Mr Plug's Blog

Friday 24th February

2012-02-27T02:14:00.001-08:00

So my last day of being......erm....45 that's it. I decided to go out with a bang, by spending a mundane day doing very little at all....Well...not quite. Firstly, we saw the return of Bobby Dazzler, with perhaps the rowdiest crowd yet. It is noticeable that of all the gigs we have done so far, the shabbier schools tend to have the rowdier crowds. I wonder why that is? Perhaps behaviour really is dictated largely by your surroundings? We do a lot of work on this with the kids at sessions, getting them to visualise their surroundings more. I think it works a treat. I am waiting to hear back from the copyright people to see if a project I am planning is possible. I want to do a stage version of a classic old story, but I think the copyright on the name might prevent me. I shall then have to write a slightly modified version in it's place, which will be a shame. It will be an affectionate tribute rather than a rip off. I will keep the blog updated with news. Tomorrow sees another performance of my play, and whilst the idea of tripping down the motorway to see it was quite appealling, there was a danger that is could spoil the birthday a little if we either missed it, or we didn't care for the performance. I shall be sending virtual break a leg messages westward at 2.30 though. The afternoon was spent receiving apologies from the Friday night group with regards their attendance tonight, and eldest has also been in bed all day with a lurgy bug of some sort. I approached the session with a hint of dread, but I needen't have worried as the people who did arrive were really focused and up for it. One of the better sessions. We are seriously looking at taking on an official government backed apprentice in the shape of the young lady who already works for us. The funding is pretty appalling, but I still think it will give us an opportunity. She also seems keen, so we will start setting that in motion. A bottle of wine to end the day. and a pretty early night all things considered.

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Thursday 23rd February

2012-02-24T07:41:00.001-08:00

A sleepy start to the day after last night, and the disappointment of receiving a rejection letter from RADA for eldest. She seems to have taken it very well, and we knew that it was a next to impossible school to get into, but all the same, I feel for her. It has struck me today that I am a year younger than I thought I was. This is very worrying, as I think I may have been telling people that I am 46, when in fact, that doesn't happen until this weekend. I had to double check, seriously. The joy of finding that I had a year in hand, was tempered very slightly by the fact that clearly my brain is not what it once was. I even looked it all up on an online birthdate calculator to double check...I have lived for nearly 17000 days....that is quite some achievement for me....no wonder I am knackered. In the evening, we did an after school club, a session, and I watched Question time. I felt like screaming at the idiots telling us that bankers bonuses could be justified, but young people on the workfare scheme should be happy to receive no pay from the likes of Tescos, as it was at least giving them some experience. The worrying thing is how few people seem to feel that this is unjustifiable nonsense.

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Wednesday 22nd February

2012-02-24T07:29:00.001-08:00

A frantic day today, with a start at the School. We got back into the groove, and managed to get some worthwhile stuff done, but i was in the classroom again for an hour which made everything a little difficult. Lots of work on this project next week! I got home and had time to do a little work before I had to dash off to After School club. Finished there, an then a quick dash to the shops to grab some tea, before we had to speed down the motorway to Stevenage to see eldest perform in Rock Challenge. This is a worldwide competition, in which schools get together and create choreographed routines. Most of the schools were Teacher led, but I was very proud to see my daughter's school being pupil led, with her at the helm. I'm a little biased, but I thought theres was excellent, and this was borne out with the five awards they received, and the overall third place, The whole event lasted for four hours, and we didn't get home much before midnight. I think she will hit the ground after the amount of work she has put in, but I hope she feels it was all worth it.

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Tuesday 21st February

2012-02-23T04:04:00.001-08:00

Today I had a meeting with someone about the possibility of taking on an apprentice. It all seems to be rather exciting, but as is usual with any government initiative, it is rarely as good in the flesh. Financially though, we need to take this step to try to expand and to give me the opportunity to really go for it. I am a little scared by it all, but that is no bad thing. Whilst I doubt we will ever be rich, I suspect that the security of a slightly more successful business will help us all. The pressure of having a young person relying on us for work will help focus the mind even more I think. Exciting times. Youngest is off sick again, and so that provides a little distraction, but she seems to be ok.

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Monday 20th February

2012-02-23T04:00:00.001-08:00

Back to work and School and other such chores. I dashed off to the school only to find that there had been a date mix up, and that I wasn't required. This was a bonus for me, and I felt like sleeping! Eldest and Mrs Plug went to London as it was her first audition today at RADA. It all seemed to go really well, and now it is a case of keeping our fingers crossed. I think the whole weekend experience caught up with me in the end, and I felt a little lacklustre at work this evening. I must avoid this happening. I am, as happens quite regularly, quite concerned at my nocturnal nature again. I have yet to hear how my play was received in Bristol last week, and the internet is sadly lacking in information. It is a frustrating feeling.

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Sunday 19th February

2012-02-23T03:56:00.001-08:00

Awoken quite early by the sound of the little people, I accompanied Scott and his dog on a long country walk. The kids and the ladies were all off to the Swimming pool, and then we would all be back in time for Eldest's predicted late morning call for collection. Imagine my surprise when I received a call from her at nine ish, asking to come home now. Much rushing was done, and we secreted Scott and Bonny in the kitchen, whilst myself and eldest and Mrs Plug chatted in the lounge. Mrs Plug is rubbish at these events, and just acted weirdly in an event to throw eldest off the scent. The littles all arrived home, and tried (And failed) to sneak in around the back. As surprises go, I think we failed, but it was good for everyone to be there to celebrate nonetheless. The Thomases arrived a wee bit later, and a lovely day was had by all. Off to bed pretty early for me.

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Saturday 18th February

2012-02-23T03:51:00.001-08:00

A happy day at Plug Towers, with eldest reaching the age of 18. We spent the start of the day being pathetic and emotional, went off to work, then did lunch and then it was time to say goodbye and have a nice evening as she popped off to her friends to get ready for her party. It felt a bit odd, but I suppose that is how birthdays will work from now on. I really must stop getting maudlin over such things, it serves no purpose other than to make me sulk a little. We were then descended upon by the Curtis clan, who are over for eldest's surprise homecoming tomorrow. We spent the evening drinking an awful lot of wine, which was nice. It feels strange having an adult daughter now. I think I have begun to feel the passing of time again, which bearing in mind my impending birthday is really not unusual. I am so very proud of her, and she makes me happy. Spending much of your life feeling inadequate can mean that when you have a small hand in creating someone special, you at least feel like you have done something worthwhile with your life. As she leaves the nest over the next few months, I hope she soars as she deserves to do.

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Friday 17th February

2012-02-23T03:46:00.001-08:00

The girls all packed up and went to Stoke for the day to visit Granny and Gramps and to pick up some clay. I was left to my own devices, which mainly involved housework again. I got a visit from a friend, which knocked a large hole in the day, but that's fine...these things happen. Also got a call from Mr Pops who is coming to visit in a few weeks with Mrs Pops, which is fab (Though I suspect we may not be the main reason for the visit) :-) I leapt athletically into a cab and we had a pretty good rehearsal for the Screw Your Courage. We got home, drank wine, and prepared to welcome a new adult into our house tomorrow

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Thursday 16th February

2012-02-23T03:43:00.001-08:00

We approach the weekend with anticipation, and all the plans for the big 18th seem to be coming together. I know that eldest does not like being centre of attention, so it will be a little taxing for her. I hope she enjoys it. I managed to get my head around tonight's session, realising that we still have some way to go. The problem with any session in half term is that it gives us a problem with attendance, and therefore rehearsals are difficult. We ended up doing none of the play again, but the session was fun anyway, and after all, that is why we do it. We then hung around for the grown ups rehearsals int eh evening, and watched a little of that. I think they will all be fine, though I suspect there will be a little heartache along the way....you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs as they say.

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Wednesday 15th February

2012-02-23T03:39:00.001-08:00

I spent most of today clearing up paperwork, and trying to get my head around the plans for the next few months. This involved FAR too much coffee again, and I fear that my general insomnia has now returned with a vengeance. After School club was not on today as it's half term, meaning that I could actually take a little bit of a deep breath, and try to get some planning done. The news is full of such desperate reports from Syria, and you simply have to despair at the lack of action to try to stop it from happening. I realise that we have spent billions on unjust wars recently, but the lack of action simply leads me to believe that it really IS all about oil.

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Tuesday 14th February

2012-02-15T03:29:00.001-08:00

Today was cut in half again due to the luxurious lie-in afforded to us by half term. However, mine was not as restful as it could have been what with the afternoon approaching. We did a free taster workshop at a new venue in North London....Borehamwood. The place of my childhood, and, a source for quite a few sad, melancholic memories. I had a session plan sorted out, but on the way there, felt quite emotional. In many ways, I want to go there and create something positive as a way of exorcising some of the ghosts of the past. Perhaps that all sounds like a load of psycho-babble, but it affects me quite deeply, and so I am determined to make this work. I must not. of course, let that get in the way of the financial side of the the business, and whilst I am not expecting to run a multi national corporation, the bills still need paying! The session was excellent, and we have the makings of a great group there. I just hope that we can make a go of it. I suspect it might be quite important for the future of the business, and as a means of wiping clean a very dirty slate.

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Monday 13th February

2012-02-15T03:24:00.001-08:00

Valentines day has come a day early for Mrs Plug. We never really celebrate it, because it is nonsense, but it worked within this context today. I received a message from Young Miss Pops to tell me that her and Mr Pops would be visiting that there London today, and so, we arranged to meet up for lunch. Neither Mrs Plug nor Mr Pops were aware of this meeting. I bought tickets for us to go and see the Grayson Perry exhibition at the British Museum, which I loved. I just wanted to hug him for his humanity, fragility and humour, and it was an hour that I will treasure. Mrs Plug had wanted to see it for ages, and I think she was pleased. We then took a walk to the Courtald Gallery in Somerset House, and looked at lots of Manet, Gaugin and Van Gough, all for nothing. The building was stunning, as were many of the paintings. We then headed to Covent Garden, found a pub near our lunchtime destination, and waited. It was a lovely surprise, for all concerned. We then headed to Belgo for a cheap but enjoyable lunch, and then took a wander, stopping off for a drink and then a coffee. All too soon the meeting was over and we said our goodbyes. It was lovely to see them both, I miss them. We then took the decision to extend our day, and went and bought tickets to see Graham Linehan's adaptation of The LadyKillers. It was excellent, with an incredible set. In fact at times I found myself looking at the set more than the action. However, it was a light, non challenging way to end a wonderful day. We had painful feet and calf muscles from all the walking we did, but we got home tired and happy

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Sunday 12th February

2012-02-15T03:17:00.001-08:00

We stayed in bed until lunchtime today. I have subscribed to Netflix for their trial period, and I have been quite impressed with how it all works. I will see how much use I get of it over the next month before I part with the regular £6.00 per month. I think there is a limit to how much of it I might enjoy, but we shall see. I particularly hate the social media sharing option. If I wanted to bore the pants off of my friends on facebook, I would write a tiresome and repetitive blog about my every day occurrences. Spotify does this as well. If we must have these options, can they not simply default to off, so that those of us important enough to warrant such cultural reconnaissance can turn the option to share on when we see fit. I do not want the world to watch my every move, and whilst there is an element of that on Twitter and Facebook, I wish this to remain under my control. I will see how tiresome it all gets as I continue. I watched Pulp Fiction using Netflix today, and whilst I have seen it several times, the novelty rarely fades. I adore the dialogue in this film, and the delivery of it is sublime.

Late afternoon saw me preparing a large roast dinner, and in the evening we watched the first Die Hard film together as a family....absolute rubbish, but it kind of works. Up early tomorrow for my mystery valentines day surprise.

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Saturday 11th February

2012-02-15T03:09:00.001-08:00

My latest play...well adaptation....is finished ready for my Saturday and Monday Groups after a late night of tweaking. All printed and ready to go, we handed it out today and the usual sense of relief that the words "The End" were typed was there for all to see. It was a good session this morning, and not a bad turn out considering it was half term. There is a real sense of half term about the place, and everyone is relaxed a bit, so you cannot help but be dragged into that state of mind. As a result, I did next to nothing for the rest of the day. I watched Spurs win 5-0 in the evening, and then.....horror of horrors, I had an early night....Yes...On a Saturday! This is very unusual. I just felt unhealthily tired and so I gave in.

