We are fast heading towards winter, and leaves have built up in the garden, the holly bushes are heavy with berries and the birds are being fed again. I have always liked the Autumn into winter period, and I am looking forward to it again. The clocks went back last night, and so I felt even more rested than usual today. I read the paper and generally had a relaxed morning, and then we hopped into the car to go and pick up the display units. In the end I gave the very pleasant old man £20 for it all, which filled up our car. It is excellent, and will be more useful than I anticipated, with it's optional shelving. I think we could fill a stage with it all, and it is going to be extremely flexible. So pleased! We then settled down with a roast slowly cooking, a couple of beers and watched Spurs play the beautiful game. I just love watching them at the moment. So many exciting players. I remember watching them as a child and being excited when Hoddle or Ardilles got the ball...or in later years Gascoigne or Waddle. This team has several players who are exciting on the ball, and seem to be playing the game attractively and successfully. This will of course never last! Bale, Parker, Lennon, Van der Vaart, Adebayor...Assou Ekotto, Walker....all over the pitch they seem to have players who can do things with a bit of style. I can't wait for the next game! I watched Paranormal Activity 2 in the evening. I am an idiot.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Saturday 29th October
And so we enter a weekend with little in the way of plans. We ran the session in the morning which was gorgeous as usual. Then we relaxed into a bit of televised football, and then went off to see Mrs Plug's exhibition before it is dismantled. She had another healthy set of sales, and all in all can look back at the last week or so with a lot of pride. I hope it spurs her on to keep plugging away at it. I bought a picture at the exhibition for her to say thank you. A rather delightful Pastel study of a lake with a boat on it. Some of the standard of work is really excellent at a local level. In the evening we watched all sorts of dreadful Saturday night nonsense, and I then actually had an early night! This will never catch on, but I think last night's documentary marathon caught up with me.
Friday 28th October
Another quiet day today, and the last one for a week I would suspect. I managed to get a little more planning etc done, but finding getting into the groove of everything a little difficult at the moment. I am sure it will all be back to normal soon. I have won some "Display Units" on ebay for a silly price of £16.99. They are designed for conferences and stalls really, but give me the flexibility to use them for scenery. I suspect that I have bought a bargain, but until Sunday I will not know the truth. Fortunately they are in a nearby village, so they will be cheap to collect. This is mainly for the forthcoming Macbeth rewrite. I am rather a long way down the line in terms of organising that, so to get the scenery sorted in advance will be excellent. We ran a good session in the evening, which was again relaxed, but very funny, and then collapsed into take away Pizza and wine in the evening. I sat up until silly o clock watching documentaries on Creation Records and then Rough Trade.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Thursday 27th October
I wrote yesterday about some projects that I would like to take part in, but the lack of available time concerned me. This became even more apparent yesterday when working on a voluntary project that we have all become involved in. We have, to date, spent over 100 hours of our time devoted to this particular project, and I would never begrudge it. However, when some of the other participants don't seem to show any commitment, or even seem to care, it makes me question my participation. There are of course a large number of people who ARE committed and ARE playing a valuable part in the whole project, but it is the few who can really let the side down. It's a shame.
We spent a quiet day today, eldest was working, and we had a quiet session as it's half term. I always enjoy the half term sessions, they are very relaxed and have a demob happy feel about them.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
The websites I mentioned earlier
Just in case any of my loyal and talented readers wanted to investigate further...here are the websites that tell you all about it
http://www.nanowrimo.org Wednesday 26th October
It is at about this time each year that I get sent many emails from NaNoWrimo and NaPlwrimo. "What are you talking about?" I hear you cry dear reader, well let me tell you. Nanowrimo started out a fair few years back with the intention of encouraging people to write a novel in a month. Ridiculous though it may seem, It became very popular, and had over 200000 participants last year. If you hadn't already guessed, November is the month in question, and people are gearing up to write. I have always been tempted with it, and have started on two occasions, narrowly failing to reach the 50000 word deadline, by approximately 49500 words each time. Naplwrimo is a play version of this and seems to me to be far more achievable. However, November is a rather busy month for me, in that I have two assignments to hand in, a Play to produce and perform in, two new clubs to start and a couple of new sessions to start. Am I mad even considering this? Why don't I leave it till December and just start by myself? The whole point of this scheme is that you can "Socialise" with other writers online and compare notes etc...It sounds ghastly to me, but I am strangely drawn to it. The whole aspect of writing this little blog each day has helped me enormously, and I wonder whether the freedom of writing either a full length play or a novel might do me good? There would be little if no time to edit, worry or stress about the details, and the freedom of that....just writing for the sake of it might be a great experience for me. The rules are quite specific, in that you cannot write something that you have already worked on, and you are supposed to log in each week to update the website on your progress. Of course, I doubt that there will be any form of prosecution should you fail on either of these, but I do suspect that it would be worth abiding by them. I am very tempted. By writing 1700 words a day, you would complete a novel. The five minutes it has taken me to write this blog so far, means I am already a fifth of my way to the daily total. Of course, if the novel was just this, It would be pretty dreadful, but the point remains that it is far more achievable than my first impression. Perhaps that WOULD be a good novel? A month in the life of a non-entity would be a good title! Of course, You don't have to write every day...there will be days where real life gets in the way, or that poor substitute that I sometimes refer to as a life. As you can tell, I have almost certainly already decided to do this. On top of the 1700 words a day of course, I would also need to keep up with the blog, which might then turn out to be me moaning about how appalling my novel is, and asking why on earth I started this when I have better things to do with my time? If for example I wrote the full length play, it might then serve as a draft for next years production based on Peter Pan? Oh questions and quandrys be gone!!! I need to make a decision.
