45 years ago, I changed the world and was born. Everything else since then has been better of course. I spent the day largely alone, with an adjustable spanner and some theatre curtains. This pleased me, and was only spoiled by the arrival of people to act with and to. The girls bought me dvds and Ma In Law bought me a fascinating book...more of which at a later date. All in all I managed to avoid too much attention, and the play didn't go too badly all things considered. I had a few drinks to round the day off, and got home and watched a bit of "An Ideal Husband" on the telly. Not much more to report other than giving a full review of the evening, which is probably not sensible to do on this blog.
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Thursday 24th February
It is my Birthday eve, and the last chance to be lovely and 44. I shall continue to be lovely tomorrow, but just at the age of 45. The day was spent rehearsing and tweaking scenery etc. It would have been nice to have read my script, but the trouble with doing too many things at once is that you can sometimes put yourself last. Eating properly goes out of the window, and you end up eating at midnight. Managed to sneak in a couple of hours of work today as well, which was nice...it was almost relaxing. Not sure if I am looking forward to tomorrow or not. 45 doesn't bother me, but I think I am becoming grouchy. I don't like being centre of attention for merely remaining alive for another year. It was all very simple...I continued to breath in and out, and everything else just seems to follow logically. There's no need to thank me...I quite enjoy it. There's also the issue of alcohol. I will be sober for the day as I will be on stage. This will be a nice alternative...hopefully anyway.
Wednesday 23rd February
The madness continues, with a 5 and a half hour workshop followed by a mad phone call that could mean a weeks work on Devon on the summer. At this rate I will need a holiday to recover from the Summer Holidays. Not sure if it will all come off, but we shall see. Was nice to be back in Leighton Buzzard for a workshop., They seemed really happy with it, and wanted another one in June. We like this very much. In the evening we set up the stage for the plays at the weekend. Bit frustrated with some of the situation, but its the nature of the beats in many ways. Will look forward to getting on with next week.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Tuesday 22nd February
After yesterdays depressing mood, I was not exactly leaping from my bed ready to take on the day. I'm not sure if it is the weather, the time of year or the position of the moon, but I have struggles a bit in the last 24 hours. However, the mood soon lifted with a phone call and an email. The phone call was to talk about the acting job that I hinted about yesterday. It is for the Charity MIND, and it sounds really exciting....so I have provisionally accepted it, with a feeling that I may have taken on too much again, but you only live once. The second piece of good news was in the form of an email, announcing that a play that I directed last year has won an award. It's funny isn't it, but when you watch the BAFTAS or the Oscars and you hear people banging on about how awards are just the icing on the cake and unimportant, you kind of believe them.....Well I don't anymore. Receiving an award for something you love doing is Fantastic! So I would like more awards please :-) There is even a ceremony in May that we have been invited to in order to collect the award. How utterly thrilling :-) I am like a small child who got the birthday present he wanted :-) Back to reality in that I have a 5 and a half hour workshop to deliver tomorrow. I have received little if any communication from the organisation that have hired me, and it is difficult to build up any degree of enthusiasm for it. On the other hand, the organisation appears to have been hammered by the cuts already, so I cannot blame them in any way. I suppose this is the shape of things to come.
Monday 22nd February
A spiky day, brought on by the fact that everyone I seem to have had contact with has been in a grumpy mood. I can genuinely say that it is rare that I have been as pleased as I was to get to bed. There was one interesting project that came out of it, but it does involve me acting again, so I need to think carefully about it before I take on yet another commitment. I will not make todays post a long one as it might come across as the moanings of someone ungrateful. I realise how lucky I am, so to moan about being tired and grumpy seems a little misplaced. I have a big workshop to plan and a rehearsal tomorrow, as well as various other administrative duties....could be a long day
Monday, 21 February 2011
Sunday 20th February
Well after months of waiting and a few false starts, we finally performed our show with my Monday group. I think we were perhaps less confident of this than any other show, but, as is so often the case, they pulled it off with a bit of style. With an audience of 100, they raised their game, and I think really enjoyed the experience. The whole day went really smoothly, and I think it is days like this that make me realise what a lucky person I am to be doing this for a living. We spend time with creative and caring people and make children happy. It's not a bad job. We ended up with another curry in the evening, which was nice, tough I think we were all a little tired by the time we sat down. I can now start to focus on next week. I have a workshop and a show to think about in the next seven days...the fun don't stop as they say.
Saturday 19th February
2011 seems to be charging past like a herd of angry and impatient elephants. I feel like we haven't really had time to sit down and take stock. This weekend for instance starts with a session, and then ends with a show day on Sunday. Whilst I knew I had a lot of costume prep to take care of, the majority of Saturday was spent vegging as I believe the popular phrase goes. I had a lovely chat with my Mother in Law last week, and she said that sometimes you just have to say sod it, and put your feet up, forget the washing etc, and have a bit of down time. Well this is exactly what I did. Mrs Plug even cooked, which was nice. Falling asleep in front of the tv in the evening I has the sense of dread that I had done nothing in the way of prep for the show tomorrow, but I think I needed it.