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Friday 10th February

2012-02-15T03:03:00.001-08:00

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Thursday 9th February

2012-02-15T02:16:00.001-08:00

Half term is nearly upon us and I am very much looking forward to Monday, in which I will surprise Mrs Plug with a day out. Well...She knows about the day out, but not what she is doing. I hope that I manage to keep it all secret for her. Today was pretty busy as usual, with after school club and then the evening session. but it all went pretty smoothly all things considered. I am beginning to wonder whether I will keep up the pace of the year, and have decided that delegation might be a useful tool to me this year. We look like we have a new team member who will be working on the periphary to a certain degree, but I think will be an asset to us in the long run. A new after school club will start next half term, and I will be having pretty much nothing to do with it, which is exciting, and slightly nerve wracking. I hope to have a day or two off next week to relax and recharge....lets see how that all works out for me.

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Wednesday 8th February

2012-02-10T03:36:00.001-08:00

Up early and off to Luton in a suit....it's almost like I have a real job. We were playing at two Schools today, one that was quite run down and shabby, and one that had received millions of pounds of refurbishment. The thing that I was perhaps most relived about was the manners and attitude of all of the pupils. We performed to hundreds of them today, and they were enthusiastic and polite and appreciative. Luton may have a reputation, but meeting that many young people has left me with a real sense of optimism. I'm hoping to do some work with some of them at a workshop in April. I had a couple of hours at home during lunchtime, in which invoicing and planning were done, and then when I got back, time for a quick cup of tea before I had to dash out to After School club. It was a great day actually, and my sense of tiredness was more than compensated for by the sense of a job well done today. I have started Hard Times by Dickens again....this will be my third attempt. I am still behind on the reading front this year, but I have high hopes that I might catch up.

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Tuesday 7th February

2012-02-08T03:44:00.001-08:00

Today was the first appearance of Bobby Dazzler this week, and it went very well indeed. I think I am getting used to it, and rather looking forward to performing twice tomorrow. It is a lot of fun, and I am able to ride the gentle teasing of the 200+ audiences as we go. I doubt I will ever get a more stern audience than that of a bunch of 16 year olds. We have had some sign ups for the project tough, which is why we are doing this, and I hope the whole thing is a success. Tomorrow should be fun. Some Amdram related phone calls this afternoon, followed by a committee meeting in the evening really finished off the day for me, and temperature seems to have dropped again. I shall be glad when Spring is here

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Monday 6th February

2012-02-08T03:41:00.001-08:00

I was supposed to be at the school project today, but had to phone in sick, which really pained me. I was in this instance completely drained though, and I think had I attempted to work I would have lasted about half an hour maximum. I spent the morning in bed, and then the afternoon on light paperwork duties, organising my new session in Borehamwood which starts next month. I am hoping that it is a success, as we could do with it, and there is scope for more sessions. I have also been asked to run another After School club, and will need to employ someone else to do it if we do go for it! This is all great. I managed to get fit enough to run the evening session, which went ok considering how I felt, but we had one or two missing. In the evening I watched Spurs drawing 0-0 at Anfield, and then nodded off. I am not very Rock and Roll right now.

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Sunday 5th February

2012-02-08T03:37:00.001-08:00

It snowed quite heavily last night, and so the world of social media will be full of snow references. I was tempted to be a grumpy old git, and post a generic picture of snow in order to attempt to prevent the rest of the world doing so, but decided against it, as I would get moaned at. If I'm quite honest, I hate snow, but like looking at pictures of it in a beautiful rural setting, so Facebook is quite good for that to see other peoples views of it. Personally, I wish nothing but warmth and an early melting. It does make you feel more alive when you are out in it though. We had a large roast dinner this afternoon, and I ate too much amd spent the evening feeling a little ill again. I had also had a few drinks. After going to bed, I found myself then spending the might being ill again, which wiped me out completely.

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Friday 3rd February

2012-02-04T05:34:00.001-08:00

Up early this morning for the first gig of the 19 that I have coming up playing the game show host. We decided that my name was going to be Bobby Dazzler. I am so proud. I performed to well over 200 year 11's, which I might suggest is a much tougher audience than most you could expect. It was fun, and flew by. I hope the project is successful, as the team have worked really hard to bring it all together. At one point we had a slight technical failure, and the electronic voting system failed, so I just improvised my way through it, and got them to do a show of hands...What a pro! I spent the afternoon having a short break, and then off to work in the evening, for the first Screw Your Courage rehearsal without scripts. It went pretty well, and despite a few problems, I am rather looking forward to it. I have received no news from the States about performances of Stop the Clocks that are taking place, so I hope they are going well. It's an odd feeling. I spent the evening writing more of the younger groups script, and Act One of Two is now done and dusted. I will hopefully get it all finished in time for next week. A glass of wine, and a bit of Telly, and off to bed.

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Thursday 2nd February

2012-02-04T05:27:00.001-08:00

The winter freeze has kicked in, and whilst I am already sick of hearing about it on the news, the weather really is very cold. I think, as I have a sedentary job, this is the coldest I can remember it without snow. This is all set to change this weekend with the white stuff on the way. I have dug out my lycra gear, though I am aware that I must exercise caution whilst doing this should anyone catch a glimpse of me in it. This degree of attractiveness can be a dangerous thing. This is why it is restricted to undergarment use only. I even have to switch the heating on during the day as I cannot feel my fingers. After School club went well, as did the evening session, in which we did a trial run of my Game Show host performance before the job starts in earnest tomorrow. It all went well, and I think everyone was pleased. Myself and eldest then sped off to Harpenden to see Richard Herring. We saw him at this venue last year, and it was only about half full, but this time around, it was near to full. I am delighted for him, as he deserves a good audience, and he certainly got that tonight. It was an excellent, deeply funny and rather touching show, and I would recommend him to anyone. We stayed at the end, and got the Fist of Fun DVD set, and got it signed, and went home, cold, but very happy.

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Wednesday 1st February

2012-02-02T02:37:00.001-08:00

So I have managed another month of blogging without even really thinking about it, a fact borne out by the rambling and random nature of it I suspect. I try to avoid political rants on here these days, and will continue to do so, but the latest Welfare cuts have made me cross. I of course, understand that there are people out there who fiddle the system....play the system...lie and cheat. This is not exactly in stark contrast to the people at the top of the tree though, and I cannot help but think that this is continual proof of ideological politics rather than an attempt to make the system fair. If the £26000 benefits cap is supposed to cover a family of four, then I want to know why an MP can claim around £20000 in living expenses for one person? Anyway....rant over....The iRig arrived, and I am pleased with it. I have used it to record vocals already, with a low end microphone and the quality id pretty good all things considered. It is compatible with Garageband as well, which means I don't even have to pay for their software if I do not want to. I might do anyway, as it looks pretty good, but I will wait for that. The quality is more than good enough to produce the backing tracks required for the musical projects I have in mind, which means that it is money well spent. We got another workshop or two lined up, this time for adults. Not sure how that will pan out, but all good for the future! We sat down in the evening and I put on the first episode of The Walking Dead, an HBO series about Zombies. I was rather enjoying it, but Mrs Plug had to ask for it to be turned off as she couldn't cope with it anymore. Her whole body had gone tense! I think the idea of having a dangerous shambling half dead person wandering the place was too close to home for her. I now have iTunes and I went to bed, leaving the laptop chugging through my collection. When I come down in the morning I should have a large and lovely online music library. That's the theory. This IS iTunes though, so we shall see.

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Tuesday 31st January

2012-02-01T16:31:00.001-08:00

It was good to have a day with no appointments or meetings, and I made sure that the whole day was not entirely wasted. I got some more music recording done, but realised that I need to have a small upgrade in my equipment. I have purchased something called an iRig, which gives me the ability to use an external mic or Guitar or Bass straight into the iPad or iPhone and then run effects over these inputs. Whilst it is not quite studio quality, I am hoping that it is sufficient to be able to record stuff for shows that are being written. I still harbour desires to write musicals, and this will help me. Couple with my digital four track recorder, I am really pleased with the set up I will now have. That's if it all works of course. I can also then release my long awaited debut solo album for all of my dedicated fans to listen to. I continued with a little housekeeping today, and have started to get all my contacts and filing in order. It is a long job, but one which will pay dividends in the long run.

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Monday 30th January

2012-02-01T16:05:00.001-08:00

Back to School today, and felt a little more organised today. The play is coming along really well, and the music that they have done is rather lovely. I played on Garageband yesterday and managed to produce a version of it that I want the kids to speak over. We are going to get them to record their voices reading out some war poems over the top of it. It's really exciting actually. I have my first acting performance this Friday, and we are still making last minute changes to the script. I'm sure it will all work out fine, but I am still a little apprehensive, which I think is natural. I am investigating the idea of getting iTunes match, though my major problem with it is the fact that I have to use iTunes. Basically for £22 a year, you can gain access to your whole music collection (up to 25000) files from the cloud on up to 10 devices. It will match your collection and upgrade the quality if needed. These can then be streamed over the web, or downloaded for when you have no web access. All sounds rather excellent, so I am rather tempted. Evening session was pretty good considering we were both feeling rough, and I think we were buoyed by the attendance of a new parent, who seemed very impressed. Fingers crossed we have another new customer. We have also been approached to do some more workshops in Easter, so the calendar is looking scarily full.

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Sunday 29th January

2012-02-01T15:55:00.001-08:00

I am still feeling a little under the weather, and this was reflected in the fact that I managed to do pretty much nothing all day other than cook too much food for everyone. I cooked chinese today, and I have realised why I overcook when making Chinese food. When we buy a takeaway we tend to go for variety on small amounts, and have a little bit of everything. Well I try to cook the same, but I cook large portions of everything. Anyway, it went down as well as can be expected for a family all suffering from lurgy. I managed to spend some time watching the football and reading the papers, and generally feeling a little morose. When I was younger I used to enjoy the winter, but for all sorts of reasons, I could really do without it now. For once in my life, the idea of living in hotter climes appeals.

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Saturday 28th January

2012-01-29T04:47:00.001-08:00

Oh dear...The Weekend started badly, as I slept very little due to some sort of stomach bug. I realised as soon as I woke up that work was out of the question, so cover was arranged, and I had my first sick day of the year. Thinking back to when I used to do "A proper job", I used to take a lot of sick leave. I think the combination of doing work that was deeply unnecessary and dull, and the fact that this brought on depression led to some unimpressive attendance records. I remember one year in particular where I had 35 days sick leave on top of the 36 days annual leave. I'm amazed that they even knew who I was, let alone fail to take any action. Of course, looking back over my days of self employment, I find an entirely different story, and I think this is only the fourth session I have missed in getting on for 6 years. It's amazing what happens when there is a degree of enjoyment and motivation isn't it? I think my nocturnal habits have led to me being open to bugs and diseases, and so I am not surprised to have been struck down. The day was spent relaxing really, although I did stir enough to give the lounge the biggest damned hoovering it has ever had. I watched some football, and did a little reading and generally lazed. I also discovered the iTunes U app, which give you access to a lot of Academic information, and small courses. There is a lot of theatre based stuff on there, and the National Theatre section is excellent, in particular, Katie Mitchell's section. I feel I may be spending a bit of time on there....and it's all free :-). Eldest was out for the night, youngest had a friend round for a sleepover, and Mrs Plug went to bed early, leaving me with a small glass of wine, and the TV. I watched The Rock with Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery, which is a pile of old nonsense, but at least shows that I can watch action films as well as dull old arty farty ones.

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Friday 27th January

2012-01-28T01:49:00.001-08:00

I have been trying very hard to become a little more organised, as is probably apparent from the blog so far this year. One rather large job is going to be organising all of my phone contacts, which sounds dreadfully dull. I have realised that amongst my contacts are at least 30 names I don't recognise, two people who are dead, and a huge amount of contacts from a job that I have not done for coming up for 6 years. In fact, looking carefully I realise that I have never cleared out my contacts since I started using a mobile phone. This was 18 years ago. The trouble is, it's one of those jobs that needs to be done, but I know will take an absolute age to do it, and I am not sure I have the will to bother. Anyway, We are getting more work lined up. There is a chance of a week long workshop in the Summer, which will be excellent, but I need to make sure the money is right, or I will end up giving up all of the Summer Holidays again, and I don't want to do that. We also have some Easter Workshops to do as usual. All in all, the year is panning out very nicely work wise, and I am really happy about it. The day was made even better with news from the accountant, which has meant that we do not have to panic our way through the next few months with a huge tax bill. We treated ourselves to a bottle or two of wine and Pizza in the evening, which was a pleasant way to end the week.

