Thursday Thrasher

Headed onto set to help get some breakfast pre-orders, ended up getting stuck there as the camera was looking up the road to where all the transport back to base parked up. All the while my inbox was filling up to the point where I spent most of the day scrambling to see the sunlight under from my pile of work. Then as quickly as it started, it was all clear. I busted through the lot and felt incredibly productive, I did have to stick around for another unit to finish, but that just gave me the space to get even further ahead of the game. Should be smooth sailing tomorrow.

Not Going Right

Had a day in which things didn't go wrong, they just didn't go right. Our Unit Base WiFi went down first thing and it fell on me to try and get us up and running again. Even while holding two Starlink dishes and a mess of cables crew members still tentatively approached me, smartphone in hand to ask if the wifi was working. Brother, what does it look like I'm doing?

Then there's hire vehicle shenanigans again, with Luton being swapped out for even worse lutons which has a knock on effect to the delicate eco system of the works. I could just about cover the gap but only after 45 minutesof intense phone calls. After all was said and done, I was just ready to stop thinking about the day. Yet when I got home, I didn't know what to do with myself. 

Toasty December

December used to be cold when I was younger. Now it's just October but darker... Just about caught up with everything by lunchtime today, only for some more shenanigans to land on my plate. I'm dealing with it all slowly but surely, yet I never felt like I had a moment to myself today. It's nice to be busy though, makes the working day fly by. 

Very Important VIP

While I can't go into too much detail about my day, the BBC News article will cover most of it. Yes, we had a very special VIP on set today and I was but a small part of the team facilitating it all. It certainly made a change from our usual day-to-day, I spent most of the morning making tea and coffee for dignitaries and the press. Once we waved them all goodbye we were back to the day job. Every now and then we'd see news articles popping up with coverage of the day. The sweetest part was all of us in the Production office, from the Assistants to the Producers all huddled around the television in the office to catch the 6pm news, of which we featured. We waited up until the final moments of the programme before we were mentioned, then we all whooped for joy. Bizarre to think that a TV show about how TV shows brings people together managed to bring us all together around the TV - an oddly wholesome moment.

I'm very glad Rebecca and I persevered through the baking debacle yesterday. The mince pies I brought into the office we short lived, especially after word of mouth spread about how good they were. I was left a little speechless when some of the grown ups started raving about them. It was worth all of yesterday's drama for some lovely feedback like that. 

Gingerbread Meltdown

Almost a decade ago Mum made a gingerbread house that knock all of our socks off. Since then she's never been able to replicate it on account of the actual build being so fiddle some. She lulled herself into a false sense of security after that first win, so I was desperate to take up the mantle and attempt my own Gingerbread house.

 Turns out, it's defeated another Durrant. 

I spent almost 6 hours in the kitchen baking, measuring, icing and praying that things would all come together... Only for the pieces to slide around, look utterly dreadful and generally fall to pieces. God it was miserable. You know in the The Sims when a character's need bar get into the red zone and they just start screaming at the universe? That was me internally because the task was Sisyphean. I lost all hope and motivation, especially after I remembered that I don't even like gingerbread. I added a touch of clove to the mix and that was all I could small for the next half dozen hours, just thinking about it gives me a headache now. I was left with a structure like Tintern Abby and a lot of biscuits as broken as my spirit. 

Thank goodness for Rebecca who swaddled me up with all the good grace I needed in that moment. The Sunday was salvaged by her optimism alone and for that I am eternally grateful. 

Mulled Everything

Operation get Christmassy started with the purchasing of our tree. The place we get it from offers free mince pies and mulled wine as you browse, a bit of pre-midday alcohol gave us the Dutch courage to buy a tree that's about a foot taller than what we usually get. It just about fitted in the car home but it's up and in situ now and looks suitably grand in our little living room. Not content with the hot wine, mulled cider was also produced as we went to a local distillery for gift shopping. That drink in turn juiced up my sense of giving, tomorrow I'll be baking all day so I went to get ingredients today and may well have gone slightly overboard. I have lofty ambitious for tomorrow, it's going to be like working in the Bake Off Tent.

Lens Test Monkey

On my busiest Friday in a while I nominated myself for a 'quick lens test' on behalf of the camera team... 3 and a half hours later I found my inbox filling up and my responsibilities piling up. So I crammed everything into my dwindling afternoon and still managed to cross the finish line of the day. This weekend is all about getting Christmassy, we're getting the tree tomorrow plus all our Christmas booze. Already cannot wait for the good times to flood into our living room.

Expedient Advent

Continued our days at the studio, with that comes a litany of little jobs that always need doing. They kept me occupied throughout the day, so much so that it felt like breakfast was only just ending before it was time to go home. I actually don't know what I really filled my time with today at work but it went past in an honest heartbeat. I wish I had some means of slowing things down a bit now, but the slippery slope of December has taken us. Next time I blink it'll be Christmas. I only just got round to opening my first few days of Advent chocolates.

Bios For Sale

Someone is coming to visit us on set next week and they asked for a short bio for a bunch of cast and crew members. Always nice to flex my writing muscles a bit and kinda get paid for it. The final shooting schedule released today, a starter pistol for us to get cracking and do the final push of organizing filming. Lots to do by the end of the week now, just got to knuckle down and keep moving forward.

Escape Room Reloaded

 Blame it maybe on the almost full moon, but today people were acting a lil crazy. Including me to be fair. Second cup of coffee in and I developed some weird anxiety sweats, I wasn't feeling surface level stress but my body just kept saying 'danger'. By lunch that calmed down but I was still felt like something was in the water. 

Actually come to think of it, maybe it was the Christmas Jazz we had on loop at the office. Made the room feel smaller somehow.

Not as small as the escape room we all did as a team. History finds a way of repeating itself, three years ago I found myself with the same team, half cut on mulled wine fumbling around with combination locks and shrieking 'Ah HA' at the top of our lungs. We also discovered that Itsu offer half price sushi if you go in just as they close, so we rounded the night off with some late night California rolls as we quietly pondered the future after this gig. 

It only felt bleak because of how good this one has been. 

Unpicking

Rain, rain, go away... Mess up our schedule some other day.

Things went a bit pig-eared once the call was made to shimmy the order of things around. Lots of big talks and decisions made about how to proceed amidst the inclement weather. One thing was for sure though, we were going off the beaten track and that means things needed to become unpicked which is the most tedious and self-defeating things in this business. We made a new plan and things are all good now, but it's a reminder of how good we've had it on this job so far.

100 Movies 2025

For all intents and purposes, today was a rest day. Rebecca took the train up to London to see her Nan, road closures meant that was the most sensible way to get there. Meanwhile I stayed at home and crossed a mini milestone from the comfort of my sofa: 100 movies watched this year. I've got no massive intention of slowing down either, but it's still nice to see that little number tick over. The two flicks were worlds apart too. News From Home is an avant garde slow cinema joint from the 70's and Kneecap was a raucous, drug fueled Irish piece from last year. Now I just gotta get some sleep in me before the week starts anew. Feels weird starting Monday without Rebecca, the cat is certainly missing her...

Stir Up Saturday

 At last, the weekend. A chance to hangout with Rebecca and just take a minute. Rebecca got the ball rolling on her Christmas cake, I helped slightly by cutting up cherries and stirring the pot but she did most of the legwork. Mostly I was playing Street Fighter online, getting my rankings up and sparring with strangers. Rebecca left in the afternoon to go to a gig so I tuned into a film before heading out for a colleague's weekend birthday shindig. What started out as a pub only thing developed into a full on night out. Thankfully I have no plans tomorrow so I'll be sleeping whatever nastiness off on God's Day.

Friday Without Feeling

Took the long drive out to Unit Base today  everyone is done with this week so there was a weary excitement for the weekend. Though if you asked anyone what they were doing they'd blankly reply 'sleeping'. That's basically all I'm expecting to do for the most part as well... It was a Friday without the feeling as a result. Once we all get a bit of kip we'll be back on form no doubt. 