Myself and youngest went to Luton today to pay money into the bank and to do a little shopping and Father daughter bonding. I am never sure about such things, but I suspect that she is a genius. She is just the best company for a 12 year old, and makes me burst with laughter and pride all at once. In the evening we had a Christmas Show meeting and then curled up in front of the latest Attenborough documentary. A pleasant day all round!
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Tuesday 25th October
The half term continues, and we spend a bit of time today just chatting and catching up in general. Mrs Plug has been delighted with the response at her exhibitions, and five pieces being sold at the local one has exceeded all our expectations. We spent a pretty lazy day if I am being honest, which I always feel a little guilty about. I am suffering a little at the moment. I have one of those periods on intense and overwhelming creativity that gets me from time to time. That might seem like a good thing, but it is a little overwhelming and very hard to control. It is what I imagine being possessed is like. Everything seems enhanced and exciting. That sounds like a wonderful thing I suppose, but it can be quite debilitating and can be a little all consuming. That's great if you are locked away in a cottage somewhere with only a laptop to focus on, but I am not is that position. I have a family and a business to think of. The trouble with this is that it can last for months at a time, and can be exhausting. All I can do is to try and fight it whilst taking as many notes as I can!!! I struggle to sleep when this happens, so I am going to try and avoid caffeine and alcohol in any great amount. By the time the evening arrives we have decided to eat out, so we pop off to Wagamamas. This is a particular favourite of the Swiss Family Plug, and we were not at all disappointed. It was good to spend a little time together just the four of us. We got back fairly early, and everyone disappeared off to bed fairly quickly. I sat up and failed to read, and eventually woke up at silly o clock in the armchair. Lets hope for some improvement in this tomorrow!
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Monday 24th October
Early start for eldest who is off to work for the day. She is being paid to scare children in the halloween exhibition at the local Farm. The Farm is a local attraction and has all sorts of events going on, so she gets a good few days work at the end of it. Good for the CV as well. I spent the day continuing to tidy, happy in the knowledge that the return of the family later today will mean more chaos and carnage. At least I suppose we will have a fairly clean slate to start with. I then managed to have a few hours to myself to sort out various other work related bits and pieces before we set off for the evening's work. I was able to catch some of the debate on Europe going on in the House of Commons and didn't get too worked up by the reptilian bile being spouted by the same old faces. Both sides of the argument seem incapable of reasoned debate, but then they get on their high horse when they are criticised for it. I saw my beloved local MP in the midst of it all. It would appear that she voted against the government on this, and in effect has talked her way out of selection come the next election. This is good news, and I hope that we will at least get an mp who represents her constituents. Perhaps I am far too optimistic to expect such a thing, but I can live in hope. All went well with the weekend for Mrs Plug and youngest, and we are all back together again now. I hope she gets more sales at the exhibition tomorrow.
Monday, 24 October 2011
Sunday 23rd October
With no family in the house, I fully expected to have a lie in this morning. There was no reason to be disturbed. Mrs Plug had only got two hours sleep on Friday night whilst camping, so I expected no disturbances from her for example. Eldest was staying at her friends house after the club. I went to bed at around one o clock, and I think slept pretty much straight away. I received a text from eldest at 2.30 telling me she was at her friends house and all was well. This woke me up, but it was good to see she was fine. I then struggled to get back to sleep, as the newborn baby next door seems to have a pair of lungs that would make Shirley Bassey sound like a Dormouse. Eventually though, I think I managed to get off by around half past Three. I then had the pleasure of hearing some young gentlemen of the Town discussing what they had done to who and how they did it. I an only assume that the athleticism with which they described their sexual exploits was not matched with the reality of the situation, as no matter how good they thought they might be....it was them who were wandering the streets at four O Clock In the morning. I managed to drop of finally and was delighted to receive news at 7.45 am that my wife had indeed, slept much better last night. The worry of this had clearly been keeping me awake all night. I got up at ten o clock, and read the papers, drank coffee and generally lazed around. For some reason I was feeling a little less than rested. I tidied around a bit, and felt that I had earned a rest, so settled down for an afternoon of football. Eldest returned home mid afternoon, and we enjoyed a curry together in the evening. We watched Derren Brown who fascinates me. I have enjoyed his books n other on the subject of hypnosis a great deal, and find that certain aspects can be used in drama/theatre. Everyone return home tomorrow, and we can continue with our lives!