I drove the family car for the first time on the roads today. I drove back from work, with the whole family in the car, which perhaps shows a lack of thought for them, but they all seemed keen, The majority of the journey was spent with the girls saying things like "Oh well done Daddy", and "That was really good". It was 15 minutes of having my head patted to a degree, but I love them for caring and trying to make me feel good. I suspected that they were under strict instructions not to laugh if I did anything wrong, and this was later confirmed to me. I really enjoyed it though, and I think I might end up doing this a lot more to get used to it. The best thing about the experience is that I enjoyed driving the car, which is a relief, as I know that Mrs Plug hates it.
Friday 18th February
So seventeen years have passed since I became a Father, and this thought makes me feel older than the thought of my impending 45th Birthday. I do feel blessed to have her as a daughter, and I think sometimes that it's a shame that many of us, myself included do not really think about this unless there is a significant date like a birthday. I still wonder at the fact that I am supposedly a grown up, with the responsibility that I have, and soon she will be flying the nest as it where, and having responsibilities herself. It all seems to have gone so very quickly. Whilst I am running around like a mad thing over the next few weeks, I really must make the effort to spend some quality time (Even though I hate that phrase) with both of them. We spent the evening running a light hearted session, and then went to visit our old favourite curry house as a family. It was this place that we used to visit with our dear friends who moved away. I always think of them when we are there, and tweeted a message that hinted at this...how nice to get responses from them :-) I sound like we had a really maudlin day, we didn't, I just get too lost in thought sometimes.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Thursday 17th February
The eve of eldest's 17th birthday arrives, so my task for the day was to shop for presents. I did this for most of the day, struggling to find one item in particular, getting home just in time to collect youngest, hop in a cab to go to work, and then straight to rehearsal afterwards! It was a whirlwind busy day, but ended quite nicely when we put on a pretty good performance in front of our peers. I got a couple of lines wrong which annoyed me, in particular the lines that I have never got wrong before. How infuriating! Still we have a week to get them right. Good news as well, in that all five plays that I have an involvement in have been accepted into the Beds Drama Festival. Now the nerves have kicked in. I will be appearing in the final play of the festival which is on prize giving night. I hope we can hold it together...it would be lovely to have a successful evening!
Wednesday 16th February
Awoken with that funny feeling that the Spurs win had all been a dream, it took me a while to realise that it had in fact happened. All I needed to happen in the evening was for Barcelona to hammer Arsenal and I would be complete....sadly this didn't happen. I spent the whole day with scrubbing brushes, bleach and cleaning products. The house was a tip and it was getting on my nerves, so that was all I could think about. By the time I got to collecting youngest I was knackered, and had a feint smell of bleach about me, but the house looked quite civilised again, Now All I need to do is to convince its inhabitants to keep it that way, and I suspect that might be harder work. It does make me realise that the whole "Tidy house, tidy mind" thing really does have some truth about it. The evening was hugely enjoyable, as we went to see eldest in her dance performance. Basically she produced a show which is entered into a national competition. She appeared in it as well, and it really was spectacular. The emails I have since exchanged with the teachers and head teachers about it, and in particular about her, have made me very proud indeed.
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Tuesday 15th February
Started the day with The Specials. We are using Ghost Town as some intro music for a play next week, and it got me craving a bit of a reminisce. Came home from my walk this morning with a spring in my step as a result. Followed it up with a listen to some ska from the Trojan label. Well worth a search on Spotify for Trojan....some great stuff on there. The day continued with the usual series of last minute panics that you get used to in the week before a show, but nothing of any significance to worry about (Yet). I received an email from the Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine mailing list advising that they would again be reforming for a gig on November at Brixton Academy. Carter USM were quite a significant band for me back in the late 80's early 90's. Their early single Sheriff Fatman was played on the Gary Crowley programme on Greater London Radio the same week that my band's demo was played, and they were really the soundtrack to a short period of my life. Meeting Mrs Plug, coincided with the release of one of their albums, and again it has many happy memories for me. I never got to see them live, so knowing that tickets were going on sale the next day filled me with reminiscent excitement. Mrs Plug is up for going too, so I shall be lurking on the Buy Tickets button in the morning. Having seen Jim Bob live, it was nice to get to hear one or two of our old favourites live, but this will be a bit special, being, as it is, at my favourite music venue. The trouble is, I will have to wait until November to see them. In the meantime, I shall be listening to the old songs, and probably get a little soppy over them. They were dismissed by some as a bit of a novelty band, but anyone listening to the lyrics will know different...