There Was A Bird

Just me in the office for the first few hours and I was put to work! Lots of things turning up at the studio, all from different departments and team members. All in the space of about 90 seconds the following happened:

The colleague who arranged a cherry picker to landed with us randomly got a phonecall about a hire car I had organized. Weird they got the phonecall, but whatever, I got the number of my hire car driver, as I was dialing it another unknown number calls me. Its the chap dropping off the job arm to the studio. He's going to be late he tells me. I hang up. I call the hire car guy. He's also going to be late. I hang up. My colleagues asked me to go down to the loading bay to check if the cherry picker has arrived yet. As I type my response, someone in the office says 'Theo, did you know there's a bird in the office?' I turn. There is indeed a blue tit happily chirping next to our stationary shelf. 

It goes without saying the bird became priority one and I'm happy to say we got rid of it, just mad all that happened in such a short window of time. 

Otherwise, Rebecca did a Christmas wreath workshop today so we're now the owners of a bountiful bit of foliage for our door. Slowly but surely the house is getting Christmassy.

Christmas Movie Deathmatch

My list had one too many things on today, like a smile with too many teeth... Didn't help that I had a degree of scatterbrain (likely a spot of brain fog after yesterday's cold), but everything took me a bit longer to do. Tomorrow things will clear up no doubt, just have to weather a bit of oddness til then. 

I'm very pleased to have successfully drummed up hype for the Christmas Movie Deathmatch at work though. I tried doing it yonks ago on The Last Bus but that died a death. Game is, we have 16 popular Christmas films, every day two of them will go head to head as the people vote on which is a better film. Winner moves up the ranks to be pitted against other favs until there is ultimately one ultimate Christmas winner. I just really hope it isn't Elf, Home Alone or Love Actually...

85%

The subtle rumblings of a cold have been lingering for a good while now, but they're never punchy enough to warrant me feeling sorry enough for myself to take a day off work. I just feel 85%, if it dips South of 80 then we're in trouble, but right now I'm just weary and ready for an early night to rest up.

I had to be on some good form today though as it was a colleagues Birthday and I was the only one who could buy and blow up two dozen balloons before they came into the office. I was also handy at lighting candles and keeping the surprise a surprise. Made a nice change of pace to the day actually, next team Birthday is coming up quickly too so I got the practice in.

Daily Dogpile

With the rest of the unit out on night shoots I find myself at the office working semi-normal hours. This means I have plenty of uninterrupted time in the morning to just get things done which is so very nice. It also means that everyone dogpiles you as you approach the end of the day, all I can say to that is 'it's not my problem anymore' and walk away. 

That said I found myself walking away to quiet corners and bathrooms a lot today to blow my nose. I feel like I've had the slowest acting cold ever as symptoms murmer, but never take hold. Maybe I'm just too busy to get sick, I know the moment I stop it'll all come to the forefront. 

Goated Breakfast

Woke up in London, about to fall asleep in Bristol. Only the cook breakfast of Ben could summon me from a deep Sunday slumber. We're talking scrambled eggs, sliced avocado, veggie sausages (the good kind), baked beans and the pièce de résistance: thick cut halloumi. We played some board games with out hosts before hitting the road, we woke up late after all and it was a big trip back. The cat was pleased to see us home, and I was pleased to be reunited with the video game that's been taking over my brain since last week. Rebecca has already stormed ahead in it since it's her cuppa tea, but I'm catching up now. Good to put my mind to something fun just before the new work week starts.

Steep Pint

 Four hours later, I landed in London. Only took a coach and a bus but I was reunited with Rebecca and our chums Matt, Ben and Max for a day of hanging out. Max is back from Berlin at the moment so it having one of his annual blowouts with all his UK based friends. I paid £8.45 for a Guinness but all in aid of keeping it friendly, Max is a well loved individual so he had a lot of people round him, I'm just glad to be a part of his tapestry.

Friendly Doughnut

 Had a bit of time this morning before work so I caught up on some sleep and got in a very cheeky hour of games. A colleague drove me in today but we agreed to get coffee and doughnuts before hand, funnily enough at the same place we went to visit for our first wave of tech recces back in May, and the chap at the counter remembered us! No discounts offered, but it was nice to see that flicker of familiarity in his eyes. The day itself was totally fine, we were shooting til quite late so we went a bit crazy towards the end, mostly because we were all so ready for the weekend. I've still got to pack a bag for tomorrow since I'm catching the coach up there, mostly got to figure out what books I wanna bring for the trip.

Sayonara Production Meeting

And there goes the final production meeting of the show. There was enough leftover food to have made all the work for this week worthwhile. The drop in temperature and frost on the grass got everyone feeling warm and fuzzy, I got asked about Christmas plans loads today as my own thoughts turned to the season. I found myself mulling on what it means to feel Christmassy and recalled my own Quest for Christmas many years back. My own interpretation of how to achieve that feels more true with each passing year - what you put into it will give unto you. Maybe I need to make a greater effort this time around.

One More Pret

We did our last ever tech recce today which is a hell of a milestone. A big element on these ones is doing the coffee run for 30-40 people, we opted to try a new cafe this time close to our location, we had only a small window to get all the drinks made and handed over today so we really needed this cafe to be all singing, all dancing. Imagine my initial shock when I noticed the place was dressed like Christmas corner at a garden center. Looks can be deceiving though and everything went off without a hitch. Bonus points to me because I got to visit my beloved Pret once again for a big old lunch buffet platter... By that I mean I raided their shelves leaving incredibly little for the actual patrons. At least my team were all happy. So surreal being on the other side of the recces now, only thing left to do now is crack in and shoot the last few episodes.

Early Christmas Coffee

Did the penultimate coffee run at Costa today. I didn't have a loyalty card to take advantage of while buying 40 hot drinks so I offered it out to the queue behind me (felt like I owed the public something for watching me slowly order all my coffees). A chap walked up, swiped his card and sheepishly said 'Merry Christmas'. Tis approaching the season to be jolly I suppose, I'm just trying to share the love. Back at the office I continued treading water in my own little way, inching the needle further to the job's end. The reality is starting to hit all of us that this one is beginning to sunset, which summons bittersweet feelings. Still got a ways to go but it'll be over before we know it.

Modest Monday

Started my day at our favourite greasy spoon to collect breakfast baguettes for the first day of our final wave of tech recces. We got everyone packed up onto a bus, we waved them goodbye and marvelled at how much extra work we got done when the grown ups are out of the office. I'm mostly back into script reading territory now as I enjoy a spell of calm before the shoot planning starts up again. 

In the evening though we went out to meet Jamie and his partner. Jamie's in town for a job interview tomorrow morning so we didn't go out for a mad one, instead it was a modest Monday pizza with a single table beer as we talked until they put the chairs up around us. Always nice to see and hang out with them both and catch up - his PhD is coming to an end now is the biggest headline, and he's looking relieved. 

Mastic Magicians

Mum was still in town so it was the ideal opportunity to rope her into help us re-apply the mastic around our bathtub. It was much more taxing than we expected but we had a bit of a laugh while getting it done. Fish and chips was the lunchtime reward for us all, followed by sweet treats from the nearby bakery. Rebecca and I had the rest of the day to ourselves where we decompressed fully from the week before and watched the new Frankenstein film which was just ok.

Arts Trail 2025

Rebecca gently roused me from my deep, half drunken slumbers, just giving me enough time to freshen up before heading out to see Mum. She visiting because it is once again the weekend of the Arts Trail, we hit up all the usual stall, venues and artists. We're the proud owner of a new coffee themed print and Rebecca got a very fishy mug which we're still figuring out where to store in our crockery cupboard. I rustled up a Shepherd's pie for the family while Rebecca did a pumpkin pie which was a runaway success. The whole day I was fighting the urge to fall asleep after last night's bender, cannot WAIT to have a long old snooze.