Saturday 22nd October
The family are all out and about today. Mrs Plug and Youngest have travelled down to Wimborne in Dorset for the Annual food festival. This is not a demonstration of the lengths to which they will go for some free food, rather that Mrs Plug has a stall to sell her Ceramics. Since her decision to really try and make a go of being an artist, all of her efforts have been geared towards this weekend. She has another exhibition locally over the weekend as well. No sales would mean a huge kick in the teeth for her. I have spent the last few weeks trying to prepare for the worst. This is not because I don't believe in what she does...far from it. I do worry bout the economic climate though. Her work is beautiful, but I wonder if it will be top of the priority list for disposable income over the coming months. Today would be an early indicator. Eldest was off working all day (Scaring small children for a Halloween event) so I went off to work alone in a cab, awaiting the first text of misery saying that no-one was buying. I was delighted that at five past ten (It opened at Ten) I received the first text advising of a sale. In the end, she sold nine pieces and came away with a huge smile on her face (I imagine) and a sense that maybe she can do this. We await news of the other exhibition (Although I doubt that this one will make anywhere near the same sales). Eldest arrived home from work, and rushed off to get glammed up for a party that she was going to in the evening. She looked absolutely stunning. This is the girl who has no self confidence of course...perhaps that is part of her charm? I took her down to the gentle pleasant surroundings of Luton on the train to drop her off t the nightclub. There were two big burly bouncers who checked her for ID etc....I stood some way away watching, and feeling so very old all of a sudden. I am not worried by age, in fact I am rather enjoying it. There seems to me to be less pressure on you to behave in a certain way. I do however worry when I see the way the two bouncers looked at her! I went home and watched and Episode of a series called "The Fades" which seems to be quite good, however, my gallop into old age continues relentlessly and I fall asleep half way through.
Friday 21st October
I have spent many hours hunched over various notebooks (The paper kind) and Notebooks (The electronic kind over the years. Various PCs have been purchased, and all sorts of software. All of these efforts have cost thousands of pounds, and all for what? Well I have always harboured a dream to write two words...."The End". I have managed this on three occasions in all these years, and they have all been plays. I would love to write "The End" at the completion of my first novel, but that is some way away. I have started to write three novels, and all of them have fallen by the wayside for a number of reasons. Thankfully in all cases I can hold my head high and say that it has not been prevarication that has delayed the completion. In all cases they have just been a bit....well....crap is the only word I can think of that accurately sums it up. The plays however have been a different kettle of fish all together. Perhaps because of their brevity? My first one was written very quickly. The nature of it was such that I was able to write quickly. It was an episodic, almost sketch based play, and I enjoyed the speed of completion. I followed this with my second play which was very similar, and again, quick to finish. On both occasions it felt wonderful to type those two words. The third occasion was my pantomime. This was a little different, as I spent a much longer time in completing it. Looking back, I think that this was because of the lack of joy with which I went about the task. I dislike pantomimes, and I think that came across in some of the writing. It was a long pantomime, and it needed to be to cater for the groups performing it. I will condense it down to a two act panto at some point soon, because I think that it shows some promise in places, but not in its current form. The typing of the two words at the end of this were a huge relief, and not borne out of too much joy. SO that brings me to today, and the fourth occasion for typing the two words. I finished the Macbeth rewrite. I managed to illicit a few giggles on Facebook when I said that I was rewriting it as the original was a bit crap. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process and have one or two other that I think might suit the same treatment. However, on this occasion I will focus on getting this one right. We are producing it next year with my older group, and it will mark the farewell for some of them who have been with me from the start. I think that fact alone has produced a slightly better play than it would have been otherwise. I workshopped the final part with the group tonight, and then I will settle down to edit and polish for the next week, as well as cast it. The play is called "Screw your Courage" which I rather like, as it is a line from the original that I have reassigned! I shall keep all my dear readers up to date with news of it.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Thursday 20th October
