvenir to enjoy. I walked a small cut of cheese back to the truck and told my team I couldn't wait to tuck into some 'weekend cheese'. A term which got me on the receiving end for a real roasting. I just meant a little treat to enjoy over Saturday and Sunday - Rebecca and I are humbl folks like that and a small wedge of cheese is something to get legitimately excited about. Haters gonna hate though, I can't wait for some cheese, biscuits and port.

So Long, Lolly Run

In the midst of a heatwave, set demanded the one thing they can always ask Production for: ice cream and cool fizzy pop. For the first time in my life I wasn't the person to physically action that, rather I asked my colleagues to go get 100 ice cream and hand them out - that's one job I certainly don't miss, but it was nice handing them all out to the crew who were genuinely grateful. 

My home feels like the hottest place in Bristol right now, at least our sun facing back bedroom does. The game I'm playing is quite taxing on the old PC and it's gotta jettison it's hot air into an already toasty room. I'm just sweating for my right to play video games. 

Yearning for the Monitors

With a bit of time in my hands after clearing my plate from work, I took a stroll down to set to go sit with the Script Supervisors. They actually invited me down to hang out after they caught wind of me being a scriptie once upon a moon and they were super accommodating to me just being by the monitors. I was summoned back to my day job to copy paste data from spreadsheets after a spell though, but I crept away for just long enough to enjoy myself and to see most of a scene play out. Hopefully I'll be able to pop down again from time to time to keep my brain attuned.

Pen Paradise

I set off for work hilariously early to beat the traffic and instead the traffic beat me. Over an hour of driving later I landed and dove into my work. The big thing at the moment is the amount of birthdays we have coming up for friends and colleagues so we're cooking up plans and gifts for them. Speaking of gifts, I've had my eye on a rather nice pen for a little while now and a saw our base was a stones throw away from a stationery shop. Low and behold, they had my pen, not even behind a cabinet so I could try it out and get a sense of it. Better still, they offered to sell it to me with a blue ink cartridge inside - I was prepared to drop some more money just so I could write in my signature colour. Just in time too, I had plenty of Birthday cards to sign...

On Turning 25

Deary me. I finished up my to do list before lunch time and nothing really emerged to stack on top. I'm not used to lulls in the action as it turns out, but the mind does start to wander when it's not occupied. I honestly think I spent more brain energy being the office DJ, a usually thankless task but when it helps everyone around me lock in then it's all worth it. 

A coworker is lamenting the fact they're turning 25 soon, pondering and getting stuck up on the fact 'they haven't accomplished much with their life'. That kind of thinking bits hard, especially at that age. I remember working at coffee #1 and telling my 30 something colleagues exactly the same thing when I was turning 25. Despondantly they remarked how they'd give anything to be that young again. Well now I'm empathizing pretty hard with that sentiment. Still, I hope we can knock them out of their funk.

Run Rebecca, Run

Rebecca and I went out on another run together, this time we smashed her personal best. First time we went out last month she was wheezing her way towards the finishing line (not a far cry from how I was doing the first time I got back into the swing of things), but today she took it all in her stride. Slowly but surely I'm convincing her that it's a fun hobby.

Our lazy Sunday's have also given way to a new part of our routine: a mid afternoon movie. Often these are mid 2000's chick flicks that Rebecca is enlightening me on and so far we haven't hit a stinker. It's just funny going back through my film history to see well regarded 60's French cinema, Silent era masterworks and cheese ball Rom Coms all lumped in together. 

Padel 2

Keep getting Saturday headaches. Probably a combination of catching up on sleep and not having caffeine in my system at the appointed time of pre-6am. I push through it every weekend though, I suppose by the time it goes away symbolizes how rested I am. It didn't effect my performance during some sports though. Mark and Lucy invited Rebecca and me to go play some Padel together. It had been a hot minute since I last had a stab but racquet sports do come back to me pretty quick. Padel is an odd one though because you need to unwire your brain a bit from classic tennis rules as there's always more options to keep the ball in play - the most common being smashing the ball against the wall for a bounce back. Literally every one of us that played got offer that opportunity in a game, ran over to strike the ball, then had a physical hiccup as our brain and our arms didn't communicate properly. That made it all the more fun though - we're all at a similar level so the match was dead close but always a hoot.

11 Years

Although today was meant to be a bit shorter for everyone, I still found myself running around trying to facilitate everyone. I got the Friday feeling though, around lunchtime I started to twinckle knowing that two whole days of rest were incoming. But that feeling was slightly stolen away as the post work requests came flooding in. 'Hey there, sorry it's after hours but...' is the prefix from hell, especially on a Friday. But I got away smooth and managed to enjoy a date night out with Rebecca to it's fullest. 