In other news, silly people are getting worried by other silly people, which then leads to aforementioned silly people phoning me to discuss the other silly people. I think this is all too silly, and therefore, I have promised not to discuss the silly people with anyone, as life is too precious to waste on the unimportant.
In even more other news, Spurs went to the San Siro and played AC Milan, and won! What an amazing game, and what a thrill to see the team of massive underachievers actually begin to look like a decent team. I am sure that it will all end in glorious failure, but what glory. The whole family ended up watching the last half an hour, and it was a nice thing for us to share....happy days...
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Monday 14th February
Well a Valentines day to remember. Well not exactly. We both decided not to bother this year...it just seems to be such a waste of money. However, on going to bed last night, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Was there a secret wish that I DID make the effort, and have I , but discussing it, and our both agreeing not to bother, actually spoiled it? Oh I do so hate these commercial days that are decided for us. Rather a busy day by all accounts. I am involved in four productions in the next two weeks. Spent the day editing music, writing up production plans, checking that everything was in place and generally realising that I had too much to do. The inevitable last minute rush left me feeling frustrated. All in all, by the time I got home at 10.30 I just felt like death warmed up, and wondering whether I needed to be a little more selective about what I take on. Perhaps there's an element of finding what I wanted to do in life so late, and wanting to pack in as much as I can before it's all too late? I'm 45 next week. It's half term next week, so hopefully I can relax a little bit with the girls.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Sunday 13th February
After a long lie-in, the day was spent doing things like Laundry, tidying up, cooking etc. I really do relish the whole domestic goddess thing at times :-) Had a nice chat with my Mother in Law. I am very lucky to have such good in-laws, as my family, by and large, have never been the type I could ring up to offload or ask for advice. I suppose what you've never had you don't miss. I watched the BAFTAs in the evening, and although I still hate some of the luvvie backslapping that goes on, it is still inspiring to see people at the top of their profession. I would love to get some sort of recognition for doing a job that I loved, and that is pretty much what Helena Bonham Carter said in her acceptance speech for the receiving best supporting actress for The King's Speech. Not only was it a very deserving award, there is something very down to earth about her that I like. She also has very good taste being married to Tim Burton. It was fantastic to see Christopher Lee being honoured with a fellowship. I have always loved him for his portrayal of Dracula. As a child I used to be an avid reader of the Hammer Horror magazine, and would watch the Dracula films whenever they came on. His daughter Christina also worked for me for a while as a temp...so tat is probably as close as I will ever get to BAFTA greatness!
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Saturday 12th February
As I had spent most of the night finishing writing and collating scripts, I did not leap from my bed with the usual brand of enthusiasm that I an not really known for. However, this mornings session was delightful, and for such a quiet group, we seem to have discovered a huge amount of young talent. It was a nice way to spend a couple of hours! The rest of the day was, I am almost ashamed to admit was spent snoozing, dozing and generally doing very little. Sometimes, you just need to switch off. I caught up on the world of social media, and watched Spurs win, although that was not exactly enjoyable. I do wonder how many hours I have spent watching tedium all in the vain hope of success or excitement. But then I suppose that is the joy of watching Sport is it not? This week as a Spurs fan was dominated by the news that we will not be moving to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford. News which, as I have previously blogged, was most welcome by me. I am not averse to progress, but I think I do have a sense of tradition, none more so about my team. Having said all of that, I do worry that this will now mean that we end up in Milton Keynes or somewhere equally awful.
Mrs Plug continues with her studies, and course work and lesson planning, and although I know she is struggling with it all, I know it will be worth it. Eldest is spending the weekend in rehearsal for a production that she is producing at School, and I have two productions in the next two weeks, so again, we look forward to a peaceful couple of weeks! I enjoy the space that the weekend gives me to mull things over, so when we are busy all weekend I miss it. I hope to manage my time well to avoid any stressful episodes.