The house is a hubbub of activity and energy with Mrs Plug preparing for two exhibitions, and the big Christmas show on the way. I have also been getting a lot of interest in our two new after school sessions, and have lots of positive feedback with everything else at the moment. Scripts are being printed and meetings arranged when the new comes through from Libya that Gadaffi has been captured. This unconfirmed report then changes to Gadaffi being dead. There are the traditional scenes of machine guns being fired into the air, and much celebration. What followed however, actually shocked me. Sky News, and then the BBC showed mobile phone footage of his last minutes of life, and then images of his blood drenched corpse. This was all at gone three in the afternoon when schools are turning out, and kids are coming in. I wonder why this footage was deemed necessary? I just do not accept the defence that the question of validity of information is a reason to show a corpse. I think most of us will happily accept the word of the news agency in question. The footage was repeated time and time again, and whilst I accept that they did issue a warning, I wonder how many young people were subjected to it, whilst Mum was on the phone for example. The press and the media in general are quick to shout moral repugnancy over issues such as swearing, sexualisation of children etc etc however the bloodied corpse of a man, or his last few minutes of terrified existence do not seem to be subject to the same moral fortitude. I despair. The front pages of the papers are revealed late on, and are breathtaking in their disgraceful attitude. These images of a gnarled, twisted and haunted face of a corpse will adorn the shelves of every newsagent and supermarket in the country, and for what? I am not surprised about the tabloids, but the broadsheets did the same. It saddens me. I will not defend Gadaffi of course. He was a reprehensible individual, who brought his own downfall. I do not believe in the death sentence though. None of that is relevant however. I just cannot fathom the justification for the publication of that footage and those images on prime Time television.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Wednesday 19th October
I am struggling with sleeping again, though I think it might be for all the right reasons. My brain will not stop churning over, so I hope that lots of good creative stuff spews forth into the sickbag of art. What an unpleasant way of describing it. I spent much of today writing letters to new prospective parents telling them how wonderful we are. I am not always comfortable with such things, but, have to concede that I have improved in this area over the years. Perhaps because of the pride I feel in having survived as a small business I fond it easier? Who knows? I delivered the letters, and then prepared an average curry for the assorted small people and large in the house. I then watched a little television, read some of the Julian Barnes book "A Sense of an ending" which has won this years Booker prize. It is a short book, so it will not take long to read, but I shall report back with interest. I have another of his books that I have yet to tackle, called Arthur and George which is excellent by all accounts, So I am hoping that I like his writing! It is always good to find an author that you like. I also read some of Shaun Ryder's new book, which I think will provide me with some contrast to say the very least. I then settled down with a degree of excitement to watch the Holy Flying Circus. I was so very disappointed. What started out as a promising attempt at telling the story of the "Outrage" caused by The Life of Brian, ended up being an unintentional parody. The criticisms that the clergyman and Malcolm Muggeridge had of the film could far more comfortably have been aimed at this programme. It was "typical undergraduate humour" to coin a phrase. For some inexplicable reason, Michael Palin's wife was taken by the character of Terry Jones in drag, and whilst the performances were accurate in terms of characterisation, they could go nowhere because of the shackles placed on them by the script. John Cleese was played excellently by Darren Boyd, but that was the problem...it wasn't John Cleese, it was Basil Fawlty. This was acknowledged by a little dream sequence section, but this made it no less infuriating. I wanted to see the characters explored, not a second rate version of a Python Sketch. There were hints of it, and that is what made it all the more frustrating. A Taxi driver mentioned character in the latter stages of the programme mentioned that the problem with the sketch format was that it is hot and miss, well I think that hit the nail on the head for this show. It was almost sketch based, and didn't really work for me.
I was also interested to hear mention of the word "Mong" in the show. There has been a bit of a Twitter Storm over the last few days as a result of that word. Ricky Gervais uses it regularly as an insult, and many people have called him on it. Comedian and writer Richard Herring has written a beautiful explanation of why he feels that Gervais is wrong, and does so far more eloquently than I can muster. I just wonder whether irony is sometimes used as an excuse for being small minded and nasty. I think Gervais is close to the edge sometimes, and as a result, he slips on the wrong side of what should be acceptable. Much like Frankie Boyle, I find a lot of what he does to be funny and clever. This time however, I think he is wrong. When you hear the word "mong" you instantly associate it with Down's Syndrome. It is not a word that has been "Reclaimed", or changed. I recently argued with David Baddiel and Jonathan Ross on twitter about the use of the word "yid" at Tottenham. I felt that it could be argued that the word HAS been reclaimed by football fans at Tottenham and is now used as a positive. They both argued, politely and eloquently that the word still has far too many negative connotations to be reclaimed in this way. I am still not sure about that, but am open to persuasion. However, I would have hoped thta both of them would decry Gervais for use of the word "mong", and neither has. Perhaps their celebrity friendship prevents them from doing so..we shall never know I suspect. I would just hope that rather than wasting many hours trying to justify the use of the word, that Gervais might spend a little of his time and money in helping a disabled charity.