Not just any date night though! It was our 11th anniversary of getting together tonight so we hit the town, visiting a swanky wine and pasta place which was stunning. We're talking crab, clams and the silkiest panna cotta I've ever had. We crashed back down to earth by  sauntering into a kooky board game bar smack bang in the middle of Friday Night Clubbing Central. It was a little slice of us and a little quieter than most places so it was Ideal for us. The whole time we spent playing games I couldn't believe 11 years had passed me by - I'm so very lucky to have Rebecca in my life.

Plied with Pancakes

My colleagues noted my thousand yard stare on occasion today. I was running out in the rain a lot, juggling multiple requests on emails and WhatsApp which managing several expectations. It can be quite draining that but I didn't want to make a thing of it. Yet to make me feel better I was plied with pancakes from catering, which I would have enjoyed more if I wasn't constantly getting up to sort out more problems. That said, I wore my many hats well and showed a lot of people I wasn't just a Prod bod. Even the director made a remark as he saw me loading a camera truck.

A busy day requires some fun in the evening though. I nipped out for a quick run before Louis and Rachel popped round to try the new Mario Kart game. Louis likes the new cow character and shouting cow puns when he does something hype as it turns out. 

Tray 9

Attended another round of teeth shaving with my dentist. I asked him if it was as ropey for him as it was me and he just smiled while giving a tired look. Another set of my trays went in too, markings my 17th week with these things in my gob and I'm still not halfway yet. The results are starting to be a bit more pronounced though, just have to let that carry me for now.

My one hour at the dentist unexpectedly put me in the backdoor for the rest of my work day. I played catch-up til about 4pm, then coasted for a couple of minutes, then got hit with a bombshell that I had to untangle a bit too late in the day. I think it's all sorted but I certainly earned my money today. 

Cleared To Do

Something miraculous happened this afternoon. I cleared my to do list. Every single thing has a strike through it, not one job left to do for the day, even my daily duties were all done and dusted. While there's always something to be getting on with, I'm in a position to do those extra jobs in a more leisurely capacity which is a lovely prospect. This even came off the back of a chunky curveball I swiftly battered away when one of our hire vans broke down on the motorway. Everything was tidied up and sorted swiftly though without fuss. I felt so good after the day I went for a short run to, once again, try getting back into the swing of things. I gotta try keeping that up a bit more, I can feel my muscles being to atrophy behind my desk.

Lukewarm Monday

Back to it this Monday and the day went by slow. We're kinda over the big hurdle now, all our time, energy and stress has been poured into a single area and now that sequence is over we're just kinda laughing. I was in the office today and most of the day was just quietly spent tapping away on keyboards and emails, enjoying a lukewarm Monday to get us ready for the week. Even still I found myself as the first one unlocking the office and closing it up at the end of the day. I gotta learn to leave in good time really, there's so much more to life than work.

Power Washer

Prepped Sunday Scramble for Rebecca and her family. Her Mum and Dad are out in Spain for most of June, but before they went they offered to power wash our back garden. I couldn't possibly say no to that could I? It actually looks better than new out there now - the cat will barely recognize our garden!

I stayed at home while Rebecca went out to a gig in Bristol. Those few hours alone was all I needed to recharge my batteries before the next work week. I think we've broken through the hump of the block and gotten into a really firm swing of things. Just have to maintain energy and get through the marathon job and that starts with an earlyish night to catch up after yesterday's madness.

Happy Birthday Dan 2025

In between games of Mario Kart we got the house ready for Rebecca's visiting parents. We took the into Bristol town where I eventually splitered off from them so I could hang out with Dan plus a few other friends from my secondary school days. We did pizza, pints, shots of ameraetto, fun hypothetical questions and arcade games after dark. Rebecca and I queued to get into the sweatiest booth in Bristol to play some Guitar Hero together. I think Dan has a good day out in the city - he's the Birthday boy as of the stroke of midnight so I hope he had a good one!

 

Mario Kart World

Friday on the truck was a fun place to be. A bunch of the grown ups toddled off home just after lunch so we started raising hell. We admittedly got a bit overexcited by it all but we were laughing, working hard and laughing some more, a jolly good way to spend the day. Better still, Rebecca and I had a Friday night in. We opened a bottle of wine and settled in to drink and drive with the new Mario Kart - this time finish up all the levels, earmarking our favourites and learning to the best routes to destroy each other with later. It's been over a decade since the last Mario Kart so I think we're allowed some excitement.

Switch 2

While driving around town doing various drop offs for work I got the guy punch email. 'Your copy of Mario Kart isn't getting delivered... So sorry'. Potential day ruiner that, luckily I managed to hop into Argos and pick up a copy like usual - now I just needed to cross my fingers and my toes for my Switch 2 console to arrive.