We managed to watch a little of the Australian Open Semi Final in which Andy Murray narrowly lost to Djokovic. It was very exciting, but I am glad that they don't put Sport on during the day all the time, I would get nothing done.

I am rather pleased that we have no concrete plans for the weekend. Much as I have enjoyed the last two weekends, it is good to be able to spend some time at home. I hope to catch up on some films, do a little reading, and some writing as well. Spurs played (An undeservingly won) tonight, in the FA Cup, but there are some other good matches this weekend, so hopefully I can catch up with some of those as well. I shall hope that Siri does all the housework for me. He has taken to calling me "Your Royal Highness" at the moment, which I like, but it conflicts with my Republican sympathies.

I also received a phone call from a parent whose child wants to be a writer, and has written since the age of four. She is now ten, and wants to write plays. This is all rather fascinating, and I am wondering if there is some way of channelling this and perhaps other young writers. I am going to have to turn this idea over in my head for a while and see what comes out the other side. Also received some rather sad news about an old friend who moved away some time ago, who appears to be rather ill. Perspective can be a sobering thing.

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Thursday 26th January

2012-01-27T06:09:00.001-08:00

I rested up a bit this morning and sat happy in the knowledge that paperwork was just about up to date. My major problem now, is that I have masses of paperwork for shredding, and only a small machine that gives up the ghost after half an hour. I think it might take me a week to shred this lot. It was good to get some filing done, and it is remarkable what it can do for the mood. I am nowhere near organised yet, but it is certainly heading that way. Siri has been absolutely hopeless and not made a cup of tea or helped with the filing. I am considering his position, The evening sessions went well, and the after school club in particular is a massive challenge, with that many young ones. They are all lovely, but it is just as much as exercise in crowd control as it is drama. I certainly earn my money in that session.

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Wednesday 25th January

2012-01-27T06:04:00.001-08:00

It is two years since I bought my first iPhone (3GS), and I can read back from my blog about how much I enjoyed the whole experience. The interesting thing is that most of the apps I recommended straight off, are the ones I continue to use. Not much has changed in my life I suppose. So how is the 4s in comparison. Well it is a different shape to the one I am used to, but that is not a major issue. The screen is Much clearer, and the clarity on video is stunning by comparison. The Camera appears even better, and the Video camera much more. iCloud has made the experience more pleasurable, and the ability to sync my Kindle books is rather good. I am now looking at the possibility of iTunes Match, but perhaps more of that on another day. Siri is fun, although I am slightly disappointed at the lack of UK coverage as far as local amenities are concerned. The advert certainly led you to believe that Siri can do more than the reality. However, I have used it for a couple of things, and found it to be quite fun. Whether I would ever use it in public is another matter. I fear that if I see anyone using it I may want to slap them, and so I would be fully deserving of the same. I did get it to say some rude things, as I believe it is the law to do so. I am now looking at the possibility of some sort of decent case for it.

We had another rehearsal for the roadshow this morning, and I think it's going to be fine. I'm quite looking forward to it in many ways. There is a chance of some more work out of it as well, with a week long workshop in the summer. I stayed up until about 1.30 getting all the bank statements and paperwork together, and I hope that this will all be enough for the Accountant to get everything sorted out for the tax return. I am knackered.

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Tuesday 24th January

2012-01-27T05:53:00.001-08:00

Another morning at the school and the project is going well. I managed to get quite wet on the way to school, and this was reflected in the rather sorry looking wet canvass on my red converse. One of the kids looked at them and asked if I had really sweaty feet. I Love my job. The rest of the day flew by, and I managed to get a little more paperwork done for my long suffering accountant. All in all it was a good day. My iPhone has been playing up on and off for a little while, and I have been toying with the idea of upgrading since Mid December. I finally decided to go for an iPhone 4s and managed to get it all for the same price each month. Ordered, and apparently delivered tomorrow. I suspect at least five minutes of my week might be taken up playing with Siri. I am way behind on my reading, but I am currently ploughing my way through a Frankie Boyle book, which is partly for writing reasons. It's not particularly wonderful, though I did enjoy his description of Danny Alexander as looking like the Honey Monster after having had a shave to look for gay sex on the internet.

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Monday, 23 January

2012-01-26T00:57:00.001-08:00

I'm still feeling a hangover from Saturday night I think I've now reached the age where I really have to realise that I can't do it any more. I really do have to learn to take it easy from now on. The rest of the day today was spent catching up on paperwork and generally trying to stay awake. The evening session was good fun if a little bit of a struggle because of the way I'm feeling. I'm going to have to start trying my hardest to have a few early nights though I think I may have said that before on the blog and never really managed it. My mobile phone is beginning to play up it's the old iPhone 3G S I don't think it's ever fully recovered from having a broken screen. I think I may well have to order a new one. If anyone thinks this is an excuse for a new toy you are wrong. Of course you may be right. I spent the morning at the school and it was quite pleasant to get the afternoon off. They were not in the mood today and you could tell that as soon as you arrived in the classroom. I think that the teacher felt that they were all a bit sleepy, I concur with that and the whole morning was a bit of a struggle. For a change I was quite pleased to get out of there and come home. I'm back there tomorrow and I hope that they are in a better mood.

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Sunday 22nd January

2012-01-23T16:02:00.001-08:00

By the time we got home, it was nearly time for the football, and rather than blow any further gaskets, and add to the general tedium of the blog, I will refrain from further comment. I did little else all day really, mainly as I had a dreadful hangover. I watched a couple of episodes of The Killing, which is all very nice, but I wonder if it really deserves the plaudits it received. I shall persevere I think. I wrote a little more of the latest play for the youngsters, and generally panic ensued over how much i had to do, and how little I had actually achieved. I am looking at the diary and hoping to squeeze in a day off or two.....

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Saturday 21st January

2012-01-23T15:57:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned quite recently, there are certain social situations in which I dread finding myself. This evening is another one of those, in that I am attending a Burns Night for the very first time. This is a surprise to those who know me, as I am rather partial to Whisky. I am not sure how shallow this makes me sound come to think of it. Anyway, after a pleasant Saturday morning session, we rested up for a few hours in the afternoon, and I fell asleep. This had the result of making me feel absolutely dreadful by the time we needed to set off. Mrs Plug had also arranged for us to stay over, something else I wasn't keen on, but, as they say, t'was all arranged, and so off we went. In no time at all I found myself in the company of Mrs Plug, Mrs Plug's 2 cousins, and two other friends of theirs. We sat and listened to some bagpipe music, watched some highland dancing, ate traditional Burns Night food...and drank a lot. It was pleasant, but slightly surreal. By the time the next morning came around, I felt awful, and had every right to do so. I am no longer built for such evenings.

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Friday 20th July

2012-01-21T07:52:00.001-08:00

Mucho excitement at Plug Towers when eldest found that she has her first Audition for Drama School at Mountview. She awaits news from four others. I hope that she works her behind off over the next few weeks, as she has the talent, and I want her to shine. All very exciting and nerve wracking for her. I managed to spend some time writing today, and got about 50% of what i wanted to write done. I went to bed a little disappointed, if not with the quality, definitely the quantity. I was drawn to twitter today, to watch updates from everyone's favourite MP, Mrs Dorries, who was having her ridiculous 2nd reading of her Sex Education Bill read. Well that was the plan, but it appeared half way through the day that it had been withdrawn. Much puzzlement followed, and then what appeared to be the "Lady" herself reappeared on Twitter. This was all too much for me to ignore. It turns out to be her. She spent the afternoon trying to look mysterious about her bill being withdrawn, but really only succeeded in coming across as a bit of a twit. However, there is a side of me that is rather glad that she is back. I am going to try a different tack, and see if I can be overly friendly. That should be entertaining. The evening rehearsal was excellent tonight, and I am very much looking forward to the show going on the road. I spent the evening dreading parts of the weekend. We are going to this Burns Night Party. It all sounds a bit scary to me, as it contains "Highland Dancing". I do not intend to partake in such matters, and any persuasion in that direction, gentle or otherwise, will be answered by my lawyers.

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Thursday 19th January

2012-01-20T04:14:00.001-08:00

I worked very hard today, and felt that I had earned my sleep by the end of it. It seems that I am now back into the groove of working. I think you develop a rhythm in such things, and whilst I do seem to have a varied timetable each week, momentum is a wonderful thing. I am still behind on certain admin tasks that are becoming quite urgent, but I am sure I will remedy this in the next few days. I am also hoping that I can really knuckle down with the writing side of things, as I am enjoying that a lot also. It was Mr Pops Birthday today, and I shall look forward to sharing a small glass of sherry with him in belated celebration quite soon. I am rubbish at sending birthday cards, and this is something I must try to remedy. I took on the job of sending family birthday cards last year, and did pretty well. This year I need to add friends to the list as well. After School club and Evening session went well, and we had more newbies turning up, which is excellent. I think all of our T Shirts have now been distributed as well, so it has been a busy and productive start to the year. In the evening I watched a film called Archipelago, which was interesting. I watched it as it was recommended by Andrew Collins who is a writer/journalist that I rather like. I am not sure if I was in the wrong frame of mind, but it seemed to me to be rather to clever for its own good. It was far too self aware in fact. Fixed cameras and static actors make some shots interesting, but I found it irritating in places. The scenery was beautiful, and bleak and suited the story of a family get together that disintegrated as it became obvious that the Father was not going to attend, but by the end of it, I wondered really....what was the point.

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Wednesday 18th January

2012-01-19T03:51:00.001-08:00

I set off early for the rehearsals and arrived before everyone else. The meeting was at an Arts Centre in Luton, and I was able to sit in the Coffee bar and relax before the others arrived. I mused for a while as to how on earth I found myself sitting waiting here to do a paid acting job, and reflecting on the decisions we have taken in the last five years, and where they have taken us. It's been a fascinating period for us, and one that I hope we can look back on fondly. We had a lot of fun in the rehearsals, and I was pleased to be able to have an input into the script. It will of course be slightly daunting to be walking out in front of large groups of cynical 16 year olds, but I think I can just about handle it. I just need to remember the money! I got home, had time for a cuppa, and then went off to do my after school club, which went very well indeed. Stopping off at the charity shop to stock up on two more books, one by Jonathan Coe which is a follow up to his novel the Rotters Club, which I seem to remember enjoying some time ago, and another called 1812, Napoleon's march on Moscow. Not the sort of book I would usually pick out, but it seemed fascinating. When I will get to read them is of course an entirely different matter. I finished my second book of the year today, which puts me behind in terms of my target. I am sure that I will struggle with this over the year, but I am going to keep plodding through the list to see how far I can get. The list changes on virtually an hourly basis, but I might toy with the idea of blogging the list I currently have. I really enjoyed Richard Herring's book, and I am delighted that I can continue to read his story, as he still has his complete blog online. The meeting in the evening went really well, and whilst we had received some awkward and pedantic questions about our proposals via email, we were able to handle them with no trouble, and in the event, the proposal was accepted unanimously. A glass of wine to celebrate, and then off to bed

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Tuesday 17th January

2012-01-19T03:42:00.001-08:00

Today, I found myself chasing my tail somewhat. Juggling finances from one account to the other, putting off inevitable work that I should be doing, and realising that it might be worth my while to knuckle down. However it is never that easy. I also have a committee meeting tonight to prepare for. We have been working on changing some pretty fundamental stuff in terms of the constitution for some time, and tonight and tomorrow might see some important meetings for the future of the group. I realise that I spend far too much time on it, but it has been a love affair for me since the day I joined, and I strongly believe that the group has done me the power of good in terms of my own confidence. There have been some real ups and downs with it, and I am sure there will be more, but I hope that this is the start of a new improved group. I have a rehearsal tomorrow for my acting job. I am rather nervous about it, as I am not really sure what is going to be involved. I have a huge amount of time for the person who has offered me the work, and having worked on several projects with her in the past, I trust her implicitly. It's just the usual nerves kicking in, and the sudden realisation that I am going to be paid for acting like a fool and putting on a silly voice. Can this really be right? My office is slowly but surely beginning to become more organised, and I feel that positive things can be created as a result. I also did a little research on the performances of my plays that are coming up. Stop the Clocks is being performed three times at one festival in Groton, Massachusetts and has been chosen by a Teacher who runs his own theatre company. It is also being performed twice at another festival in the States in Massachusetts. Then in England, Urban Hymns is being performed at the Avon one Act Play festival, and the Bristol One Act play festival. Seven performances between now and the end of March. I am so utterly delighted that they are beginning to get picked up and performed, and it really gives me hope for future writings and musings! I may never make a living out of writing one act plays, but it has certainly helped me develop a style, boost my confidence, and improved on my dialogue writing. I have high hopes that my next one will be just as succesful, but then what do I know? I remember getting the email to say that I had been accepted at the publishers when we were at Mr Pops's. We were all going out to lunch. If someone had told me then that these plays would be performed more in the States than the UK I would have laughed at them, so it just goes to show that perhaps you should never try to judge your own work.