YMCA

Another Fiver Friday down, this one being impeded by the rain of the day. In spite it all we got everyone in the crew involved and eager for the lottery draw. This came at a somewhat detriment to my workflow as I found myself wishing I hadn't agreed to take up the mantle on this occasion, but I just about managed to cram it all in. There was a healthy appetite to go out in the evening after such a jam packed week. I told myself I wouldn't be out too late, then there I was doing the YMCA at 3am.

Staccato Brain

Once again I kept finding myself being yanked in different directions today instead of truly settling. Even doing my usual jobs feels staccato, like my brain can't keep still. Which is odd because I don't feel stressed, nor overloaded. Maybe I'm just getting tired. 

Went out for a movie night with the team though. We started something with Weapons and now we hit up Wes Craven's Red Eye, mostly because it was short and sweet. It was a successful little romp, just what we needed after going into an hour's overtime. 

Brewing Disquiet

Slightly odd day all round, around the lunchtime point I felt an uneasy tension that never quite subsided. Call it dread, anxiety or disquiet, but there was more of that in me than I was expecting on a Wednesday afternoon. I pushed it down and out though, trying to loose myself in my work and that only put me on a course correct for a spell. We were all back at the studio today so I was often up and away from my desk so I never settled into a rhythm. There's always tomorrow though and my list is already looking a little funny.

On the Podium!

In spite of getting sent on a wild goose chase first thing this morning, I left the day in the highest of spirits. After a big old day some of my team wanted to unwind a bit so I was invited to a pub quiz nearby. I felt like it was Rebecca's cuppa tea too so I brought her along, good thing I did too because her handwriting and her knowledge was instrumental in our team coming second overall! Better still, I won £25 in the raffle prize! Worth a slightly later night for the good vibes and social hangout with chums and Rebecca.

Immortalized in the Small Print

Another day, another dollar. Mostly spent the day thinking about wrapping this project up soon (a weird thought for sure). Mostly in the form of planning ahead though, I'm almost the sole worker on the job's Albert Sustainability report so I've been trying to plug away and get some data inputted on that early doors. Big shoot day tomorrow too but all the prep work has kinda been sorted for that so we just did a bunch of final checks and called it a day. 

Back home it was finally time for me to show Rebecca Down Cemetery Road, the project gave 11 months of my life to. Between scenes I gave little trivia tidbits about locations and how tricky some shoot days were. I know the story like the back of my hand but it's fun to see Rebecca get caught up in some of the twists and turns. Best of all though, my name is in the credits. Always nice to be reunited in spirit with my colleagues of jobs past. The whole project is a monument to our achievements and we've been immortalized in the small print at least.

Dan's Pad

Left London and got home in time to hangout at Dan's new pad. I saw it first a few weeks back but now he's got some furniture in there you can see it coming together. In fact, we even helped him build another dining chair so we all had somewhere to sit for board games tonight. He's been a bit under the weather since arriving in Bristol but now he's back in fighting form and ready to take on the world.

Brooklands

Awoke with the now signature Saturday oversleeping headache, further compounded by not have a small cat waking us up. So I slept well and deeply but ended up feeling effectively hungover for most of the day, even reading my book was agony on the eyes so I resorted to curling up on the sofa while squeezing my eyelids shut. Some painkillers just about brought.w back from the brink, ready for out day trip out to Brooklands Museum. We saw many old cars, buses and planes and while I'd argue I'm not strictly the target audience, the scope of the place and exhibits were impressive. Rebecca's Dad now volunteers there so got us free entry and guided us to the best bits which was definitely the best way to experience it all.

Just Disappointed

I've always believed I managed to convey myself better through writing than through my spoken words. Today I had to write not one, but two shirty emails to a vendor providing bulk goods that we're inexplicably both worse than expected and lesser than what we ordered. Basically I was entirely within my rights to complain, a few of my colleagues overheard me sounding dissatisfied over the phone to the supplier and laughed because of how politely I managed to put my point across, then adding how they very rarely see that side of me. I don't get angry anymore, just disappointed.

So after being a keyboard warrior for the day I joined Rebecca up to London for our leg away this weekend. Going to be so nice to have a snooze in without a certain fuzzball waking us up. 

Oat Milk Tester

Got out of the office for a bit and into the... office's car park? There was a lot of gubbins that needed shifting around the place and it turns out me and one other colleague were the only two ready and willing to lift and shift some junk into a skip. It wasn't all dirty, physical labour though, we did a market research task tasting oat milk in coffees, in which I went back for multiple sips of coffee across three mugs and before I know it, they were all empty and my brain was a-whirring. I had to hop onto a one-on-one video call after I just pray the other guy didn't notice how much I was fidgeting. The caffeine wore off though and I was left to finish up my day and walk away from my desk. One more day of shenanigans.

Bonfire Night 2025

Hurtled into the office with some hidden spring of motivation. Today was the day I'd copy and paste 160 lines of Uber journeys and get that job done and dusted. Best intentions, but my focus failed me as soon as people started walking into the office and other smaller jobs started vying for me attention. Mostly I found myself day dreaming about Bonfire Night, I missed it last year as I was sent packing down to Cornwall so I took a chance to really lean in and enjoy tonight. In particular because we got Dan down to join us. I produced a couple of beers and we all huddled with the masses as we watched a fire get bigger and bigger, then smaller. On e the magic wire off we returned home for games and a hangout. Nice to bring Dan into the Bristol fold just a little bit more.

Eye of the Production

Headed to set much earlier than the others to help send out our little splinter unit. In reality all I did was wave them goodbye from the comfort of the Production Truck, but it's always a good idea to have someone round who can write a hasty email in case things go south. But there were no dramas behind camera so I got a chance to catch up on all my bits and pieces. At this exact point I feel like I'm in the eye of the hurricane, things will launch into busyness very soon, but right now I can afford to catch my breath. I just wish have fewer tasks to do didn't make me feel so sleepy though. Barely had a cup of coffee before I'm thinking about my next one.

Just Me Monday

Back on the Monday horse, this time without the intense amount of pressure that comes with being the unit's Script Supervisor, instead I was just me. The day somehow felt busy but still dragged on and I found myself putting off tasks rather than jumping at them. Some new kind of lethargy that I hate began to manifest. I'm chalking it up to a funny day, I'll try again tomorrow to muster the enthusiasm that hasn't been lost, just misplaced.

The Others

Caught up on a lot of lounging today that I missed out on last Sunday. I finished yet another game, ploughed through a good chunk of another, started reading a new book and watched a horror film that's been long overdue for me: The Others. It's a pretty 'no notes' kinda movie, everything about it just works, especially the mystery and the pace it unfurls. I remember Dad enthusing about it after the first time he saw it back in the very early 2000's. I was very young at the time so he told me the ending under the assumption I probably wouldn't see it for a good few years... Well here I am now, fully understanding his warm reception because I want to shout about this one from the rooftops (while keeping the ending a secret though.)

Loud Pop Ping Pong

While Rebecca was out doing a yoga class I played a new game about playing as a seal trying to sneak into a nightclub. I met a railroad tunnel cult, went to Heaven and played Rock, Paper, Scissors with a mind reader. When Rebecca got home some eyebrows were raised at what I was doing but she ended up helping me Google what to do with Orpheus' saxophone. 

Outside of bonkers video games, we had a house warming party to attend with one of Rebecca's book club friends who has recently moved over to our side of the Bristol River. They're all big Traitors watchers so I got a lot of mileage out of revealing that I'm playing it at work. By the end of the night someone revealed their party trick of being able to make a loud popping noise with their tounge (a bit like a MUCH louder version of how people make a tick-tock clock noise). As chance would have it we both had the same trick. Two kindred misfits finally got a chance to shine so we played an invisible game of ping pong while making our signature pop noises. Glad to know my weirdness still comes in handy in social gatherings.