I trawled Spotify in he evening to find something to make me laugh, and found a couple of Stephen Wright albums. If you can tolerate the incessant whooping and hollering of the audience, his wonderful surreal take on life can bring a smile to the most humourless of people. I went to bed with a smile on my face
I found a useful website dedicated to comedy on Spotify, the link to the Steven Wright section is here http://comedify.com/artist/Steven-Wright
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Friday 11th February
Big day of work for me today, with the first Romeo rehearsal. It started with youngest being ill and having breathing difficulties, so a trip to the doctors was arranged, and she now has an inhaler. It brought back memories of the many years I lived with Ventolin. The funny thing was, the main memory I had was of seeing the Inhaler and having the urge to ensure that the lid was firmly on to avoid Tobacco getting in it. What was I thinking for all those years? Suffering from really quite bad asthma and continuing to smoke? Six years later I still feel smug! The rest of the day was taken up with session planning and generally stressing. I had to put up with more nonsense being spouted by someone in the voluntary project, and I lost my temper a bit, which I always regret. However, the day was ended with a really good rehearsal and then an evening finishing Act Two of the Panto. Well I say evening....it went on till 2.00 in the morning, but I was pleased with it
Friday, 11 February 2011
Thursday 10th February
As you can see dear reader, I have decided to just use the date as the heading. With any blog, you attract an awful lot of spam, and although I have a very good spam blocker set up, the old inbox get rather full of the notifications. Apparently, some of the spambots are attracted by the titles, so this should stop it to a certain extent. We shall see. It also means I can avoid having to make up amusing puns. So as Thursdays go, It was a pretty good one. Speaking to youngest on our walk, we were musing over Thursdays. She has a good timetable on a Thursday, and I told her that for some reason, Thursday were always good for me as well through all of my school years. I have always loved Thursdays, it seems to be the day when nice things happen. This is of course all nonsense, but I still enjoy the feeling of waking up on a Thursday. I spent the day doing artwork for some forthcoming productions, and was quite pleased with the results. It is though, always a shame, when you have to work to deadlines rather than relax your way through the creative process. The deadlines was really my fault, as I have prevaricated on it for so long, so maybe I just need to admit I am not very good at time management. Mrs Plug is ploughing on through her training at the moment, and seems to be thriving to me. I hope that she gets a decent post at the end of all of this, she will be fantastic. She seems to be able to empathise and inspire in equal measure, and if any of us remember a teacher fondly, it tends to be for those reasons. We are both concerned however that teaching is being turned into a box ticking exercise. That makes my job even more exciting when I think about it. I do not have to abide by the strictures of an educational establishment, local authority or government department. It is just me, the kids and their parents. I traveled down to Luton on the train this week, and bumped into one of the parents on the platform. We chatted about his daughter and the way the group was developing, and he said such lovely things about why she liked the group and what she got out of it. I got off that train with a little spring in my step.
Rehearsals in the evening were good. I think, apart from about three "Bogey lines" I am now ok, and can really get my teeth into it. Now I am at that stage, I have allowed my mind to wander towards the thought of the actual festival. Apparently, the group that win every year are not in it this year, and there are not that many entries. This makes it even ore exciting than usual. I truly hope that we are all in with a shout of getting something. My company has won something fro three years running, so I hope that we can continue that trend!
Thursday, 10 February 2011
On the Buses
Well I shall endeavour to be more brief today. It will be difficult though. The Headteacher asked another teacher to call me, though why I am not honoured with a personal phone call I have yet to ascertain. The teacher advised that she had spoken to both Youngest Daughter and Head teacher, and that they are both contradicting eachother. I suggested that in a case like this there is very little chance that anyone is going to believe the child, and she then told me that she actually did! So we have a situation where a teacher knows that her boss is perhaps mistaken, but cannot say! I continued my growling, but asked her to get the headteacher to phone me and explain why she thought my daughter, and the five other children had been dishonest. I don't hold out much hope of this happening, but will, dear reader continue to update you.
In other news, I will have walked 86 miles to and from the bus stop in the space of three weeks. The aches and pains are going, and the old pins are feeling pretty good. I am very tired by the end of the week, but it's the fittest I have felt in ages. I am also listening to a lot of music, both new and old, and enjoying that. I used to travel for many hours on my daily commute, and really missed the experience of popping in the headphones and losing myself. As I mentioned earlier this week I have been listening to the new Streets album, which is really rather good. Since then, after seeing an old friend of mine mention them, I have been revisiting an older album. When I was a young slip of a thing, and furthering my lazy tendencies at 6th Form, myself and my friends spent many an hour listening to "The Crossing" by Big Country.
We all adorned ourselves with chequered shirts and rolled up jeans, and leapt around like absolute numpties to songs like Fields of Fire and In a Big Country. I have very happy memories of the album, and the friendships I enjoyed at the time, and it all came flooding back listening to it again. They were critically well acclaimed for the duration of this album, but the follow up "Steeltown" never reached the height of "The Crossing", and eventually, as young men do, I fell out of love with them, and felt rather embarrassed at how much I had liked them in the first place. They continued for many years until dear old Stuart Adamson decided he wanted to make another crossing and took his own life in 2001.