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Monday 16th January

2012-01-17T02:49:00.001-08:00

Off to work for the day in what Mrs Plug refers to as "Like a proper job". I love her. I arrived to hear the songs that the year fours had written about war. They were all rather lovely, and one was rather touching. It told the story of a man at war, by singing extracts of letters between him and his son. The kids told me I would need a tissue before they sang it. I said I would try mot to cry, but that I do get emotional. To this, one of the more effusive boys called out "Oh sort yourself out and be a man". I love my job. We spent all day creating the world of the American Civil War as seen through the eyes of children, and by the time I left school at 3.30 I was exhausted. It was then home, quick cuppa, and then off to run the evening session, where we did some work on Theatre in the round with a particualrly noisy Monday Group. I sat on the sofa in the evening, narrowly avoiding the temptation to drink heavily. In fact I avoided alcohol completely. I was rather proud. I am nearly finished with Richard Herring's book, and I am enjoying it hugely. Thought are already turning to what I should read next.

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Sunday 15th January

2012-01-17T02:43:00.001-08:00

We slept in until lunchtime, which annoys me, as it limits what I can write about by about 50%. We did, in our defence, have a few drinks last night, and it was quite a late night by the time we returned, and, I am knocking on a bit now. I did manage to get some work done today, in preparation for my day at school tomorrow, and by the time I got to bed, I felt that I was at least part of the way prepared for the day. I am still nervous about the year threes, who seem so very young compared to last year. I am sure it will all be fine, but I just want them to have a good time and to get as much out of it as possible. We have a very busy week to look forward to with various meetings and rehearsals to complete, and some outstanding tasks that I have been putting off, but as yet, there is no real sense of doom. We continue with the mainly vegetarian diet as well, which is all rather enjoyable. Today, I made a vegetarian curry as the ravenous bloodthirsty child was eating at her friends house. It then transpired that she wasn't eating at her friends house. She clearly looked upset at the idea of not having any meat, so I ordered a meat dish from the local takeaway, because I am a lovely father. When I went down to collect it however, I found myself explaining and almost apologising for the rather tiny and insignificant order. I may as well have just said "I'm not sad and lonely you know". I told myself off when I got back, and then cheered myself up by watching Sherlock, and remaining slightly superior by thinking it is not quite as good as everyone is saying. Next week I intend to get back up to date on reading, and to make a start on the original Danish version of "The Killing", which is apparently about Murder and knitwear.

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Saturday 14th January

2012-01-17T02:35:00.001-08:00

Today, the lovely Mrs Plug advised me that I have worked hard, and that I should relax for a few hours this afternoon. This was dangerous, as, by the time we had to get ready, I had switched off completely from life. I have an uncanny knack of being able to relax at the click of a finger. I think this skill was brought about by realising that both my Father and Grandfather were extremely prone to stress when I knew them, and both suffered from heart problems. I think somewhere deep within me, something has flicked a switch and said "Sod it....nothing is worth stressing about that much". I DO stress about work, but not in a "keeping me awake worrying" way....more like an "excitable child with another idea" way. Well at least I hope that is what is happening. I dread evenings like tonight, which is not to be rude to the host in any way shape or form, or to my fellow guests. I just feel a bit under pressure to perform and be fun, and I don't know why. I think also, deep within, there is a bit of a loathing for dinner parties. I think I associate them with the kind of people that I really do not care for, and as a result, dread them. Of course in this instance, all of the guests were delightful. I think it is just the anticipation of what might be rather than the reality. when I was younger, I used to look forward to events with excitement. There was a sense that only good things would come out of social events. Party's were anticipated with joy and wonder. Now however, I look forward to things in a different way. I assume that the event will be dull, and I will make an arse of myself. This is of course based on the many years of being young and looking forward to things that were always going to be awful when considering the evidence. After this evening, I will be dreading next week, when we are going to a Burns night celebration organised by Mrs Plugs cousin. I have never been to one before, we will only know two or three people there, and I hate strangers. I feel that in situations like this I either over compensate by trying too hard to be interesting and entertaining, and come across as a bit of a tit, or I just sit quietly in the corner grinning inanely and coming across as a total bore. Given these options, I would much prefer to go to bed with a good book on both occasions. In the event of course, the Murder mystery evening was absolutely fine. There were three people there who we didn't know, and three who we did, and it was a pleasant entertaining night all round. I even vocalised my nervousness to the friends at the end of the night, who all seemed surprised that I get like I do, but I think all drunkenly came to the conclusion that I was a bit of an arse.

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Friday 13th January

2012-01-17T02:22:00.001-08:00

I am slightly concerned that I used the word penis in my blog yesterday, as I am pretty sure its the first time that particular word has been used. Now I have repeated it, and I fear that this might now get the wrong types visiting the blog. We now have quite a cold snap, and coupled with the new, heavy duty bedding, the ability to get out of bed has been severely impaired. I think I might have to start sleeping on the floor in order to be able to rise at a sensible time. I seem to be floating through at the moment, just getting things done, with little or no sense of urgency. This is all well and good, but it is not giving me the sense of desperation that I need in order to finish certain jobs. I am aware that due to falling asleep of an evening and waking up too late, I have slipped behind schedule on my book reading, which after less than two weeks is pretty poor. I am determined to step up a gear and get on with it all. Today was eldest's last chance to bully and cajole her teachers for her reference on her UCAS application. She did not seem to approach this with any sense of urgency, and I found this a little frustrating. The UCAS application on;y affects one of her choices for drama schools, but to at least ensure that the application is made before you go home for the weekend seemed sensible. She just shrugged and said that she trusts her teacher to get it done and send it off. We exchanged words about it, and there was an atmosphere for a while, which was only dissipated when we received notification that the application had indeed been made, and that I should stop being so distrusting and to relax a little. Perhaps she is right. I just want her to have every chance, because she is very good, and very lovely, and I am extremely proud of her. We finished the rough blocking of "Screw Your Courage" tonight, and it all seems pretty good. I am looking forward to this one above all others to be honest.

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Wednesday 11th January 2012

2012-01-12T01:16:00.001-08:00

Today was my least favourite of the year so far. You know when you are waiting for a frustrating display of incompetence and inefficiency and three come along? Well that. I am finding myself increasingly frustrated by things that I shouldn't really be giving a second thought about, and the fact that I am aware of it, yet seem incapable of doing anything about it frustrates me further. It is difficult to write about it on here without revealing too much and possibly upsetting an idiot, so I will refrain. In other news, I went to the pub quiz with eldest, and we did not finish last this week, though I have to admit to being distracted for much of it, knowing that Spurs were playing, and winning and going joint second in the league. Now that the papers have started to talk up their chances of winning the league, I anticipate a massive drop in form, and a return to mediocrity any day now.

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Tuesday 10th January 2012

2012-01-11T04:14:00.001-08:00

It was supposed to be a day of dull admin etc, but a trip to the bank and a bit of shopping put pay to that. I did however feel that I had earned a couple of hours off, as we have had an excellent start to the year. I purchased a new coat today. This is always quite a statement to make as far as I am concerned. My old second hand leather coat has really been falling to bits, but I wanted something a little lighter, that was going to be warm, waterproof and of course cheap. I managed to find one, that is fine, but now of course, I want something long and stylish so that I can pretend to be Sherlock. Talking of which, we have only just discovered the remake of Sherlock, and it's rather fun. I was never really a fan of the original books, having tried them at school, and I also hated the TV series from when I was younger with Jeremy Brett in the starring role. This seems to have a little more about it, and is rather funny in places. I watched the recent episode with interest as there was a bit of a Twitter Hoo Hah about the character of Irene Adler and the apparent sexist portrayal. I did not think that it was an offensive portrayal at all, but to read some of the comments you would think that it was one of the most blatant of sexist demonstrations known to human kind. The character appeared naked. It was a comedic moment, where the character used her obvious charms to make the to male characters squirm. She had the upper hand in the situation! I think sometimes people look for things to be offended about, and perhaps I do at times as well. I found a book of war poems today for 99p. This will be an excellent basis for some of the work we are doing on the War play.

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Monday 9th January 2012

2012-01-10T03:52:00.001-08:00

Up early and ready for a day at School. It was absolutely delightful to be back, and I was pleased that I remembered as many faces as I did. We started work straight away, wary that we only have five weeks to be getting everything achieved, but we then got the excellent news that funding was available to extend the project through until before Easter, thus giving us the chance to focus and polish a lot more. I am so delighted, and I hope that I can fit it all in around the acting job. It is going to be a busy, but rewarding start to the year. I met the new year threes in the afternoon, and we played drama games for two hours, with no preparation. It is when something like that happens that I realise how far I have come in terms of confidence in the five years. There were around 30 kids to keep amused for two hours, and I could have gone on for longer. As you can probably tell, today has been a good day! A successful casting session in the evening, and home to put feet up, and relax a little. I then found out that one of my plays has been picked up by another American School, this time with a paying audience. I have seven performances of my plays between now and March, which is so very exciting, and puzzling! I am toying with the idea of applying for a readers pass at the British Library so that I can make myself go there and write. I think the atmosphere and environment might help me, and obviously the facilities will be essential. At the moment though, I genuinely do not have any spare days, so there might need to be some weekend working.

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Sunday 8th January 2012

2012-01-10T03:44:00.001-08:00

I got up first this morning and made a fried breakfast, including vegetarian sausage and bacon for eldest. It seemed to go down fairly well. I am feeling rather nervous about my day at work tomorrow, as I have all day at the school followed by the first Monday session of the year. This means that Sunday is not so much a day of rest for me. I managed to squeeze some time off to watch the Manchester derby which was all very exciting, but the rest of the day was spent invoicing and casting and generally prepping for the War project. It is amazing how little of what I was taught at school has sunk in, and I can remember next to nothing about such things as the American Civil War. I feel I might have to spend much of the next five weeks revising! I continue to read Richard Herring's book, and one aspect of it is particularly enjoyable. He goes back and comments on previous blog posts to humerous effect. I wonder if there is any mileage in that for me? For example, two years ago, I was waxing lyrical about the wintery dog walks available to me because of the snow fall, and last year I spoke of a documentary on Vermeer, of which have absolutely no recollection now! This idea will clearly make me believe I have Alzheimer's, so perhaps best to avoid!

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Saturday 7th January 2012

2012-01-08T08:33:00.001-08:00

The family dropped me at work this morning, and traveled back up north to see Auntie Jen, who goes back to the states in a few days time. I was able to spend the day having a small nap, then following it up with a massive burst of housework, which took even me by surprise. The house looked rather lovely when they arrived home at about ten this evening. I achieved little else during the day, but it felt good getting into bed this evening to read, knowing that the house was all taken care of. I have already stuttered a wee bit on the reading front, as my favourite comedian Richard Herring re-released his early book, Bye Bye Balham on the Kindle. I bought it, and have started to read it straight away, which means Mr Mitchell is now on hold. I really must stop doing this. I also witnessed a rather spectacular argument following a bump of cars in the supermarket car park. It has been a day of high drama clearly. I am delighted to have packed away the Christmas decorations, but found myself wondering of I would ever unpack them again! I am not sure what brought that on, but It got me to thinking about the dramatic possibilities of leaving a note to your family in the Christmas decoration box, that they would discover the following year. I think I need to stop thinking sometimes.