Happy Halloween 2025

Most Fridays mornings in block prep I find myself at a well known bakery collecting pastries for big meetings. Today I did that in a cowboy costume all in aid of the Halloween cheer. It wasn't in short supply around our offices. Art and Costume departments thrived especially but everyone made a big old effort. The pumpkin carving contest I put on concluded with a runaway winner, and the overall vibe was just terrific in the workplace. I left tonight still soaking up the good energy. Usually on Halloween I watch a scary movie or do something similar, but I got my fill from simply being around such great people at the office.

 

 

Smoking Microwave

Powered through a bunch of my logging duties across the morning. The main team aren't working til much later on these days so I had plenty of quiet time in the mornings to get a wriggle on. We did have a full on fire alarm occur though, which prompted me to once again throw on my Hi-Vis jacket and frogmarch people into the back of the car park. We were let back in after the staff blasted a smoking microwave with an extinguisher. My pumpkin carving competition is now garnering so serious entries too, the level of skill is absolutely bonkers on this job and I'm actually flabbergasted at how impressive some of them are.

Traitors update: This will be the final update as I was banished tonight. I got voted out after a genuine misunderstanding that was used as leverage against me. Least I made it to round 3 but it still stings going out.

Down Cemetery Road

Louis shared the reviews for Down Cemetery Road which are looking pretty good! Always good to see the show you gave 11 months of your life to yielding some warm reception. You'll see my name in the credits for that one (if you don't blink that is) as the Assistant Script Supervisor, my first full role as such in fact and it was a great learning environment. I've already seen the first two episodes and already eager to see how the rest of it shakes out.

Traitors update: I was nearly banished tonight, winning my right to survive by a single vote. Very hairy moment for sure but hopefully that means the Traitors won't be voting me out in the morning.

Traitors

So at work a bunch of us have volunteered ourselves to play Traitors. We thought it would be a bit of a laugh that would love and die very quickly. How wrong we were.

Our 2nd AD has gone all out with flavor and theming. 25 players, two eliminated at the start of the day, then a task for everyone to do, then a roundtable to discuss who should go out, followed by a round of banishments. Happy to report I have survived to live another day, but by golly, the whole thing is so absorbing. Everyone on set is side-eyeing and asking for tea to be spilt... All the while no one trusts anyone. It's madness but is bringing people together in the best possible way.

Now I just pray I make it to breakfast as the castle tomorrow morning. 

Scripty Once More

All my stress and prep work paid off because my day on set as the Script Supervisor went smoothly. It helped that I was surrounded by a wonderful team of people who all knew what was what. The cast members all knew their lines and were receptive to all my notes. Got a few good saves under my belt but I can go to sleep knowing the scenes we shot will cut together in the edit without issue. Time to treat myself with a nice early night because my brain is fried. 

Sunday Homework

We originally planned to meet up with Daniel for a group lunch but a newly developed cold kept him grid locked... But that didn't stop Mark, Lucy, Rebecca and me from feasting on Asian inspired small plates. That was my sole 'fun allocation' for the day because I got my head back into the land of scripts. I'm doing easily the biggest day of Scripts Supervising of my career tomorrow so I've been doing all my homework ahead of tomorrow to ensure the day goes smoothly. I just want it to go well and prove to myself that I can do the big scary days. I already can't wait for this time tomorrow when I can stop worrying about things that haven't happened.

Another Bristol Boy

Only had two objects today: Move Daniel Roberts into his new Bristol flat and go a early Halloween party. First one went off without a hitch - I hooked up with Dan and his family and hoofed boxes up and across a car park in an incredibly jovial moving in event. We're seeing Dan tomorrow to officially welcome him into the Bristol way of life but I'm already so excited for all the hangout sessions in the works.

Flash forward 6 hours later and I was dancing with Long John Silver, Glinda from wicked, Fred Flintstone, an MMA fighter and Deadpool at a house party. I came 2nd in the Apple Bobbing but earned laurels for my tarot reading sessions which were a lot of fun to give out to people a la carte. 

Genuine Warmth

 Ended the week on a high note. My task list was looking a tad sparse so I joined the Script team on the floor for one final bout of practice before heading into Monday. I was invited into the Director's rehearsal which is always a privilege, but then the 1st AD saw me - he's only ever seen me sat at a desk writing emails but he gave me a big slap on the back and a genuinely warm smile for being there. Then we came Fiver Friday which always gets the crew gassed. Today's winner was a member of the costume departments who was legitimately floored by the result - such a great reaction that made us all smile. Even though it's a lot of time out of my day it's an event that helps the Production feel homely.

Firm Butter

The amount of crew with rosy cheeks and hunched shoulders shouldn't have been a surprise today, but Winter is coming faster than we all expected. At home, the butter is tough to spread and we just put our thicker duvet on (already noticing my feet thanking me for that decision). We're transitioning towards the cold now, it's a novelty now, but by day three of the winter I'll be over it.

Late Morning, Early Start

Enjoyed a baby lie in and a whole hour free in the morning to do with what I willed... Which turned out to be answering emails and hitting the road early to account for the morning traffic. The day's work was alright though, I re-read all the scripts to do my homework ahead of next Monday which put my mind at ease. We worked into the evening a bit so I offered to do some Tarot readings for the people on the truck and everyone flocked over - I basically spread good vibes for a bit and everyone was super grateful.

Time in a Conveyor

Another day that flew from right under my feet. It's getting to that point in the job now where time starts slipping by incredibly quickly, the finish line is still only a blur on the horizon, but it looms ever closer. In the meantime I'm giving small tasks to our work trainee and quietly cracking on with my to do list. The chocolate mousse was warmly received, I reckon I should keep up the baking habit, especially as we get closer to Christmas time - lots of flavours that make me feel more in touch with the season.

I also got the nod to return to the floor next week to do another round of Script Supervising. It'll easily be the biggest day I've ever tackled flying solo. In between my regular work I'm trying to cram in some prep time. Once I get that under my belt I'll feel a lot more comfortable but I'm down for the challenge in the meantime. 

Grainy Mousse

Managed a Monday. Like most days it started busy then plateaued nicely. I couldn't shake the feeling I had forgotten something important though... Guess time will tell what that was. 

In honour of dessert week on Bake Off tomorrow I once again thought it might be nice to make chocolate mousse. While I was at it, I might as well make enough for the office I thought. I always run into that forgotten hurdle of not owning a mixing bowl big enough for a double batch, but my baking sin was sadly a little greater than that. I successfully melted the chocolate without siezing it but in pouring it into my cream it solidified virtually on contact with the chilly mixture. So now I have a less-chocolatey pudding full of tiny suspended shards of solid chocolate. On a bad day you might call it grainy... I prefer textured but I'd be lying through my teeth. As least the particl are small enough to melt into your mouth as you eat - it's almost like a stratticialla chocolate mousse... Maybe I'll brand it as such after gingerly presenting it to my team.

Leveling the Mountain (of laundry)

Seeing as I've been wallowing in my own piles of manky dishes and dirty laundry, I figured I should make the effort and tidy up before Rebecca's return. Those few days with her away were a glimpse into the chaotic life I might be leading without her... Just yesterday I ran out of spaghetti for dinner so I had to add in some fusilli, but that still wasn't enough so some rigatoni went in as well. 

Ok. To be fair that's the kind of middle class chaos that come from privilege, but when left to my own devices I do let a lot of things slide until I reach the precipice. Only then can I stare out over the edge and say to myself 'crikey, these socks need a wash'.

Rebecca's back home is the headline though and the next working week is fast approaching. I feel oddly rested though so I'll take the day's curve balls with grace and good humour. 