Stuart Adamson in 1991
As I have got older and approached something called maturity, I have realised that sometimes you stop loving something because you feel that it would not be cool to continue. Silly really, but young men and their music in particular create this. I discovered the Smiths, and never really looked back. Every now and then you would hear a Big Country song on the radio, but very little was ever really heard of them. They have recently reformed, with Mike Peters of The Alarm taking over the lead duties. These reunions are usually dire affairs, but I suspect in this case it will simply be a really affectionate tribute and a joyous occasion. I will probably not go, but reading about it and chatting to my old friend made me want to revisit. The Album is rather a life affirming one, and I was amazed at how much of it I remembered, even the old B Sides that were tagged onto the version on Spotify. So I would recommend it as an album to lift the spirits.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Growl, Grrr and other appropriate noises
Well as Tuesdays go, that was an awful steaming pile of horridness, and whilst I am not sure that horridness is either a real word, or an especially nice one, I shall endeavour to continue. Mrs Plug told me that she can tell when I have had a bad or generally frustrating day when she gets in. Apparently I bristle. Well Tuesday found me not just bristling, but developing a beard of anger that Grizzly Adams would have been impressed with. Where to start? Well emails I suppose. I realise that it is not always possible to get the tone of an email or a text absolutely right, and I have been guilty of having my messages misinterpreted, and misinterpreting others. Today though, seemed to be one of those days that led people to not only get hold of the wrong end of the stick, but to actually get the wrong stick, from the wrong tree in a forest with a different postcode. The vastness of one over-reaction was so impressive that my reaction was unusual in that I picked up the phone and laughed at the person in question, this, and several other emails and phone calls accounted for my morning. I then followed this up with the continuing saga of my youngest daughters bus pass. Oh I haven't told you about this have I? Well it is a long story so I will try to summarise without boring you or swearing, which will take a gargantuan effort. I applied for a bus pass for my youngest in September last year. Two weeks later I received the form back and the cheque advising me that the half empty bus that I see each morning is in fact full up. I asked if the bus operator was called the Marie Celeste, but this seemed to fall on deaf ears. As the weeks of inconvenience continued, I was made more and more aware that the bus was not as they had described it "full". I was collecting my daughter every Monday afternoon and getting a cab, and whilst I waited for her and the cab, I watched as about 6 children got on it and headed off. It has a capacity of 48, it says so on the side. So allowing for my slight mathematical margin of error, their assertion was wrong to the tune of approximately 32. I phoned, and advised them of this, and was told that they had to make pick ups on the way from Point A to Point B. Again, my geography skills are not widely known as anything other than basic, but there are no schools between point A and Point B. I realised though that I was getting nowhere with this particular phone call, and decided to put it into writing, again. Imagine my surprise when the next morning, I received a letter asking if I would like to renew my daughters bus pass, yes, the one we never had. The route they mentioned did indeed start from Point A, but was actually going to Point Z, which is a School that neither myself or my daughter had ever heard of. I phoned again. This time, I spoke to someone who at least understood that there may have been an error. She actually told me that "There might have been an error". I confirmed this with her enthusiastically, and suggested that we moved towards a state of affairs that I like to call "A solution". Somewhere at the other end of the telephone, I heard the sound of what I can now confidently predict, was her brain dying. She suggested that I fill in a form (Which I already had done) for the correct route (Which I already had done), and she would personally ensure that I would receive the holy grail which was my bus pass. With a skip in my step I did this, and heard nothing for two weeks, I then received a letter advising me that the bus was full. At this point, a small part of me died I seem to recall. I telephoned again, and asked to speak to a manager, and on being asked why, I replied that I was concerned that the department in question was misleadingly giving the impression of complete incompetence. As the sound of the "Point" whooshed in one ear and out of the other, she passed me to her supervisor. Her supervisor, then took my details, and promised to look into it and call me back. Three days later, I phoned to ask if she had passed away in the night, only to discover that she had lost my phone number. I suggested that she might find it sitting alongside "My will to live". We moved on though, and she was "Delighted" to advise me, that following an internal audit (Phoning another department) she had ascertained that there was indeed, one place available on the bus, and that she had reserved it for my daughter Amanda. I thanked her for this joyous news, and said that should we decide to have another daughter that I would call her Amanda, but in the meantime could I have it for my daughter who actually exists. This was duly noted. She then asked me to fill out a form (Which I had already done) for the route that I wanted, (Which I had already done). I did this, and sent it off. The letter I received a few days later surprised my in its content, in that it advised that the council no longer had responsibility for that route and that I needed to phone the private company that now had the route. I did this. They asked me to fill out a form. I asked them to email it to me. I received it. It was the same form that I had already filled out. They also asked me for passport photos of my daughter. I decided that I would do that later on in the day after a chat with my new found friend at the council. She was not available, so I spoke to her colleague who advised me that it was correct and that this bus route was indeed in the control of a private company. I asked when this had happened as it seemed awfully sudden, and she advised me that this happened in November. I asked why this wasn't mentioned at any point between November, and now (Which was January) and she advised that they had made a mistake. After congratulating her and her department on the fact that her grasp of understatement was matched only by the department's incompetence, I asked if I could have the managers email address in order