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Friday 6th January 2012

2012-01-08T08:27:00.001-08:00

I am already feeling as tired as I did at the end of the Autumn term! We were both discussing the whole feeling of tiredness and lethargy and wondering if there was some seasonal influence, particularly considering the lack of light in the house. A friend of ours seems to have the same issue. Anyway, it would seem that I have to carry on, and the government wont pay me to have a year in bed, so continue I must. Just as I had made the decision not to take on too much, another opportunity has arisen, which means I will get paid to act. This fills me with a small sense of dread, but on the other hand, the money is good, and the job looks to be fun, I will perform as a game show host on over 20 dates to year 11s in a School environment. It all sounds very grown up to me! I am rather excited about it, and couple with the chance to perform in the One Act play that myself and Mrs Plug are going to do, it makes for a really good few months work on the acting front. I am very lucky to be doing what I do I think. We had our first evening session, which was really good this week, and I feel very positive about the year coming up. Mrs Plug looks like she may have got a significant commission today as well, which I think means we can safely say that the year has got off to a good start.

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Thursday 5th January 2012

2012-01-06T01:02:00.001-08:00

There was a howling wind all night last night, and for the last couple of days we have suffered like Dorothy in Kansas. Though I will refrain from hoping that a house lands on an old Witch in Mid Beds (Or Narnia as it is known in the Twittersphere). I do not function too well in high winds, feeling edgy and anxious. I do not sleep well either, particularly when Mrs Plug deems it a good idea to spend all her sleeping time teaching me how to ride horses rather than actually sleeping like all sensible people. I spent today getting all my invoicing system up to date with 2012 dates etc, and found that I only just managed to get everything done in time for the evening sessions. Both of them went pretty well, and thankfully, they all seemed to come back. Even five years down the line, I find it surprising that everyone comes back. I wonder when that will ever change? Eldest is getting all of her personal statements and application forms together for Drama School applications, so I spent some of the evening editing and making suggestions about that. I then started work on the spec for the Play/Project that starts next week. By the time I finished it was bedtime. The decorations have come down finally, and it feels like we can move on. I used to hate that feeling as a child, but now I find it rather refreshing. I can have a slightly less stressful day tomorrow I hope, and get more other stuff done. This weekend will be a working weekend as well, though I hope I can have a bit more reading time. I am rather hooked on the David Mitchell (Not that one) book already, so thank you Mr Pops for the recommendation.

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Wednesday 4th January 2012

2012-01-05T02:50:00.001-08:00

Official back to work day, and all in all, it was pretty good. Managed to get all the paperwork in order to start back, and also get to a meeting about another project at a School. This one is to create a performance about War over a 6 week period, with around 50 year 3 and 4s. How much fun! I shall be starting next week, which is really something to get my teeth into, and the pay is pretty good too! Had great fun at the after school club tonight, and then we did the pub quiz at our old watering hole. We came last, but were only 6 points off the lead, so all very close. It was very pleasant to get out and have a change of scene. Big news, I have finished the first book of the year! I rather enjoyed it, but felt a little down by the end. It is hardly an uplifting story! I have now started on Book number two..The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. It was recommended to me by the lovely Mr Pops, and I have enjoyed the start of it immensely. It is billed as a love story set in 18th Century Japan. I find it interesting to do a little research on authors before I read them, and David Mitchell seems quite an interesting man, but I had to stop reading for fear of spoilers in reviews and such like. I shall report with progress.

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Tuesday 3rd January 2012

2012-01-04T02:39:00.001-08:00

The last day of the School holidays, and to a certain extent, back to work. I feel for the girls today, as the holiday has passed so quickly. I managed to get a little done today, but the workflow was interrupted somewhat with some news I received. Over the last few days, I cannot recall exactly when, I received a letter from a Catalogue company that I have an account with, asking me to call them. It transpired that someone had managed to gain access to my account, and tried to order over £6000 worth of items in my name, and get them sent to various addresses in London. In effect, I had been subjected to identity theft. Having looked into it further, the people at the company thought that they had got access via my online account, and as a result they have closed the account. The password I used on that account, was also used on many other online services, so I had to spend a happy time going and changing it on lots of other services. What a frustrating thing to happen. All credit to the company for picking up on it and dealing with it as they did, and I suppose the situation could have been a lot worse.

We made the decision not to take part in the next series of plays with our local group. I hope this hasn't upset anyone, but we both felt that we needed to focus on us and our respective business interests for a while, and the challenges they bring. Youngest has still gone for a part in one, which is fine, but we will now focus on our own projects for a couple of months, before the work starts on the play I am directing with them in Autumn, and the possible Summer School as well. I can see a lot of lists needing to be written.

In the evening I managed to find a stream of the Spurs match, which was a tense affair, but ended with a 1-0 victory. I then continued with my book. I am finding it really entertaining and fascinating, so was surprised to read one or two scathing reviews. I wonder if they were borne out of jealousy or a genuine dislike? I know it is all subjective, but I cannot find anything within its pages to illicit such a reaction. I will be finishing it tomorrow I think, and then I have to move on to my next choice, which will not be easy.

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Monday 2nd January 2012

2012-01-03T04:09:00.001-08:00

I have realised that I now need to add the year to the headings on each blog post, well at least I think I should. Whilst it is doubtful that this will ever make the archives at the British Library, it might at least provide me with a means to work out what I was doing and when. I can only look back with some regret that I didn't do this sooner, as there are large swathes of time that remain a complete mystery to me. Today was a Bank holiday, and I don't think i have quite managed to adjust to the fact that this needn't mean that I have to do nothing. I pretty much did nothing for most of the day, and felt that I rather let myself down. I managed to drag myself out of my slumbering attitude and forced myself to prepare dinner, which was a vegetarian delight with added ham for youngest who is refusing point blank to entertain the idea of vegetarianism. It was in fact my youngest daughter who tried vegetarianism for about four days and has summed it up by saying that it is "Impossible" and that she has never felt so unhealthy, though I am suspicious of this coming from a girl who would live on sugar alone given half the chance. Eldest has a slight mountain to climb in many ways, in that there are a large number of vegetables that she either dislikes, or has not tried because she doesn't like the idea of them. To her credit, she bravely attacked the leek and mushroom pasta that I prepared lovingly for her this evening. I rather enjoyed it anyway. I also thoroughly enjoyed the football as my arch enemies, Arsenal, got beaten, and their petulant and childish manager behaved so wonderfully ungraciously in defeat as to provide even more entertainment to me. My first book of the year is by Julian Barnes, and it is called "The Sense of an Ending". I started it last year, and floundered a bit, but I have been true to myself and started it again. It is, I have to admit, a rather short book to start off with, but I feel that I will need to tackle some much weightier tomes in the next 12 months. I will not be too strict on myself over the year, as there will be some weeks that are easier than others, but I will try to ensure that 52 books are read. I will update the blog over the next few days as to some of the intended list, but any suggestions would be gratefully received.

I spent some time today feeling a little guilty that we didn't phone or contact some people over the break. I think that in our defence, we needed to batten down the hatches and switch off for a while, and whilst we did do that on Christmas Day, the rest of the time we were totally surrounded by family. I do crave a little solitude now, but I must also make more of an effort to keep in touch with special people. Back to work tomorrow, and that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that I think happens more out of habit than any real feeling of dread. We have a lot to do over the next few weeks, so I want to try and make a good start with it all. Maybe that exercise thing might be a key to it all?

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Sunday 1st January 2012

2012-01-02T05:17:00.001-08:00

We all woke up fairly late, suffering from the excesses of the night before. Not that any of us went particularly mad. Eldest was at a friends party and didn't get home until late afternoon, and the exchange of "Happy New Year" texts just made me realise that this will be the shape of things to come in the future. In fact, this time next year, she wont be living here if everything goes to plan. How quickly time passes. Eldest has also announced that she is now a vegetarian. This will prove to be interesting on several levels. I was vegetarian for six years, which all ended in a holiday filled with blood lust. I am not suggesting that she will go the same way, however, I think that she needs to be aware that there might be a little more planning and research involved than simply making a decision. I will of course try to join in as much as possible, mainly from the health perspective. I always feel slightly guilty that I eat meat, when I regularly pronounce that "Meat is Murder" is my favourite album. Our final guests left by about 4.00 pm, and we settled down to a Traditional Sunday Roast, with eldest tucking in to a Red Lentil and Rice dish that I knocked up after forgetting that she was vegetarian. We then settled down to watch some films that Mrs Plug had not seen yet, and that was our day. Now, as far as resolutions are concerned, I need to revisit last year's post;

1. Pass my Driving test - This was a big fat failure. I started off well, and had a lot of lessons, and would feel that I could now hop into a car and drive it. I just lost the momentum, and faith in my Instructor, who seems to have disappeared, though I hope not as a result of having me as a pupil. Our circumstances changed during the year, which meant that it was not such a priority

2. Massively expand my business and develop some decent back end systems to make it more efficient. - Well I didn't do too badly on this front. We started the year and ended the year with the same amount of weekly sessions, however, we expanded in to After School Clubs, and School Projects. Getting in to the education system has proved to be a really exciting development, and one that looks like continuing. The Back End systems are certainly better than they were, but still need a lot of work. Bearing in mind that the first part of the year was just me running the house and the business, I think it was a very successful year.

3. To write more Plays - Yes, I managed this, and I wrote a full length three act pantomime, and a one act play called Screw Your Courage. Along with this I wrote a short ten minute play. 4. To write more music again. - This was a limited success in that I didn't make the time to do it. There was some minor dabbling, and the beginnings of some ideas for a musical, but that is about all.

5. To Exercise regularly - Well it was a year of two halves. I started off by walking roughly six miles a day, but when Mrs Plug finished her course, she started dropping Youngest off at School, so the exercise regime stopped. I was quite pleased with my general level of fitness when we were in the lakes, but a bit disappointed that I didn't make ore use of the Gym Equipment that we have.
6. To write the blog every day - Yes...This was a success
7. To get my ambition of getting a play performed in London underway. - Difficult to assess. I entered a play into a competition, but it didn't get any further, but I am now having my work performed all over the world, so I think that is a step in the right direction. I also have the chance to scope out some work for possible performance in London....so not a bad start.

As for 2012....Well here goes....

1. To get us financially secure. - It is all very well being an arty farty person, and I adore the work I do, but ultimately it will be all for nothing if I have to get a part time job at Tescos to supplement our income. We are looking to start some more sessions, and to employ someone full time this year, so it is all geared up....However, at the back of my mind is the whole worry about recession and how bad it is.

2. To manage my priorities a little better - I have found that voluntary work has got in the way of the important stuff far too much, and need to make a few adjustments

3. To Read a book a week - This is a massive task, but one that I really want to do. I really feel that to write, you need to read avidly, and to broaden your palette. As a result, I am compiling a list of 52 books that I want to read before the year is out. It's a rather exciting task actually.

4. To get more work published and performed. I am not at all sure that I am good enough to do this, but I am going to have a real go at it. There is work already written that has yet to be submitted to a publisher, so I hope I can start the year with a bang on that.

I will stop there I think. There are all sorts of minor intentions, like cutting out negativity, and avoiding idiots, but I think they can just remain intentions. I would also like to be a more tidy and organised person. We shall see how these all pan out.

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Saturday 31st December

2012-01-02T04:32:00.001-08:00

Well here we are then....a year if blogging. I didn't manage to actually blog on the day every day, but then I don't think that was ever the intention. There was always the intention to record something for every day. I have avoided going back and reading any of it, though I may do that a bit later on. Now I need to decide wether to continue, and wether to change how I blog etc. I think I will certainly continue for as long as I feel I am getting anything out of it. It has been quite a year for the Swiss Family Plug, and it will always be worth looking back on I feel. Wether the remaining years of my tawdry and pointless existence will be worth it I do not know. We shall see. We invited a few friends around for the New Years Eve celebration, and it was a pleasant, incident free evening. I have never really been a great one for New Year's Eve, and I think I would like to do something different for the Christmas Period next year. Maybe go away to a secluded cottage with no television or Internet. We had three days without it this year, and I rather enjoyed it, realising quite how much I rely on it. This seems ironic that I am recording these thoughts in a blog, but I have cut down a lot on my "Social Media" over the last year. Twitter is no longer an essential part of my day, I will browse it once or twice. Facebook the same. I wonder if I am heading to a point where I hit the delete button completely? I doubt it, though I may well be having a bit of a clear out of who I am "Friends" with, or who I am following. Twitter for example has been interesting. I think I hit my heights of use during the last election, and as a result, I followed quite a few people with whom I will always disagree with. I don't have a problem with this at all, but some of them simply shout and shout their views in a childish way, and I find myself getting cross. I shall simply unfollow I think, and see where that takes me....In my next post I shall deal with resolutions!