Bristol Oktoberfest

For what feels like the first time in weeks, I enjoyed a lie in. Well, actually I got up early doors to feed the cat but after that I curled back in bed an slept for almost 10 hours. My body was clearly craving a bit of rest because I even had a nap shortly after lunch for 30 minutes - that's something I have almost never done before. 

But it was all in aid of keeping me going for Oktoberfest. A colleague had The r birthday today so a bunch of us at work went out for a night of beer steins and an oompa band. It turned out to be an insanely fun night. We danced and danced some more on a floor that was slick with larger all while wearing some naff fancy dress. We rang in their next chapter with gusto. 

Raferty Raffle

Hitched a lift in with a colleague and shot the breeze til we landed at unit base. Lots of little bits to tie a bow for me but it all petered out at 5pm. We did have a team members birthday to prep for so I invented a fake job to occupy them while we got everything in place for their return - sometimes other people's birthdays are more fun than your own.

Best part of today was a fundraiser for an old colleagues' short film. She brought us all together to a nearby pub for a quiz night and raffle. My team sadly didn't win anything (but I was the only one there who knew the names of all the Pac Man ghosts!) but it was a shining testament to their character that they managed to bring so many people together, on a Friday night, to make merry and put money towards a passion project. 

Holding Pattern

Caught the bus, did my time in the office, came home, cooked dinner, watched a movie, got in bed. It's tough finding individual moments of the day that stood out, especially as I know that every day is, in its own way, a blessing. But even still some days feel like you're stuck in a holding pattern as you wait for something. At work we're all waiting on a schedule to give us clarity, at home I'm waiting for the weekend and in my heart I'm waiting for Rebecca to come home.

Reverse Honeymoon

Attended what could well be my final dentist appointment of the year. I was handed the last remaining sets of retainers to wear over to coming months with strong reassurance that everything was going swimmingly. Just got to make it to the new year now and I'll be done with the trays, possibly for good!

My late night yesterday paired with the dentist visit meant my day was cut in half which was a bit of a win. Back in the office, dropping a gear and affording myself a small breather. Still loads to do, but it doesn't feel like a scramble anymore. Rebecca is also out of town for the next few days as she's heading to Italy. When I got home it was oven pizza in my pyjamas with films and video games - the dream bachelor lifestyle basically. As the days go by I'm sure I'll start feeling mopey without her, but if there's an opposite of a honeymoon period, I'm in it. 

Full Moon Kinda Day

Working on the second unit with later starting hours is a ropey gig. You still get all the emails before your day has officially started and you're squeezing in everything before they all go home. Despite a lot of careful planning and organisation today just felt a bit off. Nothing deal-breaking but things just weren't as smooth as they should have been, leading to me having occasional waves of worry if I had done all I could. The answer is a yes, it was just one of those Full Moon kinda nights were everyone acts a little differently. Just glad to be home now so I can warm up in bed.

Hazy Monday

It wasn't until I got home from work that I felt like I had finally woken up. I approached the day in a haze of ambivalence, working through the motions, completing my day and moving on. The only thing I did build my attention towards was yet another second unit which I'll be sitting in for once again. They keep getting bigger and bigger these things, guess I'm slowly getting more accustomed to working them too. Fingers crossed this one goes ok though, I could do without any dramas.

Screening and a Smile

Wore my fanciest outfit as I headed out to the cast and crew screening of Down Cemetery Road. It's almost been 18 months since I started on that project and to see it all fully realized and completed is a cool feeling. Better yet was rubbing elbows with old colleagues I found along the way. There wasn't an official after party thing so we took it upon ourselves to find a pub and settle in. The project was good for offering people their first opportunities in the industry and several people I spoke to today have successfully got their foot in the door and have started flourishing which brought a big smile to my face.

Bristol in October

Rustled up and unexpectedly good breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and avocado on toast for our weekend guests (Matt and Ben). Guess you can thank the nearby bakery for their great bread and coffee beans. But with bellies lines we hit the town for a jolly old saunter. One of the best parts about having guests is that you get to flaunt your city and it's highlights. Even though many of the sights are old favourites, it's an opportunity to celebrate them all over again. Wapping Wharf, Park Street, Windmill Hill Farm. Coffee, cookies, noodles. Local artists, independent bookshops, October walks. By the time we got home we were tuckered out but still had an appetite for board games, beers and a movie. We basically had, what I'd consider, a perfect little Saturday.

100 Days, 100 Doughnuts

Closed out the week on a high, I juggled a lot of small requests and other bits, towards the end of the day my head was swimming with the amount of little things I had to keep track of, but I tied everything off in a near bow, completing the important stuff while leaving the other bits til Monday. It also happened to be our 100th shoot day (blimey, the time went quick there) so many crates of doughnuts materialised, and we patted ourselves on the back - let's keep on going! 

Weapons

Pulled a lucky number out the Callsheet lottery so I got to walk to work today! Got the blood pumping before I manically started catching up on old emails from yesterday. By lunchtime I had cleared my backlog so after that I was back on track to do my actual work for today... Which I was trying to do quickly so there was enough time to get back to my house after work to host a movie night with my colleagues. Tis the spooky season and we were all joking about watching Weapons a few months back, but we're all too chicken to see it in theaters. So there we all were, huddled round my telly with me on the floor, all hiding our eyes at the prescriptive scary bits. There was a real energy to the viewing though because it was a pitch perfect horror for tonight. Tense jump scares to start with, then gory action to end with a real sense of dark, designed humour. It was a certified horror romp.

Doggie B-Roll

Slung my iPad over my shoulder once again to act as the 2nd Unit Script Supervisor. All the old steps and elements slowly came back to me and by the end of the day I was flying. I was mostly helping shoot a mountain of Dog B-Roll which I am incredibly excited to see in the final product. I submitted my notes, did the rushes and got home and now my eyelids feel like they could slam shut any second so I'd better get some kip.

The Tap

Glided into one of the easiest 2nd Unit Days I've ever worked on. It's a well oiled machine now, everything flows smoothly, people are happy and we get the days done. The only thing easier than today will be tomorrow's 2nd Unit... That is right until I got the tap on the shoulder to Script Supervise for it. I said yes immediately of course and the day itself is remarkably simple so no stress there, but I had to dust off my old software and remember how to bring all the elements together. I'm blessed with a very supportive team too who helped me do my homework - just want to make sure I do them proud tomorrow.

Raising A Glass

Alarm went off, I instinctively went to hit the snooze button, which as a result of a recent software update has put the 'stop alarm' button right next to '5 more minutes'. I woke up again with only a handful of minutes to do my whole routine yet I still got in before all my colleagues.

A couple hours after I settled into the day and email hit my inbox, in fact it went to to the inbox of everyone on our production. It informed us that Dame Jilly Cooper had passed away. It naturally came as quite a shock to all of us, just a month ago several people attended her annual garden party and she frequently came to visit on set. To honour her memory we arranged a toast on set, real champagne out of real glass flutes were handed out to crew on wrap as the execs came down to give a small speech. Amidst glum faces, we raised a glass, then smiled as we told stories and anecdotes about Jilly. It was like a funeral and a wake at the same time. It was surreal being all together in that moment, but comforting to be amdist a network of people who have been touched by her wit and her work.

The Girl with the Needle

Another Sunday come and gone, yet I feel a bit numb to it all. Tomorrow will come around but that's fine by me. Monday will be all well and good, things seem a lot more stable at present and stresses are evaporating. No doubt I'll be batting away curve balls, but I'm good at that now.

I think I absorbed a numbness today from the film I watched - The Girl with the Needle. Lordy it was bleak. Highlight of my day was sitting with the cat on the sofa as we watched the movie. Her fur felt a bit cold to the touch so I layed some blanket over her. Normally she hates that but she let it happen today - bless her cotton socks. That was the glimmer of warmth I needed to get through the film.