Tuesday 18th October
After finally securing the delivery of the correct toner cartridge, I was able to pop into Luton to pay in some hard earned money. Whilst there I was able to pop into the discount book shop and found a Monty Python book. This is added to the biography that I picked up last week in the local charity shop. I am in the planning stages of a Python based script (This was the one that was requested by the pro writers) so these came in very handy. It is also interesting that the Tony Roche (He off of The Thick of It) has written a comedy about the Life of Brian furore which screens on Wednesday. I am not sure whether I just get lucky with things like this or not. I was studying Emile Zola for my degree last year, and there was one book on the reading list that was very difficult to come by and very expensive when you did. The cheapest I could find it was £60 second hand...which I was never going to spend on a single book. That weekend we were at the In-Laws, and we happened to do a little trawl of the local charity shops, and there it was, on the shelf...a first edition. I imagine it is worth well over £100, and I got it for £1.50. I don't really believe in fate and all of that old guff, so I think it is just that my brain is geared to keep an eye out for such things, but it is always a pleasant surprise when it works that way. The book I found today told the story of their live outings, and it seems to be quite interesting. Whether any of this translates into a worthwhile, and lets face it, sell-able script, I do not know. After seeing Mr and Mrs Pops yesterday, I have been looking forward to eating out with them this evening, and we got the added bonus of a brief but lovely visit from the new parents and their new born little girl. She really is a beauty, though considering the parents, that is no surprise. I am so excited for them all. It was a real privilege to witness a tiny part of the joy they are experiencing. It brought back so many memories of when our two were born. We had a really good evening, and as always, I felt a little sad when we had to say goodbye, but I just get the feeling we might be seeing a little more of eachother over the coming years.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Monday 17th October
I have spent most of the day chasing up a delivery and collection that all went wrong on Friday. I managed to keep fairly calm for most of this, and I think that was in no small part due to the visit of Mr and Mrs Pops who are down to see their new grand daughter. They seem SO happy that it made us happy. A good afternoons work followed by a busy evening of a session followed straight away by a rehearsal for the adults. I felt exhausted and frustrated at the lack of time I had to do my own thing this evening. I am looking forward to going out to dinner with the Pops family tomorrow night.
Sunday 16th October
Awoken by Mrs Plug's typing at 8.00, I slipped out of my slumber with joy in my heart...well something like that. Mrs Plug could not sleep, so it was nice to be able to join her in this sleeplessness and share the experience. We still stayed in bed watching her being ill for a few hours. I read the paper on the iPad. Nothing of any interest happened yesterday apparently, but it still took me two hours to establish this. I got up, went shopping, and then carried our old TV up to the top of the house for youngest to have in her room. It nearly killed me. I have never carried such a heavy item. I hope she enjoys it. I then put the dinner on, watched the Spurs match at Newcastle, got mildly irritated at the last minute loss of a goal and eventual draw. We ate, and then collapsed in front of the television. A really lazy Sunday
Saturday 15th October
A freezing cold morning session due to the Churches policy of needing at least three fatalities due to hypothermia before the heating comes on. We kept them on their feet and moving, and had a fun session with, thankfully, no fatalities. The afternoon was spent doing a little tidying, watching a little Tivo based football, although it did suggest "In the Night Garden" as an alternative. We ate junk food and watched Junk television in the evening, and all went to bed early. Most of the ladies of the house have some sort of cold based horrors, so I shall look forward to catching all of them later in the week. Eldest got a job, working at a local "Attraction". They have a Halloween based event for a couple of weeks and her acting skills were required to go and be scary to small children. In the event, her first day was spent working in the shop instead, which displeased her, but the life of work can be a cruel one. I have no doubt that her child scaring skills will be called upon next week.
Friday 14th October
Our new installation seemed to go smoothly, and other than a few channels going missing for a while, everything seems tickety boo. I am not sure I really needed 100mb broadband, or that I am getting anywhere near the speeds that I should be, but I shall continue to keep an eye on it. The Tivo box seems like fun, but I think I may be too old for it all now. It all seems a little....well....complicated. I now have the option to click a button if I like a TV programme, or, on the other hand if I dislike it, there is a another button. They are thumbs up and thumbs down. I felt like a Roman Empire holding the very future of the life of the programme in my hands. I feel this power might go to my head...after all, who am I to decide the future of such things. Annoyingly, I discovered that this feature was really only there so that Tivo (It already has a personality) can recommend new programmes based on my thumbs up recommendations...irritatingly, I had just been messing around with it, so Lord alone knows what delights are going to be served up to me. I then spent the afternoon writing more script, because I love the feeling of dread and self loathing that leaving things to the last minute gives me. However, as usual, I managed to pull it out of the bag as it were. A good rehearsal then ensued, and we were home in time for tea, and Tivo based fun.