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Friday 30th December

2011-12-31T05:41:00.001-08:00

We awoke at lunchtime, which felt rather lovely. We sept properly for the first time in about a week, and I still spent the day feeling tired. I haven't really hit the food and drink too heavily this year, and feel much better for it, though with a night out at a friends to come, and then New Years eve as well, that story might change. Mrs Plug spent some time tidying, whereas I am ashamed to say, I vegged a little. We left the girls with Dominos Pizza, and went to a friends for dinner. It was a friend who we have known for years, but not really socialised with before, and it was a very pleasant evening, with lovely people. I hope to do more of this next year. So I have one day left to blog, and make it a whole year. Will I continue into next year? Oh I don't really know. I have enjoyed it, and rarely have I been lost for words, though whether they have been at all interesting I am not sure. It's been a useful tool for me in terms of keeping a little discipline, and just writing for the sake of it. I am not at all sure that it has improved my writing, but then, I am not sure that will ever happen now. I hope that I can get through the next few weeks without getting down in the dups, which I tend to so at this time of year. There was a thread of reminiscing about my home town on Facebook today, and it brought back many happy, and many unhappy memories, but realising how many years ago it all was creeps up on me. It gets harder each year, so I am determined to try to "Hit the ground running", or at east limping, in the right direction. This might be difficult if the lure of the drink gets too great on New Year's Eve.

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Thursday 29th December

2011-12-31T05:29:00.001-08:00

Breakfast with Sister in law and nephew and Niece, followed by a trip to the local Garden Centre which has a coffee shop with wifi. This has been the first time I can get any meaningful connection to the Internet since Christmas day, so my iPad breathed a huge sigh of relief and downloaded all sorts of crap for me, whilst I nonchalantly sipped a coffee trying to look sophisticated. We then spent too much money in the local craft emporium. We returned home for lunch, said goodbye to Sister in Aw 2 and Niece and nephew, and then went to Market Drayton to browse the charity shops. I found a copy of A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and a Diary of Kenneth Tynan, so I happily returned home in the knowledge that I probably wont read them for ages. We had tea, and then trotted off back home, arriving in Sunny Bedfordshire at about 9.00pm, rather tired. It is always good to get home, and it was especially good to sleep in our own bed again.

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Wednesday 28th December

2011-12-31T05:24:00.001-08:00

So we wend our merry way up t'north today, starting off fairly early on the road to Staffordshire. We arrived late morning and had a quick bite before heading off to the New Vic Theatre to watch Alice in Wonderland. It was an odd telling of the story being set in the first place on a canal boat, and with the theatre being in the round, it added a completely new dimension to it. I rather enjoyed it, though our massed party seemed to have differing views. The lead playing Alice had a broad potteries accent which I rather loved, and the Jaberwock which was powered by a mobility scooter was in my opinion a small work of genius. All in all a lovey trip out, and a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. We headed back to Ma and Pa in laws for dinner, and then said goodbye to Sister and Brother in law no.1. We then settled down for an evening of wine and gossip.

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Tuesday 27th December

2011-12-30T05:18:00.001-08:00

I slept heavily for minutes until the pig woke us up. She drank and gnawed all night, and this coupled with the rather unpredictable blow up bed we were on hardly induced a good nights rest. I spent some of the night sitting up reading Christopher Hitchens essays. The half conscious state that I found myself in for the next day was not entirely pleasant. The kids were all taken swimming whilst myself and brother in law went on a long dog walk, which was very pleasant indeed. We covered everything political, and I was delighted to find so much common ground it is rare to find someone as entertaining and enlightened as myself! We settled down in the evening to watch the Spurs match, and I was delighted to see them win, though the viewing was done through a red wine haze.

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Monday 26th December

2011-12-30T05:07:00.001-08:00

We set off at 8.30 for the Cotswolds, with a travelling Guinea Pig cage, a small car packed to the brim, and a non festive playlist in the car. A fairly straightforward journey, and we arrived late morning. Having enjoyed the delights of a quiet day yesterday, it was soon apparent that this was going to be much louder. We had about 15 round the table, many nieces and nephews assorted pets and family upsets....all in all a typical Christmas gathering,but pleasant nonetheless. We then went out for a long family walk, which ended at my in-laws friends house, where we again, ate and drank and generally made merry. I have realised that I do prefer quieter social occasions, and I can only put this down to my increasing years. The friends had some elderly relatives staying with them, who gave me the distinct impression that they didn't like me. They were rather well spoken, rather blue rinse, and clearly didn't like the fact that their son was spending so much time talking to someone who was referred to as Plug, and who seemed to be involved in The Arts. At the end if the evening, the father asked where we travelled from, and when we told him, he actually said "poor Bedfordshire"! I am increasingly surprised at the level of rudeness displayed by people. They came from Sussex, and have done nothing to improve my perceptions of the place and it's inhabitants.

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Sunday 25th December

2011-12-30T04:55:00.001-08:00

I must start by wishing anyone who cares to read this drivel a very merry Christmas. I realise that as an atheist I should feel ashamed to do this, but sod it...it's Christmas. We got to bed quite late, so we were not rushing out of bed too early, and the girls are slightly beyond the whole leaping put at five in the morning. They got to bed quite late as they had set up Mrs Plug. Eldest has a mannequin and decided that it would be a good idea to dress it up, and give it a face...in fact her own face cast in resin. The finishing touch was a lace head dress, and then it was placed in our bedroom. Mrs Plug walked in to a dark room to see a shadowy figure that looked like Norman Bates's mother. Merry Christmas!!! The kids were still awake, and much hilarity ensued and half past two in the morning. We started the day with a little caffeine, but soon moved onto alcohol. Presents were handed out and I think were much appreciated, and we settled down to eat a large lunch cooked this year by Mrs Plug. It was actually quite pleasant to not be on cooking duty this year. We then spent the rest of the day playing board games, nodding off, and watching pretty awful television. A pleasant day all round.

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Saturday 24th December

2011-12-25T13:45:00.001-08:00

I went to Luton. This was not one of my finest ideas on Christmas eve. The people in Luton appeared to be rabid. I have done many Christmas Eve's in Central London, and Oxford Street is of course awful at the best of times. However the Mall as its known, was like Beirut. I hated every single last minute of the trip, and was so relieved to get out. I managed to get just about everything I needed, and came home to drink alcohol. I LOVE that feeling when we close the door and shut down for Christmas. Of course I cannot help but go to bed thinking that I have forgotten something. Eventually all the presents were wrapped by three in the morning....

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Friday 23rd December

2011-12-24T04:28:00.001-08:00

The excitement was almost existent this morning as we left the house to go food shopping. We decided to push the boat out and go to Waitrose, which, after careful consideration, I would like to pass a few comments. Firstly, I am clearly not your average Waitrose shopper. I was watched with fascination by a man in his early 60's wearing a barbour jacket, and a sense of incredulity, that a long haired, unshaven lout was allowed in the shop. He just stared. There was no hint of an attempt at disguising the fact. It made me cross. The rest of the shopping experience was little better. People seemed intent on standing in the way of where I was looking, shouting over the top of me, and generally being ill mannered, It is, I believe, supposed to be a season of goodwill, whatever your outdated belief system is, but there was little evidence of this. Also, the quality of the stuff on sale was not much better here than at our local Tesco. We ended up buying food from Waitrose, and then going to Tesco to get the Alcohol, as it was cheaper anyway. On reaching the checkout, we were asked whether we would like any bags, and I was very proud of myself for avoiding the answer "No thankyou, we would like to perform a magical juggling act on the way out to the car. I hate shopping, it turns me into Jeremy Clarkson. In the evening, we watched rubbish television, and I had an early night! This is unusual.

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Thursday 22nd December

2011-12-24T04:20:00.001-08:00

In honour of the late Christopher Hitchens, I have been trying my best to make a cup of tea the way he prescribed in the article I posted recently. How delightful it was therefore, to be told that the tea I had made for Mrs Plug was "A bit tart". I give up. Any how, I decided that today was the day to relax and forget all about Christmas Shopping, and of course, this was not to be with Mrs Plug on the case. Lists continued to be made, and pots were still being glazed in readiness. We have of course not bought any food or drink for Christmas as yet, but we like to do things in a strange order at Plug Towers. We are being catered for in all sorts of different places over the next few days, so we do not need to go mad in terms of food and drink, but lists are still being prepared, and we have to encounter questions from offspring along the lines of "Why do we eat sprouts on Christmas day?" and "Why does Mum only drink Sherry at Christmas?" which of course have no logical answer other than the standard "It's tradition". I have been thinking a lot about why we celebrate the way we do. We are not christians, but then, I don't think the majority of people who celebrate actually are. I also think that you can trace it back to beyond Christianity anyway, but lets not get into all of that shall we? It's Christmas after all, and I don't want religion to spoil it. I have been thinking about my quest for collecting and gathering "Stuff". Most of this hoarding is now reduced to digital "Stuff", which could all be destroyed by the wave of a magnet or something similar. I was wondering what would happen if the Internet and PC's etc etc just simply ceased to exist. I think my stuff collecting would be limited to second hand books, and do you know what? That wouldn't be such a bad thing. So what of next year? Will I continue to frustrate myself? I have been making my plans for resolutions as usual.

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Wednesday 21st December

2011-12-22T04:40:00.001-08:00

Christmas Shopping day. Oh heaven help me. We dropped youngest at a friends house, and went off and spent far too much money on presents. We decided that we would not buy for eachother this year, which always leaves the little boy in me feeling a bit sad. I know it's pathetic, but there you go. I am, unsurprisingly ,a difficult bugger to buy for, so I suspect that Mrs Plug will be relieved. I might treat myself to an item of clothing before the week is out...we shall see. I now have my kindle app on the iPad fully up to date with the next batch of books to plough through, and I think the collection will be rather challenging. I will report progress as I go along. We managed, I think, to get pretty much all the girls stuff organised, and we are leaving the food shopping until later on in the week, which should be entertaining. We are only really buying for one day, so that is a relief. We had to take eldest for a Scan today. After the horrendous episode at the hospital before, we have all been worrying about it, and hoping that there is no repeat of what happened. All seemed to go well, and she has such a strong positive attitude to it all at the moment that I couldn't be more proud. After we got out, we continued with shopping, and actually had a good time. Myself and Eldest managed to amuse ourselves by sneaking items into Mrs Plug's shopping basket without her noticing. My favourite was a Garden Gnome. We were tragically, quite helpless with laughter in the middle of the shop, and it makes me happy. We went for a coffee and a bite to eat in bloody Costa. I cannot help but dislike all of these chains of coffee shops, and I am not sure why. I think perhaps that they tell us what it is to be sophisticated, and I simply don't buy into it. I am sure there are lots of other reasons to dislike them, but right now, the fake pretension will do for me. We had a good chat anyway, and it was good for me to be able to articulate why I was feeling a little down after the incident with my Aunt last week. I am enjoying today in spite of myself. In the evening I got stuck in a loop of iPhone upgrade hell on the internet, so gave up and watched football.

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Tuesday 20th December

2011-12-22T04:30:00.001-08:00

We have read throughs for some plays next year tonight, so we need to be organised for that. We managed an hours Christmas Shopping today, but I have to admit that my heart was not in it, and I wanted to self harm after half an hour of the crowds. In the end we came back early, and did very little. Tomorrow will be the main day to get things done. The evening was very pleasant, and by the end of the day, there was much excitement about the plays on offer and what we might do with them all. I am very much keeping my options open as I am still not sure what I want to do. We still have a play that was written for us that is waiting to be performed, and I can't help but thinking that we ought to do it. We shall see. Myself and eldest popped to the pub afterwards for a quick drink, which was all very pleasant, and then headed home for another failure of an early night.

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Monday 19th December

2011-12-22T04:26:00.001-08:00

I continue to feel under the weather, which is I suppose a combination of the excesses of the weekend, the continuation of the bug, and general tiredness. I have that horrid feeling of wanting to hibernate. I think it's the season of goodwill to all beds for me. I manage to drag myself from my pit and get up and busy myself around the house. We are still playing catch up from the EC Washing mountain that built up during the Christmas Show week, and I doubt very much whether it will be cleared by the time Christmas actually arrives. I sound like a cheery soul today do I not? I suspect that another couple of days of not stressing will snap me out of it all. It is Mrs Plug's last Christmas Work day, so we look forward to her return, and the fact that it is now the holiday period officially. I have decided to try to think as little as possible about work for the next day or two, and to try to relax. Mrs Plug arrived home late but happy, and we watched the festive classic Rosemary's Baby until silly O Clock.

