North Circular

Managed to catch up on Bake Off by cramming in a whole episode across my time standing on the Waterloo bound train. Trying to stay in the loop so Rebecca doesn't speed ahead of me and spoil who's in and who's out. Our Production meeting was also going on today, I half tuned in on my headphones but I was pulled away a few times by couriers and other bric a brac jobs. After a long day of work I got to travel to East London so I could drive my new hire car all the way round to the West side. I got chummy with the North Circular just as I was warning up to another new car. Got it back in one piece but all I want to do now is sleep.

Topsy Tuesday

My unofficial duties as a script coordinator continue to grow as I was asked to write a memo for the new draft that just came out. Basically, this is like a changelog, you document all the additional, amendments and omission between the versions so people can glance at the changes. I e seen hundreds of script memo's before but if felt odd to finally be writing one. My good friend Matt Winlow does a mighty fine job of it and I wanted to channel his professionalism. I also helped our Coordinator 'tone down' her sternly written email. We got hit with some bad news, the kind that would rightfully tick off anyone in our position. My teammates' original message was a vengeful knee-jerk reaction, but she asked me to give it a bit if decorum so as not to burn any bridges. Never thought I'd rise up into a spot to start dictating emails to my superiors, guess it was a bit of a topsy Tuesday.

Return of the Pret

Just when you thought you'd done your last ever Pret lunch run for a job... My main goal today was asking 29 people what they wanted for tomorrow's lunch remotely. It was a fiddle but I think I got them all in... Guess we'll see how that goes tomorrow after my proxy collects it for me. Otherwise it's business as usual, though with a little more of the sense that we're sitting on our hands. With only a week to go before filming starts there's an ungodly amount of work still to be done, yet because there are one too many unknown factors everything is taking longer to sort.

Victorian Courtship

Scaling a mountain of washing up was first on the Birthday Boxing Day agenda. Rebecca and I rolled up out sleeves and put the house back together after a boozy board game night - every empty can and glass a fun reminder of the night before. The day was our to veg out too, plus I still had a new monster sized board game to learn and teach Rebecca how to play. Turns out a game about Victorian courtship and stately home management is quite involving... And riviting! Despite knowing the ins and outs of the game once again Rebecca beat me by a measly 3 points. We all know how to maximize our efforts for next time and the intimidating 'first play' hurdle now looks like a molehill in hindsight.

On bus back to London now, mentally preparing for the final week of our preproduction. Lots of nails to hammer in still but hopefully more and more things will slide into focus after tomorrow. Still tough saying goodbye to Rebecca only 3/4's of the way through a Sunday but we really make the most of our weekends together these days so it's something to look forward to on the other side of this week.

Happy Birthday to Me! 2022

As if waking up in my own bed wasn't enough of a treat, today was also my Birthday. 29 years of age and still getting excited about unwrapping presents and facing the day. I went down North Street with a spring in my step - an Arts Market was being hosted near the Tobacco Factory and I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do than take a walk with Rebecca to one of our favorite places.

Since I couldn't make it down to the Newbury Beer Festival this weekend I thought, 'why not bring it to me?' Ahead if time we bought a crate of craft beers and announced we'd be having a fun beer and board games evening with chums. To show my appreciation to all my friends I wanted to cook everyone a banging meal. My nachos made the rounds again, once more accompanied by some salads made by Rachel - they're a killer combo that always makes people come back for seconds. Chatting and games followed with 8 of us crowed into my dining room as we made merry, drank fun beers and got competitive.

Bless Rebecca's heart - she baked me two cakes. One was a coffee cake she didn't think was presentable enough as a main cake so she did her signature Victoria Sponge too. I never dreamed I'd be worth of two cakes but I'm honoured to be loved by someone whose willing to go through all that trouble.

Credit to Lucy for getting this great action shot.

 

This was one of the best Birthdays I've had in a long while. I humbled to have so many good friends that all contributed to making the day so special.

Palace Pilgrimage

Used my mental protractor to ensure everyone's script was 'just so' for our read-through. Served tea and coffee to BBC execs and made myself useful right until the moment they were ready to go. That was my chance to sit quietly in the back and catch up on emails... Until the Producer beckoned me over and asked me to get my phone out, stand in the corner and film the whole thing. Almost an hour of standing still later, I returned to my inbox and back to my work, rubbing my poor, poor legs all the while. The read-through itself went by without a hitch, a testiment to how well planned it all was. Their always like prepping a mini wedding and come at an awkward time when people are stressing about the shoot - but the cast love them and it gives them all a chance to meet everyone.

With a little over an hour to kill before my coach home I figured a walk instead of a tube to the station would be nice. My London geography is terrible and I was only halfway there when I realized my GPS was taking me straight up the Mall to Buckingham Palace. I was never planning on paying respects to the Queen, but since it was on the way it seemed like the right thing to do. 

The Queen is Dead

News trickled round the office that the Queen's health was rapidly declining. We got on with our daily tasks and stresses, but the thought that our monarch could pass away today was an unspoken truth almost too big to mentally grapple with. Sure enough, a few hours later everyone crowded round the Producer's laptop to listen the the official announcement. The Queen is dead. I almost couldn't believe it when the news finally broke, the whole evening felt like a dream. While riding the tube and train back it seemed like everyone was carrying the same secret.

All the while in London it poured and poured and poured.