Sleep Withdrawal

Back to the classic Saturday headaches after getting an actual full night's sleep. It like I'm getting withdrawal from from being exhausted... Not entirely sure how that one works but we roll with it. A couple of coffees later and I'm on track to veg out - Rebecca was out this morning so I caught up on movies and games. Later on we did an Arts Trail, an opportunity to snoop around local front room and admire their decor. We didn't end up buying anything but it's a good warm up for the big one in November.

It's Showtime

With little over 6 hours sleep under my belt, I found myself unironically doing the All That Jazz beat where Roy Schneider addresses himself in the mirror on the morning with 'It's Showtime'. And indeed we all earned our wages well today (as did the whole crew) because there were a billion and one balls to juggle today - and we didn't drop a single one. The staff fridge was still full of zero alcohol beer so we all raised a bottle (or a tin) of non-booze and cheersed to a week well done. In spite of my tiredness level I made it up the road for a round of board games and had a vintage night playing Bomb Busters and a few other little winners. Always such a joy to make it up there each week.

Revenge of the Late Callsheet

Got in early to help a bunch of people with some odd jobs, only to find out that everything was much easier than we all had anticipated, so I just ended up having a chill breakfast. The flip side was that for the first time on this job I found myself on the production truck after hours waiting for a call sheet to print. Bunch of things scuppered our plans there and I stayed back and extra two hours, which was gutting because I planned to have a hang out evening with Rebecca tonight... I've not really had much spare time this whole week so the weekend can't come fast enough.

Got Wood?

Again, it's weird to think I was on Spain this time last week. Now it just feels like work is a way of life again, especially as the clutches of lack of sleep are starting to take root once more. Lots of odd jobs today, best of which was dealing with some crew members who went out to buy some urgent wood without any means of actually paying for it. Thankfully, myagic wand still hasld some sparkle in it so all was well, all it cost was a fraction of my sanity.

Tractor Tailgating

Had one of those 'oh crap' moments when an email came in asking about a potential error on some paperwork we sent out to crew today. It turned out to not be a biggie, but it got my heart rate going. Things are cranking up with now too since the new Block are starting, lots of pieces falling into place and need actioning. In the middle of it all I got to drive a long-wheel based van down some very narrow and windy country lanes. It's been a hot minute since I've been behind the wheel of anything that size so I took it slow... For anyone behind me it must have been like being stuck behind a tractor.

Drained

'I'm a long way from floating in the Spanish sea' thought I, as I reached into our clogged outdoor drain to remove a blockage. I was down to my armpit in pipes before the lipids broke free and things ran smoothly again. Though once you've smelt that sewage stink you notice it repeating on you throughout the day, no matter how much Fairy washing up liquid you scrubbed yourself down with. 

Back to work today and boy, there was a lot of emails to catch up on. Once I broke the back of it though, everything subsided and flowed beautifully (yes, the pipe metaphor is extending into this paragraph too). Since we were working til much later tonight I buried myself in reading the new scripts and other lil bits. All prep so no curve balls attack me down the line. 

Our of Practice Roast

One last decompression session prior to returning to work tomorrow. Mostly catching up with games and films on my end. Rebecca always had fond memories of The King and I which turned out to be the perfect Sunday afternoon watch. I had to pause the film every now and then to do prep work for the Sunday roast I was making - first one since the end of Summer and I'm already a bit out of practice. Then again, it's a meal that basically just tastes of gravy, the sides just provide a variety of textures.

Cluedo Strikes Again

The cat served as our ever diligent alarm once more, though I was she came with a snooze button. After getting back home in the small hours of the morning a chance to sleep in a bit more would have been much appreciated. Thankfully I just about got enough sleep so was fit and ready for an afternoon of board games. Mark, Lucy and another friend all met up for an afternoon of activities and snacks. Highlights included playing my latest Formula One style racing board game, then a trip down memory lane with a bout of Cluedo. Technically it was Harry Potter Cluedo but the core was all still there, fully capable of re-dredging memories of how Mum used to just trounce us when our family played.

Lil Crabs

Slept in during our final morning in Spain. I needed all my beauty sleep to walk along one more promenade and drink black Americanos at cafes. Rebecca and I dipped our feet in the sea one last time and she took me to the Marina, her favourite place to spot crabs.

Caught a late flight back home and currently sat on the last connecting bus that'll shuttle me to bed. Just the weekend of my holiday left to enjoy. 

Packed Spanish Day

Made the most of our last full day out in Spain with an early rise to go see another nearby beach town. Breakfast was followed by a walk to the old town, then coffee, then lunch, then another dip in the warm, warm Sea. It wouldn't be a trip to Europe without a scoop of ice cream too. All in I'm starting to feel very well rested on my holiday... Just in time before we fly home tomorrow evening.

Warm Sea

A favourite activity of Rebecca's parents while away in Spain is visiting seaside towns and sitting in for a coffee. They never make it past the threshold of the promenade onto the sand though, so Rebecca and I had to do that for them. For the second time this year we waded into the ocean, which was the perfect temperature, for a swim and a float. Feels like we were out there for ages, meters away from the Spanish holiday makers and the tourists but because it was out of season it felt just right. 

My body has started to relax a bit now that I'm deep into my week off. That means that I overslept last night and yet still felt tired. I had a wee nap in the afternoon and now I feel right as rain. The next few days should continue to unwind me so I'll be fighting fit for when I return to the job. 

Secret Surcharges

Got charged just over £4 for a coffee at the airport, I'd be outraged if it weren't for the nearby lady crying down the phone about Ryanair's ruthless back size quotas that are designed to just rinse people from their hard earned cash. Can't complain about the actual flight though, we got to Spain just fine and the book I was reading carried me through the whole trip. Mostly I had my nose deep into the short story of Babette's Feast, a film I cherish and the original story is just as powerful. I could just about get away with blaming the plane's overcranked air conditioning on why my eyes got a bit teary. 

Touched down with Rebecca's family who were awaiting us in the arrivals lounge. Day one was a real settle in day, the only big outing was one to the local superstore, but I love foreign supermarkets so I had the time of my life. I also clocked it has been about 7 years since I last stayed in Rebecca's Parent's Spanish home. Another lifetime ago.

Bijou Bag

My tiny bag arrived, although very much on spec, I was still taken somewhat aback by how bijou it is. The Switch just about fits (to the detriment of my fashion options), and I've economised on space by simply not packing a wash bag - giving my deodorant and toothbrush a penthouse suit wasn't an option. 

The rest of the day felt almost like sitting in an airport anyhow, a good chunk was spent clock watching as I waited for my holiday to start. We just set our alarms for 5am, a wake up call I'm incredibly familiar with... Time will tell how Rebecca manages.

Teeny Tiny Bag

Returned to the dump to finally say sayonara to the remainder of the apple tree trimmings. Also sized up a few of my rucksacks to see if any qualified as Ryanair hand luggage... None fit the bill so I hastily ordered one to arrive tomorrow. I'll be vacuum sealing my Nintendo Switch in there while wearing all my layers of underpants to onto the plane, God help me if I have to get a random security check. Otherwise I spent the afternoon hanging out with Rebecca and sparring with Louis online over Street Fighter. Think I'm getting closer to matching his skill level now which is great, it's quite humbling being the Brother who keeps loosing for a chance.

Free National Trust

You can always count in Rebecca to find a good deal on National Trust days out. We visited one for free today - didn't even pay a penny for their usually scandalous parking surcharges. The best part was queuing up with Trust members, watching their world crumble hearing that their subscription doesn't net them any perks today - they let the riff raff in and Rebecca and I were leading that charge. We basically had a nice day going around a stately home and is adjoining land. The chills of Autumn are certainly in the air and the trees are very slowly showing their colour. So glad I live somewhere where I can stay around to the seasons.