Thursday 13th October
This morning, after finishing off the iPhone upgrade I then upgraded the iPad...it only took a couple of hours, and all went smoothly. I did not, touch wood, experience some of the horror stories that others had endured. All the music and photos being wiped, all the apps disappearing, first born child being sold into slavery....that kind of thing. Was it worth it all? Well it seems quite useful, and I can now read my favourite newspaper online properly. Not really worth all the hype, but then, how much of it really is? We have been waiting for our friends Mr and Mrs Pops to be able to announce that they have become Grandparents for a while, so we were really excited to see them and Mrs and Mrs Pops Junior announce that things appeared to be happening! I actually found myself pacing at one point. They really are all very dear people, and we were on edge until they announced the birth of a healthy happy daughter. It was nice to experience, however remotely, a small taste of real human joy. It made me smile for the rest of the day.
Wednesday 12th October
I phoned Virgin Media today on my mobile. I couldn't get to speak to a person, but then received an automated message from them. This told me that my appointment was due (I knew this) tomorrow (I knew this as well). It told me that there was a fault on my line (I knew this, but I questioned the logic of calling me on the apparently faulty phone to tell me this...It was an automated voice though, and consequently didn't reply...silly me). It asked if I would like to keep the appointment. I chose the "No" option. It told me I had chosen the "No" option (I knew this). It asked me to confirm that I knew this. I did confirm this because, as previously mentioned, I had chosen this option. It told me that the appointment for Friday had been cancelled. Imagine how I laughed, when I realised that I had not actually cancelled the engineer who was coming out to fix the fault that had remedied the problem, but the appointment for my new installation of the upgraded broadband service! How I laughed as I listened to the Kooks for half an hour whilst waiting to speak to someone. To my horror, I got thrrough to someone who was able to remedy the situation immediately! I was overjoyed.
In order to relax and calm down, I then chose to upgrade my iPhone and my iPad to the new IOS5 operating system. The world of Twitter was of course full of very angry young men...well I am making a rather sweeping generalisation, that they are all geeky little fan boys. We had all eagerly awaited the upgrade for several weeks and today was the day. However, as with all Apple upgrades, we had to wait until six on the evening. It was not without a sense of futility that I attempted to log into iTunes at six to see of I could upgrade. I eventually had an upgraded mobile at about none the next morning, although I hasten to add, I did not stay up all night, I left it to merrily do its business. It failed seven or eight times before I was succesful. I did no work today.
Tuesday 11th October
The winter is almost certainly here now, and heating is turned on to take off the chill. We have a problem with our phone and TV service, which has been getting increasingly worse. I have always defended Virgin Media for their service, and we have rarely had any serious problems. However, I can really do without a phone dying on me at the moment. after hanging on hold for about half an hour, I was of course ready to kill. Three songs...in fact three half songs were on strict rotation. One of them was the Kooks....this is nothing short of torture on a par with Guantanamo bay in my very humble opinion. Eventually, I received some relief in the form of a young lady who I believe may have been speaking from another country. I always try my hardest to speak about local issues when speaking to a an International Call centre...I feel it helps to integrate. Anyway..I digress. After a series of intense and fraught interview type questions, we established that the lack of ring tone on my phone, and the huge pixelation and freezing of the picture on my television service was, indeed, indicative of a problem. The young lady advised me that not only was there a problem on the line, that it could be a serious fault. This was good to hear. We agreed that a course of action that involved a cure for my phone based malaise might be sensible. In the end, we booked an engineer. We bade eachother a tearful goodbye, and yes...I think we had a little connection there. Ironically, within ten minutes of saying goodbye, both services were fully restored. I love life sometimes.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Monday 10th October
As I stated in my additional bumper bonus blog post yesterday, It was really exciting to find that my plays are being performed in the States. It turned out that two US schools have bought the rights to it, but as yet, there is only one planning performances at the moment. Perhaps I have found my market? Ironic really considering my attitude to the states over the years. Work continues on scripts and ideas, and with Mrs Plug turning out some beautiful work at the moment, it feels like a healthy and vibrant artistic environment. Eldest is off sick at the moment, and I think all of us are feeling a little under the weather, perhaps a sign of the sudden change in temperature? Had a meeting with the old business adviser today, and all seems to be going well I think. I have a long list of things to do, and he had some interesting ideas on the right approach to take. A good session in the evening, and then watched a documentary of ceramics with Mrs Plug, which was like pornography for her! Fascinating programme, and good to be able to compare her work to the established greats. I think it was a favourable comparision.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Stateside
I had to blog again as I have just received news that my two plays that were published last year are going to be performed in the United States. 2 performances of each one in November! I am stupidly happy about this....not just because I will get a few quid for it, but more because someone has liked them enough to perform them. When I sat at the dining room table with the laptop all those months ago, I didn't foresee Michigan as being a place that they might be performed. I am going to contact the High School and ask if they are planning on filming them? I would LOVE to see them! They have been performed as a workshop piece in Northern Ireland, by us in the UK, by a School in Germany as part of an English speaking competition, and now in the States. I wanted to scream all over twitter and facebook with excitement but thought it would come across as a bit smug! So I shall do it on here instead!