that I might register my disappointment. This was given to me, and I dashed off a small essay outlining the brief summary of the debacle that was their departmental practice. I received a phone call the following day. The manager apologised, and again, not wavering, admitted that there had been a mistake. I was beginning to suspect that someone had indeed made a mistake. She went on to advise that they had indeed found my daughter a place on a "Different" bus that was still under council control. I was overjoyed that they had remembered that they also ran another service, on the same route that was almost entirely empty, and cursed their humourous forgetfulness. The lady then told me that a temporary bus pass for the next ten days had been issued to Amanda today. I thanked her, and asked if my daughter could have one too, which she said she would sort out immediately, advising me that she had made a mistake. I then asked what I needed to do about getting a non temporary bus pass. She asked me to fill out a form. At this point I was I am afraid, not very co-operative, and advised that they could use one of the many forms I had already submitted. I posted the cheque for the correct amount to the correct address, which was outlined on all of the forms. All was well. I decided to change my daughters name to Amanda to avoid any further embarrassment for the council, and awaited with child like eagerness the arrival of the permanent bus pass. the ten days passed without any arrival. I phoned, I emailed, but nothing. This brings us to today, some five moths later. They told me that they had indeed received my cheque, but it was sent to the wrong address. I growled a little at this suggestion, and I may have let the side down. I advised that my daughter was now travelling on the route without a valid pass. She advised my that this was not allowed. I asked when the pass would arrive and she said it will take another week. I then requested a new temporary bus pass. She said that I would have to speak to the school, and advise them to speak to the transport department. I did this, and the lady at the school advised my that my daughter should not have been using the service without a pass. I enthusiastically agreed and explained the situation. With her incisive skills, she was able to deduce from all that I told her about the situation, that indeed, the council had "Made a mistake". My daughter has both a new name and a new temporary bus pass. All was then well with the world, up until the point that I had walked the mile and a half to the bus stop, only to receive a call from a friend advising that my daughter had missed the bus and that she was at her house. I exclaimed my disappointment that I had just walked a mile and a half, but thanked her for her assistance, the friend brought my daughter back, She arrived home rather upset, as she had been delayed along with all of her classmates in their last history lesson by the teacher, who also happens to be the headmistress. I phoned the school to ask the lady in the office what had happened. I await a call from the headmistress with excitement and look forward to the explanation as to why a) She delayed the last lesson without holding back the coach b) Why the School didn't phone, and c) Why they allowed my daughter to wander off without really knowing where she was going. My daughter is 11.
The tone for the day was now set, and the rest of it was spent quietly seething. I am sorry if todays post is a little sarcastic, but, as Basil Fawlty once put it...."Just my way of getting through the day dear". I will of course update with further news as and when it arrives.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Monday Monday
Listened to the new Streets album on the morning walk home today. It really lifted the spirits in a way that only Mike Skinner can. He is a bit of a Marmite character in many ways, and I know when I have mentioned my liking of the Streets before I have been criticised heavily, but I just like the humour and the approach. He has a lot of narrative on the songs, which I think people miss due to the lack of love for rap. It is their last album, which is sad, but I love it already. A week of lots of voluntary stuff this week, which the way things have been going lately, fills me with a bit of dread. I have a feeling that this will be the week that I lose my temper with it all...I will try to avoid this at all costs. FAR too many important things in life to worry about without it being spoiled by small mindedness. A good friend of mine gets incredibly frustrated with the voluntary sector, and whilst we both like the feeling that helping can give, I do wonder if it is all worth it some times.
Rehearsals for next weeks shows went ok, though I still have kids who dont know what lines are theirs..I wonder at times!
Talking of lines, I had a better rehearsal tonight and felt like I was able to act a bit, so feeling a little better about it all now. Still not sure I will appear on a stage for a while again though. I'm sure the Nation will refrain from mourning about this for too long. Tuesday is quite a clear day for me by the looks of it apart from a meeting in the evening, so looking forward to it.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Catching Up
My usual lazy Sunday was somewhat hindered by the fact that everyone seemed to be up early and rushing off to do things. This is totally inhuman as far as I am concerned. I then proceeded to spend the day helping with homework, shopping, cooking and doing housework, which seems an awful waste of a Sunday to me. I really need to knuckle down over the next week and get back on top of everything. We currently have one tidy room in the house and it is getting me down a bit.
Over the last two weeks I have walked in excess of 50 miles, which to the untrained eye, may not seem like much really, but it has really taken it out of me. I have noticed that I am sleeping more heavily, and that I am tiring of an evening when I would usually be quite alert. Physically, the shin splints seem better, and the blisters would appear to have gone now, and I am actually feeling pretty good. I wonder if this means I have turned a corner now, and that I can start to enjoy the exercise a little more? Youngest seems to have taken it in her stride, but to be honest, I would hope she did. She is a force of nature in herself, and I had a nice conversation with one of my customers at the weekend, who was talking warmly about her. I find it fascinating to hear of other people's views of her, as I think I am too close to the subject. Her boundless energy and verve are both an inspiration and a joy, but when, as today, I am feeling tired and grumpy, I struggle. I spent most of the day being a little snappy, and it is really not like me. I think I need a break! The kids seemed to let is wash over them, but I don;t think I have been very fair, so I need to sort myself out a bit.