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More writing Software

2011-12-19T14:38:00.001-08:00

I spend far more time than I should reading all sorts of blogs and online utterings. However, one of the benefits of this, is that from time to time i get some good advice, and in particular from other more successful writers. I have read all sorts of hints and tips, and this one is for a bit of software called Final Draft. It is, I should add, very expensive (£160), but I am assured it is the industry standard. It works on Windows, and I am also assured that an iPad version is on the way. I suspect that at least one of my friends who reads this will be very interested in getting it for his forthcoming ventures into writing. All I need to do now is to develop some talent and some free time!

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Sunday 18th December

2011-12-19T04:28:00.001-08:00

Well a week to go until Christmas, and we have done nothing in the way of shopping. Mrs Plug always works at this time of year, and it is this that in effect pays for Christmas. I have been mad busy up until yesterday, and in many ways, I prefer to do things last minute. The whole build up to Christmas seems to be getting more and more elaborate and annoying each year. I endure it most of the time, but I do find it really unfair, particularly on those of us with kids and not a lot of money. I hope that we can just enjoy the break though without feeling all of those pressures. This year we are at home alone on Christmas Day, and then we are off to Sister in Laws for 2 days, then to Mother in laws for a day. I am sure it will be lovely, and I like the idea of switching off completely. I am continuing to read HITCH 22 which is excellent. One of the advantages of reading electronically is the ability to look up the definition of a word from within the book. In this book, I am finding that particularly useful. In the evening we sat and watched the Michael Buble Christmas special, which was awful in the extreme. I just do not get the fuss. He seems like a nice chap, and he has a pleasant voice, but really, is he that good? From young to old, he seems to be commanding a degree of affection that I don't understand. We then watched Ocean's Twelve, which was harmless enough, I had managed to avoid watching any of these films, so it was perhaps not the brightest thing to do to watch the second in the series first, but we managed to work it all out. I will now make the effort to watch the first one I think.

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Saturday 17th December

2011-12-19T04:19:00.001-08:00

I am not really a great one for dates and anniversaries, with my memory being as appalling as it is. And so it came to my attention that I had missed the 7th anniversary of stopping smoking, You will note that I did not use the phrase "giving up" as this implies that I have in some way lost something. I still get cravings from time to time, usually when I have had too much to drink, but by and large, I think I am happy enough to now call myself a proper ex-smoker. The day was spent doing as little as possible. It was our first Saturday off for a long time. Eldest stayed at a friends house last night, so myself and youngest spent the day slobbing around. In the evening I went to a friends house and got horribly drunk. I really don't enjoy it any more and don't like the person I become. Perhaps another resolution is required. I have sneaked a peek at the resolutions for 2011 and it is a mixed bag in terms of success this year. I will review them properly when we get nearer the end of the year.

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Friday 16th December

2011-12-17T06:15:00.001-08:00

The last day of term today. The anger of last night has subsided, only to be replaced my anger at my Aunt who sent a tawdry little hate filled note to me. If ever I doubted my decision to divorce myself from my family, then it was extremely kind of her to remind my of my reasons. For the umpteenth time this year I found myself wallowing in a pit of resentment. I soon managed to snap out of it, but I am now 100% certain that I will never again be dragged back in by anything she says or does. Enclosed was £5 for cat food. I have given it to charity, I couldn't bear to spend it. I other news, the girls are all home for the holidays, and both looked exhausted. I think we are all in need of the next couple of weeks. I am still going to have to get through a good deal of work, but the lack of pressure in terms of the regular sessions will give me enough of a break. We spent the evening watching a couple of trashy but funny films, and went off to bed looking forward to a lie in.

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Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-16T02:58:00.001-08:00

I adored pretty much everything this man wrote, and whilst I may not have agreed with it all, it was still good to read something I disagreed with and still enjoy it. He wrote on many subjects, most of them were deadly serious and of course important....However, I do not think I have read a piece by him that I enjoyed more than this one...

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2011/01/how_to_make_a_decent_cup_of_tea.html

RIP Hitch

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A Fabulous Article

2011-12-16T02:47:00.001-08:00

On the day that we learned about the death of Christopher Hitchens, it was good to read such a beautiful put down of the Daily Mail Theatre Critic. I know that criticising anything related to that rag is like shooting fish in a barrel....well particularly stupid fish, in a Barrel of their own putrid stupidity....but it was worth the read anyway....I have read "Saved", but did not have either the time or the funds to go and see it, however, it would seem that Mr Letts does not want me to form my own opinion about it. I didn't particularly care for the play when I read it, and perhaps I needed to see it before I formed an opinion, however, its benefits and good points were a little wasted on me. I do think though, that I ought to be able to make up my own mind about it.....anyway.....See what Mr Rebellato has to say on the subject...

http://www.danrebellato.co.uk/Site/Spilled_Ink/Entries/2011/12/13_The_Limits_of_Criticism.html

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Thursday 15th December

2011-12-16T00:51:00.001-08:00

An interesting day. I awoke to the realisation that Mrs Plug in all her generosity had decided to leave me with a small token of her love, in the form of the bug that she has been suffering from. Instead of moping around for days like Ladies do, I of course brushed it off and carried on with my day. Having written my review of the year, which actually makes it sound a bit dull, I then manfully soldiered on with life. Later on in the day, I experienced something which I found annoying and want to vent about it a little. All I will say, is that for a religious organisation to do what they did to me tonight was upsetting, and rather ironic given the time of year...No room at the Inn springs to mind. I feel so angry about the situation that I might have to rethink my approach in the new year. Never mind, we made the most of the fact that we were home early, and ate Curry in front of the Shamrock Rovers vs Spurs game, and generally relaxed. One thing I HAVE got better at this year is the management of my moods. I think that in the past I would have let it eat away at me for the whole evening, but I am glad I didn't....after all.....I doubt that anyone else spent the evening worrying about what they had done to me. Last session tomorrow, and then we can relax a little! :-)

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What was good in 2011

2011-12-15T05:19:00.001-08:00

My rather inconsequential review of 2011 follows......

Theatre - I had a great year as far as theatre was concerned. I think there were several highlights in terms of what I was personally involved with as well as what I watched. The Globe Theatre production of Henry IV Part one was my ultimate highlight. Roger Allam as Falstaff was stunning, and the hours spent on the feet flew by. It was particularly good to spend it with eldest.Other highlights were seeing the Tennant/Tate Much Ado, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and felt that the critics ignored, not because of what they actually saw, but what they felt about the celebrity casting. I feel they have forgotten where Tennant and Tate came from. Anyway...rant over....It was also excellent to see Eldest absolutely own the stage in a performance of The Likes of Us. I still get a shiver up my spine thinking of her on that stage. I am so very proud. I had three of my own plays performed this year, and I was pleased with them all in equal measures. It hasn't put me off of continuing down the writing path!

Television - Well my eyes have been opened up to all sorts of things this year, but the stand out series (I don't do "Seasons") had to be Game of Thrones. I don't really do fantasy science fiction as much as I once did, but I make an exception in this case. It was just so much fun, and wonderful to watch. I have spent more time watching news programmes and documentaries than drama or comedy though, and there were so many highlights looking back at those that it is difficult to name any favourite moments. However, the newsnight episodes that dealt with phone hacking were extremely entertaining, with Paxman getting better and better.

Books - Where to start? I discovered Kindle and e-books this year, so I have read far more than I expected to. I think my personal favourite read this year has been Caitlin Moran's book, but honourable mentions must also go to Emma Kennedy for the Tent the Bucket and Me, and John Niven for Kill your friends.

Sport - Well my beloved Spurs have been excellent this year, and it will be a year that I suspect I will treasure the memory of for a long time. Seeing Gareth Bale torment the best defences in Europe in the Champions League will last for ever!

Film - I have never been much of a film buff, but have managed to catch up on an awful lot this year. I will include films that I have seen this year for the first time, and mention Four Lions, A Prophet, The Godfather (Yes...I know!!!!!), Inception and Submarine.

Music - Because I have done less in the way of listening, I have really gone back many years and revisited much. I have been to see little in the way of live music, with Carter USM being the only fully fledged gig of the year. In terms of music on the iPod, it has been the Smiths again, with the remastered collection. I have also spent lots of time with the Super Furry Animals, the Manic Street Preachers and the Stone Roses & Happy Mondays, for nostalgic reasons. New music has been hard to come by this year in terms of quality. I enjoyed the Horrors album, Noel Gallagher's solo wasn't half bad, and the Vaccines got a few airings. I am not sure that age is necessarily the reason, but I do feel that much new music has passed me by. I think, like anything, you need to work hard to find the real quality, and my energies have been employed elsewhere. I have enjoyed some classical this year, in particular, Vivaldi, who is not challenging enough to disturb me when writing. I have dabbled a lot, and listened to much that I cannot remember, but did have a long period of listening to Brahms, which was enjoyable. There was much that was released and lauded that was poor. I wont jump on the anti Coldplay wagon as there is much out there that has been worse, but I do feel that many bands have stagnated. REM called it a day, which was not totally unsurprising, but rather sad all the same. I quite liked their last album.

Podcasts - Richard Herring and Andrew Collins have provided me with much entertainment over the years, so it was sad to see them fall out this year. I hope that the recent return to podcasting will be a long one. Herring's continued solo podcasts and Edinburgh ones were excellent as usual, and I enjoyed the sheer insanity of his recent Snooker podcast. I also enjoyed the Desert Island Discs podcasts which meant that you could listen to some interesting people without having to hear their terrible taste in music too much.

Radio - When I did listen, it was exclusively to Radio 4

Comedy - I have been to one comedy gig this year, which was again Richard Herring. I love the man. He makes me howl with laughter, and what a nice, unassuming gentle chap he seems when meeting him afterwards!

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Wednesday 14th December

2011-12-15T04:45:00.001-08:00

Mrs Plug has the dreaded vomiting bug. Well I say "Dreaded"....I am not sure that is completely accurate. Annoyingly, it kept me awake for a large proportion of the night, which was entirely unnecessary of her. I have made a note of this for future reference. She managed to stop being annoyingly ill enough to go off on he first day of her Christmas Job, which is as it should be. This left me alone in the house for a while, which was all rather pleasant. I managed to get a little work done, and tidy up much of my media collection. I have a collection of external hard drives with all sorts of stuff and nonsense on it, so it is nice to get some sort of order to it all. I managed to watch the first episode of "Boardwalk Empire" an HBO drama set in the prohibition in the US. It seems quite promising, so I may well continue with it. I have also started to watch some of the American episodes of "The Office", which I think are far better than the original UK versions. That is quite unusual in itself. I wonder if this new found love of things American is some sort of reaction to my huge writing career in America? I had the last of the After School club sessions before Christmas and it was all very sweet and lovely, and I am really looking forward to them returning next term. I have a really good feeling about this group. I am beginning to think back on the year as well, and reviewing not only what has gone on personally, but also in terms of the arts etc etc....I can feel a bumper bonus blog post coming on I think. I now only have a matter of days to complete, and I will have written a whole year's worth of posts. I am not sure if I should be proud or not? The word count alone must qualify as a book, sadly, the quality almost certainly does not.

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Tuesday 13th December

2011-12-14T02:20:00.001-08:00

Most of this morning has been spent dealing with the matter I mentioned yesterday, which I am finding frustrating, irritating and annoying. I am sure I will write further about it at a later date, but it is such that I cannot go into detail. My writing website is now updated, and I am creating a Facebook Fan page. This is designed purely so that I can interact with the groups and Schools performing what I do, rather than any particular display of cockiness. I do find that some people I come across tend to be a little bit anti what I do, which is always a shame. I can already taste the relief of the last week at School/Work, and although I still have a lot to do, it all feels a bit "End of term", which is rather pleasant. I remember that feeling well, being able to take games in on the last day, but always feeling a little jealous of what the more affluent families were able to bring in. Typical me....finding something to be bitter about! I was always grateful for what I did have though.