No dramas there though - it landed super effectively with Rebecca at home. Now came the agonizing clock watching at work. I put my copy of Mario Kart on my desk as if it was a photo of my child - 'do it for them' style. That kept me going and before I knew it I was unwrapping the console and playing games with Rebecca all evening long. 

Nothing beats the excitement of a new console. Perhaps this one was a little downplayed because it's a little too similar to my old Switch. That and I'm 31 now, my emotions are much more in check. But I'd be lying if there wasn't a tiny part of my that felt like a little kid again opening up that box. 

T'was the Night Before Switchmas 2

Rocked up to a unit base I'm pretty sure was visable from space. With a huge number of cast and SA's in there was a lot to wrangle from all the departments, but everyone looked at ease. They had the right help, good team members and all the resources they needed to do their job well while keeping a sense of humour. That's frankly the best possible environment in our business and it was a pleasure to go into work today.

Tonight is also the evening before the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. I always get a little sentimental saying goodbye to and old console though, I remember what the original Switch represented, I recall where I was physically and emotionally when I got it and I can't help but smile thinking of all the good times it's resulted in. I went Interrailing with that thing, it's been a constant partner for family holidays and Su Beer competitions. To think that device will now be put in storage after tomorrow is actually madness. But that cycle is all part of the game. New tech comes in, rendering older consoles obsolete, but their impact is irreplaceable.

Copy+Paste

I don't think I did anything at work besides move information from one spreadsheet into another. I'm not even joking. Names for distro lists? Lemme copy+paste those off a Google sheet onto a dedicated emailing platform. PO'ing taxis? Lemme copy+paste from the invoice into a logging spreadsheet so I can copy+paste it all again into our PO software. Work like this is a bit fabricated at times, do humans need to justify their time doing busywork or are we just here to suffer? At least I get pennies for my pasting, then numbers in my bank account go up.  

Switch 2 Dispatched

Got to work just after the crack of dawn to set up our satellite wifi, (We're saving money by using me instead of a dedicated engineer to set it up). My boss invited me down to set to see it all setting up and getting ready for the big sequence we're doing. I had a small hand in organizing bits and bobs and it was nice to see them arrive and get put in situ. Otherwise I just kept to myself, put my head down and got in with my work. I'm actually getting ahead of the game once again, I have breathing room and I'm feeling good about the next few weeks. But it was a long old day for me, I've not fully got back into the swing of being back in Production during shoot days. I'm in the office tomorrow though so I should be able to recover a bit. 

The one thing that's keeping me going is the dispatch email I got saying the Switch 2 is on its way to my doorstep. Just a few more days to go... 

We can be Vampires

In the true spirit of enjoying my one day off and thus not wanting to see sunlight, I spent the majority of the day playing games and watching films about Vampires. Ok, I did actually do the North Street shuffle as it only felt right to do something productive with my day beyond being with creatures of the night. But if we really want to talk about bloodsucking, then we can go no further than Grease 2 - a cult classic to some or an absolute tire fire in my eyes. At least it was fun to watch something quite terrible with Rebecca, we had a hoot laughing AT the movie tonight, the ultimate brain off Sunday watch.

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.

Tray #6

Nailed another coffee run (it's like we've done this before) and returned to base to crack on with the day. No real curveballs or oddities today, just coasting along on a steady tide of work as it all cranks up. For all intents and purposes, today was a day, everyone else was dealt the same hand and I spent it answering emails.

Tray #6 wrapped itself around my molars though. Still getting used to the feeling of this new set inside my mouth, no doubt it'll once again be a bit ropey to yank it out before I eat breakfast tomorrow... It only gets easier though and preoccupying myself from thinking about it too much is the best medicine.

Beige Flood

Another day, another early morning coffee run for the tech recces. We have these two big polystyrene catering hot boxes we've been using for the runs, they're great because they're capable of holding around 20 cups and can keep things relatively hot. Where they ain't so good in in their bulkiness, a fact I learnt trying to load a full box of drinks into my car boot - it wasn't happening. My plan B was quite brilliant though. Wedging it longways between the back and front seats, reclining the passenger side seat back like a clamp to hold it in place. It was perfect. If only our Production Assistant had the same idea as their container arrived spilt in arrival, the exec Producer's being one of the greatest casualties of the beige flood. We laughed it off and sorted it thankfully, the fled from the scene if the crime, back to my inbox which consumed my attention til hometime.