Hiatus #2

Which a little less sleep than I'd like, I managed to get through the final day before our Hiatus break. The crew were simultaneously low energy from the night before and stoked for the prospect of a week's long holiday. The day it's was uneventful, minus the final hour when everything suddenly kicked off. But we got through it and now all I can see ahead of me is vistas of easy going and spending time with Rebecca.

Bad Decisions (lol)

 It was our midway drinks tonight. I'm usually pretty good at avoiding bad decisions, but then our Block Producer bought everyone a round of shots... 

 

Happy Birthday Louis 2025

Between getting my teeth filed at the dentist and doing a day out on location, I had Louis' Birthday on my mind. Seeing as he got me a bunch of Street Fighter stuff it only felt right to get him some stuff too so we could keep the sparring matches going strong. I caught traffic on my way back home but we still had plenty of time to hang out altogether. In honour of Bread Wee on Bake Off, Louis made focaccia and Rebecca made flatbread. My eyes were bigger than my stomach though so now I am full of gluten.

Reckon Louis had a good day though - Happy 30th again Broski. 

Carrot and Marmite

The whole office fell into a collective slump around lunchtime. Did we eat too much? Did our workload stagnate? Was there a gas leak? Turns out opening up a window and letting in a bunch of fresh air really does make a world of difference to concentration levels. It sounds like an old wives tale, but it had a similar effect to painkillers, the hurt just melted away. Without it I wouldn't have made it up and out of work to make a steaming batch of soup.

Believe it or not, I've never made soup before. But a friend recently shared their recipe for Carrot and Marmite and I just had to see if I could do it justice. One thing I am legit good at is following recipes so there wasn't much room for disaster (unless you hate Marmite of course) the immersion blender I got for Rebecca's birthday yonks ago was finally in my grasps and I gotta tell you, I think I like making soups now. I made a whole cat of the stuff ready to take into the office next time I'm there. Everyone is a self-confessed Marmite lover (statistically rare I know) and hopefully it'll bring a bit of fun to the day.

Muzzy Monday

Didn't quite feel as rested as I wanted to when I woke up, always a cracking way to start a Monday. With the hiatus coming up though I know I'll be in for a good decompression session, in the meantime we're kinda winding down on the way to Friday. There's a few extra hurdles to get over before then, all very manageable but we want to avoid any shenanigans before our time off. A semi schedule of sorts has appeared for the next couple of weeks so there's plenty of ways to get ahead which is nice, with any luck things will stay as is so we won't need to unpick any plans. 

Wet Leaves

Went toe-to-toe with the apple tree for round 2, this time it was all about disposing of the parts we amputated. The real logistical nightmare for us is taking the detritus through the house, over the new carpet while also minding the doors so the cat doesn't run out into the road. I settled on using a fabric potato planting sack to transport bits of branch through the house after I chopped them all down again. First one I did was easy peasey, then the rain decided we were now playing on hard mode. I just soldiered on, trudging wet compost through the house as I just got soggier and soggier. It's a job well done at least, I just wish my weekend wasn't wholly consumed by this damn apple tree.

Winded and Windfalls

Went out for some Birthday drinks with my team last night and woke up feeling fragile. I was curled up on the sofa for a good hour after getting out of bed just trying to stave off a headache and waves of nausea - totally self inflicted but I still felt very sorry for myself. Luckily, Rebecca took pity on me and helped me through the rough spots of the day until I bounced back at lunchtime. Then it was gardening time - the apple tree has been running rampant for a couple of years now, so it was high time for some cutbacks. I even had to bust out a hacksaw (I only just remember I owned) to hack the tree's limbs off with... It was all very surgical and knackering but the garden is in a much better state now. A nearby cafe was also asking locals for windfall apples to make their sauces with - we had a few leftover and got a free slice of cake out of it. A very fair exchange!

GOAT 2025

 A teammate suggested that I went down. To set today for no particular reason.

Sidebar. We have a weekly running Friday bit where the 'biggest legend' of the team is nominated for a GOAT award. It's given to a new member of the crew every week and the winner has a picture of posted up on the lunch chat.

And the winner of the GOAT award was mn! Cue everyone clapping and asking for a speech. I was too flabbergasted to launch into anything massive but I just about managed to communicate how humbled I was by the whole thing.

Long Day for Old Me

Did a trademark long second unit day for old Theo. I was up at the crack of dawn to make sure everyone was all happy at base, before dashing away to grab a bunch of breakfast rolls for the tech recces. Fast forward 12 hours and I was still at the office to set up meeting spaces and shoot off last minute emails. But all day long I just felt tired behind the eyes, that kind of weariness where if you hold a blink for a little too long you realize how nice it feels to have your eyes shut, and by extension, how nice sleeping would feel. I'm treating myself to a bit of extra snoozing time tonight. I'm 32 now, I needy rest or I'll barely function.

Happy 32nd Birthday to Me

The cat's birthday gift to me was not waking us up at the crack of dawn. My alarm did that for us and Rebecca very kindly elected to get up with me so we could share a morning together... It was still dark outside when we got up so she got a mite more than she bargained for but that made the gesture all the sweeter. I unwrapped several well curated books from her alongside my cards which now adorn my mantle piece.

Flash forward to work and my one colleague who was in earlier than me managed to do a heck of a job decorating, AND making coffee for all the grown ups before their tech recce. I helped wrangle them all onto the bus and someone loudly announced it was my birthday... So of course a room full of very important people all started singing happy birthday to me which is as embarrassing and cool as it sounds. My team continued to spoil me throughout the day with cake and well wishes, greatly appreciated when I was actually running around a fair bit today. 

Back home I was joined by Louis and Rachel for some Street Fighter, burgers and Bake Off. Which meant even more cake.

The existential dread was staved off for the entirety of the day, I was just so happy to be surrounded by people who genuinely enjoy my company and wish me all the best. Even on a long work day I felt very special. 

Knocking on 32

Donnedy coffee coordinator hat once again today and put everything in place for a whopping 40 orders. Thankfully the place we got our drinks from today is an old haunt who know the drill. They were pretty pleased to see me personally because I have such a honed system in place to tick off names and help the baristas out where I can. Years of actual coffee making experience put to practical use once again. 

The coffee run was a fun baby project to help take my mind off the fact that tomorrow marks another year of aging for me. Birthdays have somehow shifted away from something I have untempered enthusiasm for, into something more existential. There's that nagging feeling telling me I have once again hit a milestone with very little to show for it, but I think I'm just a bit down on myself. I gave my 31 to two TV shows in the making. Minus Christmas and hiatus dates, I worked and worked some more, earning plenty of dosh but perhaps missing out on some other things as a result. My free time is somewhat limited and I always feel the pressure to spend it well, which in turn feels like my fun has been scheduled which makes me feel like I'm always on the clock.

32 has oddly been a year I've looked up to. Two feet firmly into 30, but still young at heart. Perhaps some of my life wisdom will tell me to slow down, take stock and cherish what I value most. And maybe just maybe, write my Great American Novel. 

Coffee Coordinator

I was one of the first people to park up at unit base today because I was getting in early to take an important phone call. The phone never rang so I used that time to catch up on emails from my time off which went by pretty quick. By midday I was caught up and everything equalised. My attention is now shifting up and towards our next wave of tech recces, of which I have become the coffee coordinator for. Whenever I try to escape arranging foodie bits somehow I keep getting pulled back into it. 

The most Sunday, Sunday

Got up early to feed the cat and the play some video games before our guests woke up. It was just me, the cat and the early morning thunderstorms. All we really could do today was stay indoors, which made it feel like the most 'Sunday, Sunday' ever according to our friend. I mostly did that thing everyone does on the last day of the weekend: bury my head in the sand and try to forget I'm back to work tomorrow. It's been a nice long four day holiday for me, but a busy week is on the horizon and I'm already worried I've forgotten all the steps to this particular dance.