Sunday 9th October
There is clearly something wrong with me. It seems that I am unable to have a lie-in anymore. The last time this happened I was feeling depressed, and I am pretty sure that's not the case at the minute. I'm having one of those phases where loads of ideas are floating around, so I think that is the reason. Infuriating though. I spent the morning reading, Updating iPhones etc, and re-arranging my bag. I was bought a "Man-Bag" as a gift by the cast when we did Earnest last year. I really like it, and it has become a permanent fixture for me, containing, as it does, so many gadgets/tools etc. Well as I use it for work as well, it does tend to get filled up with various scraps of paper and other oddities. I cleared it out, and organised it today, and it now houses my complete "How to be a Geek on the road" kit! How very satisfying that it.
We have been chatting quite a bit lately about how we coped with the last year's stresses and strains, and decided that by way of a little thank-you to the girls we would take them out for a meal. We decided on the Dewdrop Inn, an inexpensive Chinese restaurant in Ampthill that myself and Mrs Plug have tried before. It was a pleasant evening, marred slightly by the fact that eldest was feeling ill, and the table next to us contained what I can only describe as the Daily Mail Hitler Youth reunion society. The table of four well turned out pensioners looked fairly harmless when they arrived, but after hearing the way they spoke to the staff, I was left in no doubt that they had a problem with either staff in general, or more worryingly, anyone who "Look foreign". I hope it wasn't the latter, but suspect that it was. They were absolutely revolting. Even basic manners were discarded in favour of ignorance and rudeness. I was pleased to say that my girls put them to shame with their good manners and smiles when being served.
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Friday 7th October
Another day spent writing, and after a few interruptions I was able to get to roughly half way through the script. I am finding the process rather interesting. In essence, the plot is already written, so my process is teaching me more about the rewriting process. Were I writing a play from scratch, I would not necessarily have the plot outlined to the same degree of detail, so this would mean that I would be concentrating more on that than the dialogue for example. Writing this feels like I am a passenger rather than a driver. The driver might be aware of the beautiful scenery as he hurtles along the road, but his major focus is the road. As a passenger on this, I am able to spend more time with the characters, and enjoy the view. My major concern so far is that I may have been a little too gimmicky with some of the techniques I have employed. I have stolen one idea from a play we saw a while back called "In the Red and Brown Water" by Tarell Alvin McCraney. The production took place in a large "Water Tank" in the Young Vic. The actors spent the whole production ankle deep in water to varying degrees of success I will admit. However, one of the techniques that was used, was the main characters reading out their stage directions, which I found to be really entertaining. So I have borrowed this idea (Mainly as I feel the water tank idea might be beyond my budget). I just hope that it does not dominate the play too much, so I am not sure if I will stick to it all the way through. If I do, I will then also have the decision about whether to include that as a specific instruction within the script. It is certainly the best thing I have written so far, and as a result, i think my publisher will want to pick it up, but I will be interested to see their thoughts on this. I suspect that the decision to do this in he production we saw was made by the director rather than the playwright's instruction.
Wednesday 5th October
The warm spell appears to be behind us now, and fleeces and jumpers have been deployed again. I do enjoy the British climate as, if for no other reason, it provides a decent variety. My other news today was a very interesting conversation with the National Apprenticeship scheme, which I had always suspected would be useless to us. It turn out that we might actually be an ideal business for such things. It's all rather exciting actually, and I look forward to developments. A little more script work was completed today, but not really enough. I am coming to terms with the fact that I need a deadline to focus the mind. This will come as no surprise to many that know me. I do wish I could be different though, it would make life so much more pleasant. I think I need to book a week off of everything to try and get on top of all of the writing etc. I might look into that possibility.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Tuesday 4th October
I have deliberately tried to keep politics out of the blog, for several reasons. I think the main one being that I tend to get a little "Ranty 6th form" when I write about it. The Knox case has made me cross. Not in the justice/injustice angle, but the press reaction, the the following reaction from the feeble minded readers. I understand that the Daily Mail is awful, and that there is little that can be done about it. I also understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how pathetic their logic might be. What I strongly object to is the use of conjecture based on nothing resembling evidence being used as a basis for a rant. I don't wish to start internet arguments with anyone...I have enjoyed that peculiar pleasure on many occasions over the years, and it does little for my blood pressure or my state of mind. However, there is one little old lady who posts regular updates from the Daily Mail on my timeline on Facebook. I know, dear reader, I can hear you saying it now...."Ignore her"....But I am struggling...Save me from myself.