Awards on Parade

Some people bring re-usable cups into the office, other brings their dogs. Only a choice few will bring their BAFTA in. That marks the second time I've seen a real award with my own eyes. A bunch of the creative departments all won trophies at last night's ceremony and the atmosphere couldn't be better in the office. 

Most of the guys were out on a big round of recces for the duration. I managed to catch up on everything in their absence and even had room to breathe a bit in between emails. It's crunch time, but the pace is manageable for the most part. If only they gave our awards for well managed time... Actually I wouldn't win it.

Iced Car Coffee

A hearty breakfast of sausages and halloumi was all I needed to keep me going. We took a short walk up into the London suburbs before embarking on the long ride home. A mini heatwave has hit the UK and of course, Rebecca's little car has no air conditioning. We sweated our way down the motorway, stopping for an iced coffee at the halfway point which just about got us over the finishing line. Our friend is off attending a TV awards ceremony in which Rivals was nominated for a few catagories (spoilers, we won a few of them) but Rebecca and I just wanted some peace and quiet tonight, opting to stay in and decompress before the week starts anew.

Editing Masterclass

Flocked to an edit house alongside the other peeps who submitted a short film to the competition my work hosted a few months back. We were attending an editing masterclass hosted by a few members of our post production crew. The entire session was remarkably wholesome, we watched each other's shorts, gave legitimately constructive criticism and then offer fun and creative solutions to everyone's work. Even though none of us had ever met the editors before, we all got on like a house on fire, we were cracking jokes, listening intently and all feeding off the creative atmosphere. It was legitimately a real thrill to be there, not only to see a few of my old colleagues but to chat earnestly about our projects.

I returned to our friends house while Rebecca and Ben sat in the garden, enjoying the last dwindling patch of sunlight. Matt prepped dinner while I contributed by cleaning the snacking bowls of nibbles. A bread and butter pudding made from leftover hot cross buns came out the over and topped with hot custard which was a genuine post-Easter treat. Tomorrow will also Mark the first day in quitta while where I'll be bedding down without setting an alarm. After a big old day (and week) I can't wait to catch some zzz's.

Back to the Backburner

Though it's only been a four day week, my levels of exhaustion are trying to convince me otherwise. I immediately started playing catch up after being out of the office all day yesterday, and I didn't slow down until I basically got home. I'm really hoping there's some breathing room next week as I have a few jobs that I've left in the back burner for a little too long. 

Though I was in London 24 hours ago, I find myself back there for the weekend. We're staying with friends and I'm off to an editing masterclass - the final reward for my short film. I don't really know what to expect from it but there'll be a few old faces which I'm looking forward to seeing again.

Another Readthrough

 'Theo'

 

Shouted a semi-familer voice as I was lugging 90 pastries up the street. It was a member of our London crew on their way to our readthrough who was offering to help me carry the food. I had only had wee coffee and a very modest continental hotel breakfast at this point so I was very happy for the help. My colleagues were still setting up tables and getting things ready for the big day when I got back to the hall, but many hand make light work and by the time the cast arrived we were all ready to rock. While the talent did their thing I was up in the rafters tinkering away on my laptop, catching up with emails and the like. The whole thing went really well all told - we hit all he beats and everyone left happy which is a big old win. We even got invited to post-readthrough drinks - which we totally stayed too late at and missed our scheduled train for. My Coordinator and I continued with tradition and enjoyed a canned cocktail on the train home. Another readthrough done and dusted in style.

What struck me most though was how much of a family atmosphere this show has cultivated. It was visable in the cast reading their lines, the hugs everyone gave when they greeted each other again and the calling of my name to help with the smallest job of carrying pain au chocolats.

Up and Down *That* London Road Again

 Continued doing some email firefighting before hopping on a train up to the big smoke. We have our read-through coming up and once again I found myself running up and down a very specific part of London to get all the bits ready for the day. Deep down I'm having a great time but I already can't wait for this time tomorrow when it's all over and I'm back home. I'm certainly back doing the runner type jobs in lieu of any other candidates, but there's no job too small at the moment and we're all just trying to scrape by.

Cosy no More

I knew I was in for an unwelcome slew of emails and responsibilities, and every second I spent sat behind my desk was draining. The day went quick but in a bad way too, that kinda way where you wished you had more hours in the day... But if there were then you'd just continue dealing with nominal busywork. Today was the first day it felt like crunch time, which makes sense because deadlines are fast approaching and people are crowbarring everything into a four day week. We got a big thing coming up on Thursday which we're all scrambling to get sorted. I'm basically building my week around it so I'll be very glad to see the backside of it so I can get back to the real job. Back home I only really had time to shower and pack a bag since I'll be taking an overnight bundle into work tomorrow. I'm already exhausted and it's only fake Monday!