I watched a television programme called "The Promise" last night, and I thought it was one of the most tedious and arduous programmes I have watched in a while. There was no pace, no real sense of drama, and the characters seemed flat, one-dimensional and on the whole, deeply unattractive people. The subject was Israel and Palestine seen through the eyes of several people, but the rather serious subject matter seemed to lead the production team to forget that it also needed to entertain to a degree. I wont be watching the next episode. Instead, I listened to the new album by The Streets. I really shouldn't like them, but I always have, and it is sad that this is to be the last album. I suspect that Mike Skinner will continue with some form of creative project that I like anyway.
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Bang Bang
Our Friday night traditionally end with the consumption of wine. This is not the sign of a problem, but more of a tradition really. When I was young and single, Friday nights were spent in the pub...as we got older and got kids, we would stay in and have a drink with friends, and then as the kids got older, we would take them out for a drink with friends as well. Some of my favourite evenings have been spent in the pub with the Pops family for example, and I miss those evenings. So, the end of the week feeling still remains, and although I work on a Saturday Morning, there is still the same sense of relief that it is Friday night. Last night was spent fighting off the urge to nod off on the sofa, and when everyone had gone to bed, I drifted in and out of consciousness, and a pleasant happy haze. I then got that little spark of, well creativity is perhaps the wrong word, but, well and idea shall we say? I have been trying to find an angle for out forthcoming production of Romeo and Juliet. We wanted a contemporary take on it, but with traditional text, and it has been leaving me a little flat. The idea of two rival gangs of hoodies would have worked, but in all honesty, it left me feeling a little cold. Well for some reason, the idea of a spaghetti western theme popped up on Friday night, and by the time today had finished, the idea was virtually fully formed in my mind. It even got so far as me playing lots of Ennio Morricone music, and getting rather thrilled at the prospect. I would love to know how the creative process works. Sometimes, things just appear from nowhere, and in my case, that has regularly, though not always, been associated with either having had a drink, or having been out walking. I wonder if the same senses are stimulated, or relaxed by these two varying experiences? My sense of stimulation is so important to me, and yet I know little about how it works, and just rely on things "Popping up" at the right moment. I wonder if I can train myself to create the right environment more? The trouble is, that if I follow this to its logical conclusion, based on current evidence, if I run a marathon a day and become an alcoholic, I will turn into Shakespeare himself. Perhaps it needs a little more thought.
Week over
The time seems to be flying by at the moment, and I am not sure that this is necessarily a good thing. The to do list gets longer and my temper shorter at times like this, and I feel like the world is closing in around me at times. Having said all of that, there is still a huge undertow of optimism as well. Contradictory? Well probably, but that's me I suppose. Tomorrow sees a big demonstration by the EDL in Luton, and of course a counter demonstration by an anti fascist organisation. I fear for the people of Luton living in such an atmosphere, and it saddens me to hear young people speaking highly of the EDL. I wonder how much of this nasty rhetoric they pick up from ignorant parents? Probably most of it, but then, I suppose I am guilty if my children become "lefty liberals" as well? It is a difficult one for me. I am, opinionated as this blog amply demonstrates, but I do try my hardest not to tell my kids what to think. We have tried very hard to give them the tools to make up their own minds, and draw their own conclusions, but we must have done it with some kind of bias over the years. What would I do for example, if one of them grew up into Conservative voter? I think I would struggle. If I think back to my adolesence and my constant arguments about politics with my grandfather, it would fill me with horror to think of my kids thinking about me, the way I felt about him. He was a socialist at heart, and I think a lot of my left wing leanings originate from hearing him speak and pontificate, but there was another side to him. He was a racist, plain and simple. His arguments veered from anecdotal; "You should try working with black people, they are all lazy", to the ridiculous "If they are the same as us, why do you never see good black swimmers"? I actually despised him at times for these views, and I hope that my kids will never feel the same about me. It raises the question though, can you ever be a truly close friend with someone who's views are poles apart from your own? Perhaps it is immaturity on my part, but I don't think I could have a close and happy relationship with someone with right wings views. I've not even got onto the subject of football or religion!