We had parents evening for youngest this evening. Those of you who have read the blog for any length of time will remember the problems we had with getting an acceptance that there was a problem with Dyslexia. Well the problems clearly continue, and we are proud of her approach. We were less than happy to find out however, that the School has not been doing what it is obliged to do under the SEN Code of Conduct. This was pointed out, politely I might add, to her teachers last night. I hope that remedial action is now taken, and was pleased to receive a genuine apology. I suspect that we are the schools worst nightmare. The combination of Mrs Plug and her recent knowledge of Educational practice, and my bloody minded and belligerent (But VERY polite) approach. I think they were relieved when we had left.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Monday 3rd October
The heatwave continues, and lunchtime was spent out in the garden again. Mrs Plug, having pretty much decided that teaching was not for her, received an offer for interview at a School that she used to work for. This threw the cat amongst the pigeons on several levels, and we ended up having to have what Mrs Merton would have called "A heated debate". The upshot of which was that it would not be a smart move to apply for a job when deep down, you don't want to do it. We are not rolling in cash, and we are not in a position to relax, however, there is a real hope for expansion in the next few months, and the possibility that the ceramics business will start to at least pay for itself. It's at times like these that a little bravery is required, and a little bit of a gamble. Maybe that's not the sensible option, but I always think that you can be sensible when you have retired. We took a big gamble five years ago, and it was clearly the right thing to do with the business doing as well as it is. The same with the house sale....in fact we have a history of taking a gamble and being a little brave.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Sunday 2nd October
North London Derby Day. A day that usually strikes fear into every Tottenham fan. However, this time around it all felt a little different. We were the favourites. I didn't feel anywhere near the same degree of anticipation and excitement leading up to the game. Perhaps I am falling out of love with football a little with all the money and player power? Who knows. Our friend Mick came round to watch as well, on the basis that we have a bloody big telly now, and the match was enjoyed through the wonderful clarity of HD, which was slowly blurred by the clarity of the lager. As it turned out, the game was by no means a classic, and if I am being honest, I think Spurs were quite lucky to end up winning, but it was great to see them win, and fantastic to see that insipid little man who manages Arsenal behaving like a child and sulking. I read somewhere recently, that he had a face like "A haunted vulva". I'm not even sure what that means, but it just suits him. I think the excesses of the night before caught up in all of us, and a quiet night ensued.
Saturday 1st October
The weather remains really hot, and later on in the day, the news was full of stories of this being the hottest October day on record. Again, I spent much of it indoors, which might seem like a terrible waste, but I enjoy it. A good session in the morning followed by the Christmas Show rehearsal, and then off home for a couple of hours before going out to a friend barbecue. It was a last minute thing as the weather was so nice, and a pleasant evening was had by all. Mrs Plug had far too much to drink, but it was nice to see her letting her hair down. Youngest came with us as well, and whilst I don't think she particularly wanted to, I think in the end she had a good time. We cam back and played on the Xbox for a while, and fell asleep
Friday 30th September
There has been a late burst of summer around these parts, with temperatures soaring, and people wandering the streets wearing their summer clothes (Finally). I wonder where the Climate change deniers are who ask the facile and stupid question about global warming when we get snow? Anyway. We are lucky in that Plug Towers is nice and cool, in particular, my office. I sat down and wrote the first act of my new play this morning. Well I say first act, it is really a first scene, but when I explain it, you will understand why I call it an act. I am re-writing Macbeth. I know, it's been needing it for a long time, as the fella who wrote it was a bit of an amateur. This version is being re-written in the style of "Chav". I did my research on the names, and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are now John and Candice. It was great fun writing it, and finally I had something to give to the cast in the evening. The sense of relief that I get when something finally flows is quite significant, and I wonder if I just need to force myself to write, in the hope that something good comes out of it. 2 and a half hours today were very productive, and I don't think there will be too much required in terms of editing. We are working on the principal that much of the dialogue will be improvised a bit anyway, as there is more chance of 17 & 18 year olds knowing the "lingo" than me. Handing over the first drafts in he evening for them to work on and act out was, as usual, nerve wracking, but there seemed to be much laughter and general satisfaction with it. Very relieved.
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