Bristol Tour Guides

Rebecca's school friends came on down to visit us in Bristol, and without wanting to boast too much, we planned the ultimate day. Lunch was procured from our local bakery (and Tesco, but that doesn't sound so fanciful). Next up, Clevedon for a coastal hike around Poet's Walk as our friend pointed out the fossils in the old rocks. 'I forgot how much I like looking at rocks. It's like scrolling, but better.' Back at home we took a quick break before heading to the hottest new pizza place in town: Gigi's. I hadn't been before so I was relying on a LOT of words of mouth to impress our guests. Thankfully it was tremendous - earning the covented double thumbs up from the gang. Finally, we headed to a local taproom for a cheeky pint. That really is a best of the Southwest kinda tour. We've been doing these long enough now, I daresay we're pretty good at it.

Westonbirt Arboretum

With bellies full of hotel breakfast, Rebecca and I headed back south to Tetbury. It's a town I'm pretty well-versed with after doing a bunch of filming there so it was lovely to share a part of that with her. The town is only really a high street though so after grabbing coffee and buying some quirky bars of soap we headed to the day's main event: Westonbirt Arboretum! It's been on my Bristol bucket list for a long old while and today the planets aligned and we took the plunge. We went around the old gardens first up and they were stunning. The trees were obviously impressive, but without sounding a bit crazy, the planting arrangements were really cool - long clearing draw the eye towards funnels of leaves in a way I've not really seen done before. Pretty special place.

 

A Good Friends Wedding

Hit up my all time my recently most rewatched YouTube video: 'how to tie a half Windsor tie'. All in prep for the wedding we attended today. I've not sat in a car for a handful of hours in a full suit before but there's a first time for everything.

The wedding was for an old University course mate and Rebecca's old housemate. As such there were a few old faces there from my course and we had ample time to catch up like old war veterans. Time flies so fast, but it felt like 10 years never went by at all. The ceremony itself was refreshingly low-key, all of us guests were up for a laugh and there were no dramas, no backstage shenanigans, just good vibes through and through. Rebecca and I boogied in the dance floor til our cloths were drenched in sweat and even made a few new friends along the way. 

Backpedaling the Backfoot

Had a morning to myself again in which I mellowed right out and felt good about life. Then headed to the office and found myself on the backfoot and only just about recovered by hometime. Mostly I was shoring up my workload while I'm off for the rest of the week by planning ahead and keeping people in the loop. I *think* I got it all done in time, plus I did a mammoth purchase order that took most of the day on and off to do. But now I can sit back, enjoy my extra two days off and enjoy a uni friends wedding tomorrow.

Script Tracker

I tended to my writing desk for the first time in a while, only to put my thoughts to paper on a game I recently played ahead of my end of year review. I have time in the mornings right now so it's nice to do something a little more worthwhile. At work I was throwing out script after script, good thing I keep track of all the amendments because a lot of the cast and crew are starting to lose track (at no fault of their own, there honestly is a lot floating around right now). Otherwise I was on logging duty for the taxis we booked in the month of August. While there was about 30% less than usual, I still had to input over a hundred lines from one spreadsheet to another, ready for it to be PO'd in detail. It's riveting stuff I assure you.

I also low-key forgot I was on leave over after tomorrow so I hastily reconciled all my outstanding jobs and looked ahead to next week. Think it's all in hand, I have tomorrow to wrangle the last bits. 

Crockpot

Last week I mentioned how the batch of brownies I brought in May have ignited some kind of baking revolution within my team members. I certainly did not expect a member of the Accounts team to bring in a full on Crockpot full of their home made minnistrone soup to share with the masses. A good deed has ripples and inspires others it seems. That certainly made going back into work after one day off much easier to swallow, but in fairness it went pretty quick. 

Sunsetting Summer

For my one day off this weekend I spent it doing one of my favourite things: popping down to Newbury. Dad was on good form in the kitchen rustling up some roast beef. His recent hand operation means that he needed a bit of help doing bits and pieces so I was happy to oblige. I was even happier though drinking wine and enjoying a Sunday roast, a meal I'd forgotten all about over the Summer months. 

End of August today, with we bid farewell to Summer, at least til next year. All over the UK BBQ's will be rolled back into sheds and jumpers will be dredged out of closets. The sunsetting of Summer is always a bittersweet moment, makes one think about how close we are to the end of the year already. The colder seasons beckons, we are helpless to answer the call.

Mario Kart After Midnight

Work for me started at 15:30 today so I had a good chunk in the morning to do some fun stuff. Rebecca and I watch the Thursday Murder Club film which was fluffy and inoffensive, then I played through one of the best games I've touched all year. Riding on that high I headed to work, though Saturday's are often fraught with very little to do (I remember on an old gig my most important job on a Saturday was to get the Producer a copy of the Guardian). So in-between legs of work we busted out some Mario Kart to play with the chaps on the truck. Made the night work go quick and the bonding time was real.

Bank Holiday Monkey Paw

Repeated yesterday's trick and watched a film before work then never quite got my head fully into my work. Most Fridays have chatterings of 'what are you doing this weekend?' which are usually pleasant to hear about. This week however everyone knew what the answer was: work. In a twisted monkey paw wish come true the unions have introduced an inflated day rate for Bank Holidays (yay) but that means we just make up a five day week by doings the following Saturday with no extra pay (boo). At least it's becoming a shorter day and I'll get to spend the morning at home... Maybe another movie before work?

Banana Splits

I'm doing split shifts at the moment which basically means I get my evening off in the morning. Gotta get your free time in where you can though so I watched a film before work today, but heading in afterwards spun me out a bit. Because the unit are shooting into the dead of night they let me finish the last few hours of my day working from home. I spent a little while rigging a makeshift work space (which was legit enough to make Rebecca jealous). Same again tomorrow, at least I know what I'm in for.

Middle-ing Middleman

With the studio looking like a bit of a ghost town now it was down to me and the team to keep the day to day going. Lots of kit to be returned and collected: radios, power converters, dollies and magliners full of monitors. Every vendor is supported by demand, and somehow the market has evolved to require a middleman like myself to arrange buying and hires but seldom touch the goods. But hey, some satisfaction in fluid logistics I suppose.

Production Understudy

Returned to the office for a day of chasing via email. And when that doesn't work I phone. And when that doesn't work I just give it an hour then do it all over again. What was quite sweet is when one of the Production Assistants came up to me and asked if they could learn about Prod Sec'ing from me. Of course I said yes, but I felt a bit bad as I basically told them the whole job is just copy and pasting, using en masse email software and never leaving your desk in case someone needs something copy and pasted immediately. Not exactly the razzle dazzle and glamour you get into the biz for but it pays the bills.

In other news, I realized I've been misspelling two normal words for far too long.

 Infomation is not Information.

Responce is not response. 

A Muppet is what I am. 

Leisurely Racing

With the long weekend drawing to a close I found myself 'leisurely racing' to get it all done before the end of the day. I finished up the new Indiana Jones game that has taken me all of August to play, Rebecca and I went round Bristol on a Gromit Unleashed tour to spot a few dogs and chickens... I mean penguins. Then I made a batch of brownies for my colleagues (plus a few chef treats for us) and did another 'chick flick': Muriel's Wedding which won Rebecca and me over instantly. A great way to end a long weekend.

Babka

 Had my first babka today from the Sunday market. 'life it pretty good' I remember thinking to myself taking another bite while sipping on an iced Americano from an independent coffee place. Somehow it only got better after I made dinner tonight and it turned out even better than usual. Then Rebecca made an apple crumble with fruit from the garden. Then we watched All That Jazz - a film that I'm kicking myself for not watching sooner because it was dynamite.

Best of all though... No Sunday Scaries because I'm not working the Bank Holiday Monday. One more day to do it all again. 

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.