Friday, 4 February 2011
Beautiful day
There was a spring in my heavily blistered step this morning walking back from the bus stop. It was a crisp morning with bright sunshine, and it changes my mood almost instantly. The rest of the day was spent catching up on admin and updating spreadsheets, which whilst it can be tedious, was well worth doing. I also spent some time on my lines, and I think my neighbours may have thought there was an argument going on, as I worked on my closing monologue again and again. I am slightly disappointed at my inability to learn lines, especially considering the amount of nagging I do to others in the same position. It has also made me consider how much I want to act in the future. The buzz that I have got in the past is not really as significant as it used to be. Is that because of the roles I have been playing lately or is it simply that I have realised that I get more out of the other side of the process? Having experienced watching something that I have written being performed, my mind has gone into overdrive as to what I would like to do next. Whether there is a large degree of vanity involved or not I am not sure, but It is something that I have thoroughly enjoyed. I would not go as far as to say that what I have written is very good, but I am quite proud of my decision with the second play. It was far more of a stream of consciousness than the first one, and as a result, it could have been open to a lot of criticism, Coupled with the fact that it was performed by a less experienced cast and overseen by a first time director, and I think it was actually quite a brave decision to try it that way. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it was certainly a successful project. I do not get the same satisfaction from performing though. It might be that I am a control freak and that I find that a lack of control over the whole production is frustrating. I am not arrogant about theatre, but I do know what I think works, and what I like. Consequently, if I see someone else doing something that I don not care for, I find myself biting my bottom lip and not focusing enough on what I am doing. As a Director, you can influence the whole play, as an actor, it is more difficult. We shall see how the rehearsal goes tonight.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Blisters
Why is it that you can walk and walk for days, and then for no apparent reason a blister pops up? I have, as my reader knows, been walking for six miles a day, and after the pains of the first few days, I seemed to get into a rhythm, and the pain subsided. So imagine my surprise when a new blister popped up for no reason today. I have a day off from the walk tomorrow, which is perhaps for the best. I spent a satisfying day doing some tidying, and getting up to date with housework. I like the feeling that a good tidy up can give you, though I feel envious of the poor souls who keep a tidy and spotless house....they will never know the joy that I felt today.
I spent some of the day watching the riots in Egypt. The beauty of twitter is that I was able to look at a few different streams, and see some different perspectives, but it just seemed so unreal. My old schoolfriend has flown out to Cairo today as he works for the BBC News department. I hope he stays safe. I read that he had arrived there just a matter of minutes after reading that some CNN reporters had been attacked. It must be a hell of a job. I am glad that our media have chosen to give such coverage to the Egyptian situation, as there seems to be a lack of coverage to things happening in other countries.
Happy February
So my driving lessons are continuing, and I have realised that I have not really mentioned them in the blog for a while. I started off by stating that I had confidence issues, and as a result, I didn't want to rush the process and get through the test as quickly as possible. As a result of this, I suspect I will be taking a fair few lessons, but I feel this is worth it. As it stands, I can now hop into a car and happily drive, though how much of my bravado is down to the fact that my instructor is sat next to me with dual controls I don't know. My instructor now feels that I am good enough to start getting theory tests sorted out, so I have things to arrange. On passing my test there will then be the whole issue of what vehicle I drive....it's all a bit scary really. Anyway, confidence is a fragile thing, and the very first thing I did in the lesson today was to pull out in front of a motorbike, and as a result,m I think it was my edgiest lesson. Just as my confidence starts to build, there is always something to knock it. I shall be interested to see what I am like next week.
In other news, I have been processing videos off the shows from the weekend, and because I wrote them, I can freely distribute them, which is very exciting. They were only recorded on my new little flip, but the quality is not at all bad. I have been struggling to find a way to stream the video without splitting it up and putting it on YouTube. You Tube only allows ten minute videos. I have discovered something called Vimeo, so I am trying that and I will report back. It is a relief to be able to video a show without fear of copyright breach or licensing issues, and it is something that I am looking forward to doing more of. I just have to get more writing done!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
One month down
So I have managed at least one post a day for a month, which when I look back at my workload is no mean feat. Sadly, much of it was rubbish, but that is the whole point....I don't want to moderate it and just write interesting things, it needs to be a bit of a stream of consciousness for it to work. The last day of January was spent chasing my tail largely. The time machine that appeared to make the days go slowly was now on fast forward, and I ended up running around like a bull in a china shop trying to catch up. I got all the important jobs done though, and the atmosphere in the house seems a little better after our meltdown. Perhaps we all needed a little bit of loud shoutiness to clear the air? February still feels special to me as it contains my birthday. The little boy in me still has that little twinge of anticipation, which is odd really. The month has, for the last 16 years been shared with eldest, which makes it even nicer, but I do not want to think about having a 17 year old daughter too much for it scares me like a big ghosty thing with tentacles. Expect many postings in late February on the subject of the passing of time.
I will be out on the roads again tomorrow, and whilst I never really look forward to the lessons, I do feel much more confident getting into a car now. I do not think it will be long before I am thinking of taking a test which is going to be an interesting prospect. My major concern about driving is that I will turn into a complete slob, and not ever walk again. I must avoid this at all costs. Whilst I have spent much of my life being a skinny rake, middle age spread has started to kick in, and I do have to watch what I eat and drink.
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