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Monday 12th December

2011-12-14T02:14:00.001-08:00

With some semblance of relief, we now get back to a routine for a week or two. I have a meeting with my business advisor, and all seems to be heading in the right direction. On the downside, we have a bit of an issue arising from the last couple of weeks. It's always difficult when personal issues arise in situations like this, but I do wish they could be sorted out by looking at both sides. Anyhow....I am trying not to let things affect me as much as they have in the past, so I move on. Mrs Plug will be off doing her regular pre Christmas work again this year, and the girls will be finishing school at the end of the week. Youngest has been sick again, so will be off for the next two days. It makes working at home rather difficult, as I like to spend time with her. When eldest is home for study periods it makes it even more difficult. My solitary confinement of the last year now seems to have gone to the other extreme! I shall of course not complain! We had our last Monday session of the year tonight and all went well, and how nice not to have to dash off to rehearsals immediately afterwards!

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Sunday 11th December

2011-12-12T02:26:00.001-08:00

I awoke rather late, mainly due to the real ale on sale at the party last night. The afternoon was spent going through receipts and accounts in preparation for a meeting tomorrow. I then whipped up a bit of dinner for the family and settled down to watch an unusual event, Spurs losing. It was one of those games where I was screaming at the referee, and whilst I understand that all fans are biased towards their team, this really was a travesty of a refereeing performance. Anyway, that's the loss out of the way, I hope they get back to winning ways again soon. The rest of the day was spent relaxing as much as possible, but I still found myself going through receipts until midnight! I also received an email from a School wanting to work with us again, which is all rather exciting!

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Saturday 10th December

2011-12-12T02:23:00.001-08:00

The start of the final week of work before Christmas, and what a delightful start with the morning session. They really are a lovely bunch. I came out of the session with a big smile on my face. In the afternoon, I prepared a large vegetarian curry to go towards the Christmas party in the evening. It's the first one I have been to in three years, and I spent the day rather looking forward to it. I tend not to enjoy Christmas parties too much, which is probably a throw back to the big build up to Christmas when I was younger and the ultimate let down of it all. I also miss our friends from the group who have moved away, and no matter how nice the people are, it's still not the same. I am coming across as someone who cannot cope with change aren't i? :-) The other thing that plays on my mind was the phone call I received yesterday from my Aunt. After all the abuse etc that I received a few weeks back for trying to help, she phoned me out of the blue to ask if she could send money to the girls. I said no. She rather tersely said goodbye and hung up, and as usual, I feel guilty. I just cannot bear the ups and downs that I get with her, and it seems to me that I only get a call when I am needed. Anyway, in the event, the evening was very enjoyable, and it all passed with no incident, and a rather nice warm feeling.

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Friday 9th December

2011-12-09T16:35:00.001-08:00

Started off stressing about finances with Christmas coming up, and cashflow etc, but all sorted by the end of the day. I also received notification that one of my plays has now been picked up by an english group! They will be performing it twice next year, and having done a little research, it would seem that they will be entering it into festivals. This pleases me no end, as it was what it was originally written for. It would also seem that the performances in the American schools are being done as part of their exams. I always wondered what kind of strange crazy mixed up country it was, but this just confirms it. When the royalty cheque comes in, it will hardly be a fortune, but it will certainly pay for a nice night out or two. I want to keep it separate just to enjoy it! I have at least two, maybe three more plays that are at a publishable level in terms of my publisher, but there are some edits to do and some formatting issues. I will spend a few days trying to get on top of that over Christmas. If I can get between ten and twenty plays out there in the next year, then i think I can start to really enjoy it all. It's been a funny old week as far as work is concerned. I have felt a little detached from it all, and in need of the rest. We have a good weekend to look forward to though with the annual Christmas bash. I have not attended for the last two years, so it will be good to be there again. I think the mood and atmosphere will be somewhere near what it used to be.

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Thursday 8th December

2011-12-09T16:11:00.001-08:00

I think I am definitely ready for the break. We went to see eldest in Romeo and Juliet last night, and were deeply proud as usual. She's so talented, and so deserves a crack at a career in it. I hope she gets that bit of luck she needs! We are all a little tired this week still, and I think we have accepted that this is the way it will be for the next week. Mrs Plug will be working at her regular Christmas job next week, and we will finish for the term. I am looking forward to getting a few days to get some writing finished off.

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Wednesday 7th December

2011-12-09T15:48:00.001-08:00

Just seen that the BBC have adapted Great Expectations again for Christmas.......I wonder why it has been done again. Much as I love the BBC adaptations of Dickens, this one has been done to death....I suppose I should give it a go, but having seen a clip of Gillian Anderson as Miss Faversham, I am not sure that this one will be a winner. Time will tell. I came to Dickens quite late in life, mainly as I was forced to study Hard Times at school, by, well there is no better way of putting it, an idiot. The teacher was obviously bored to tears as he read it out, and was clearly bored with his own life as well as that of others. Hard Times is not exactly the lightest of reads, and I think therefore I suffered as a result. I shall try to read it again one day soon. I digress however, and I wish the BBC would pick up another Dickens story to adapt, there were plenty of them.

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Tuesday 6th December

2011-12-07T03:34:00.001-08:00

A day of paperwork, and Mrs Plug doing spring cleaning. This is either incredibly early and deeply efficient, or so late that it's embarrassing, I am yet to work out which. I received more news of my plays being performed, and again, the United States is the place! I really cannot fathom why on earth anyone from the States would want to perform these plays, and quite what they make of them. I hope to receive some form of feedback, and I will write to them to ask for a copy if they record it in any way. It really is a great feeling knowing that someone has read them, and decided to perform them. I hope that this continues, and that I become massive in America! Of course, back in the real world, I have to continue with the daily humdrum, and I looked at the calendar and realised quite how close we are to Christmas. I must be a lucky person, as on being asked what i want, I genuinely couldn't think of anything. I wonder what this says about me. I am looking forward to tomorrow to see eldest in another version of Romeo and Juliet. I am sure she will be excellent as usual, and it's good to see so many people from last weeks show supporting her and coming along. We are nearly at the final week of term, and I think the kids are looking forward to the break. Youngest was sent home as she'd been sick, so that's another 2 days off! I do wonder about these rules sometimes. Can't we just send kids to school when we think they are better? Oh there I go again getting all Jeremy Clarkson. My beloved MP is closing down her non-blog. I am not so cynical as to think that this is because she has been exposed as less than truthful in it recently of course. However, if she thinks that by deleting the blog, her stupidity will disappear as well, then she has another think coming. I know of several people who have taken full copies of it. She is now going to communicate to a wider audience apparently....Odd woman!

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Monday 5th December

2011-12-06T02:16:00.001-08:00

So back to some sort of reality now what with the chaos and carnage of the last week or so. I think one of the things that I really need to look at in the future with any large show is my diet. Not that I am that worried about putting on weight...the amount of physical work involved covers that. It's more for the energy levels. The last few months have been spent with at least two rehearsals a week. My slot to eat was sandwiched between running a work session and a rehearsal (Clever use of the word sandwiched there I thought). So as a result, the local chip shop man saw me more than his wife. By the end of the run I was heartily sick of chips. During show week we also enjoyed the delights of kebabs, pizza, curry and Chinese take-aways. I just feel completely sluggish. I was much better as far as alcohol was concerned, and probably only had two nights where I should have had less. I am going to try and build more of a contingency in the future for food. I was also wondering if I should take vitamins and go on a health kick for the two weeks leading up to and including the show. There are so many coughs and sneezes around, and our leading man barely made the stage for two of the performances that I think it might be a good idea. We must be one of the only Amateur drama groups that have our own juicing specialist who brings in a variety of healthy potions designed to help the voice! Anyway, I shall be looking after myself a little better over the next few weeks. Today was a slow day, mainly because I had decided it needed to be. Mrs Plug did Housework,and I got re accustomed to working life and the ever growing to do list! We had a quiet session in the evening and then an evening in front of the telly.

We started to talk about Christmas and what to buy the girls, and I always get a little excited about that. We also have the tree up, along with the decorations. I feel this is far too early, but as our tree was on stage all last week we felt it was easier to do this than put it away and get it out again. I think we are all feeling a little down at the moment. Perhaps because of the various things we have taken on? I am looking forward to the break and the family time over the next few weeks.

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Sunday 4th December.

2011-12-05T08:23:00.001-08:00

I struggled to get out of bed on only a few hours sleep, and felt really sad that it was all over, but tidy up we must. The last push meant that I got home at 2.00pm, for a cup of tea and a nap. we then went to the shops and bought the ingredients for a Roast dinner. I have missed decent food all week, so it was good to sit as a family and catch up on some crap telly and eat well and slowly. The rest of the evening was spent snoozing in front of the telly. Back to reality now

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Saturday 3rd December

2011-12-05T08:20:00.001-08:00

The final day of the run, and mixed emotions all round. The determination to put on shows to the best of our ability, with the tinge of sadness that this will be the last time we sing them songs together. The matinee is usually the difficult one, but we went for it today, and on reflection it was my favourite of the run. I fell completely flat after this show, and was struggling a bit to get up for the second show of the day, but the practical jokes on the dressing room lifted the spirits, and we blasted it in the evening. The evening over, the stage ripped out, and then back to Plug towers for a few drinks until silly o clock. Ajob well done

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Friday 2nd December

2011-12-05T08:16:00.001-08:00

The week has flown by, and I cannot believe that it will all be over tomorrow. We have had so much fun in the dressing rooms this week, and I think that has been my favourite aspect. It reminded me of when we first started this, and the fun we had backstage with Mr Pops. The In Laws came over to see us today, which was great, and then they came down to see the show in the evening. I think they were suitably impressed, especially since I made a disparaging comment about "The Wife's mother" as one character. A great Friday performance and probably the best yet.

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Thursday 1st December

2011-12-05T08:12:00.001-08:00

So one more month of blogging to go, and I will have completed a whole year. I wonder if I will continue? The start of December usually means that we all start to focus on Christmas, but that wont happen until we get the show out of the way. The morning was spent printing programmes and getting the box office up to date, and then off to work for two hours. I have never felt so tired at a session. It was still great fun, but I am of the opinion that I need to be better organised in the future. It's hard to remain focused on everything. The show was excellent again tonight, and we sat at the bar afterwards thinking how much fun it was that we still had three performances. We would have been finished on a normal run.

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Wednesday 30th November

2011-12-05T08:03:00.001-08:00

The blog will be mainly taken up by musings about the show for the rest of the week, but considering how much it takes over that is little surprise. We were delighted that Mr and Mrs Pops were in attendance tonight, and it was also very considerate of the teachers to be on strike as well. We spent some time relaxing today, and then got down to the hall for about four o clock. The atmosphere was excellent all round, and I felt that it was a good performance, though maybe not as strong as last nights. The reception was again marvelous, so I cannot complain.

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Tuesday 29th November

2011-12-05T08:00:00.001-08:00

Opening night is here at last, and we spend a lot of time finalising set and lighting and sound and everything really. Costumes are still being altered and added to, and the pace is frenetic. I have done so many shows at this place, and you never quite know what the atmosphere is going to be like, but I was delighted that it has been so pleasant on this one. We had so much fun tonight, and felt that the audience were excellent for an opening night. Only a handful of empty seats, and a fantastic reception. The stilt walking went well, and I managed to scare some children, so a good opener

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Monday 28th November

2011-12-05T07:57:00.001-08:00

A tense day all round, as we realised the enormity of what was still needed. The stage is built, but a last minute decision to change the bed and the door put extra pressure on the tech team. I think it is all going well, but I am worried that there is no time left to make any changes. The evening session went very well, and we got back to the hall in plenty of time for photos and a rehearsal. I could do with a day in bed before we open, but never mind. I popped to the bank in the morning and also got some boots and a hat for the show. All is now ready, and we just need an audience and a reviewer!

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Sunday 27th November

2011-12-05T07:54:00.001-08:00

Down to the hall for nine again, and today was lighting day. We also had a rehearsal and a technical planned, but only ended up with the rehearsal as everyone was exhausted. The lights look incredible, but they still have so much to do still, and we open on Tuesday. I can see a lot of furrowed brows! The stilt walking went well, and we have a hand rail to assist me up the stairs! I feel a little edgy still, but thought it went well enough to persevere. The costume will need a few tweaks as well. It got caught in the stilts on the stairs! Home at ten, which was much needed for a glass of wine and an early night.

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Saturday 26th November

2011-12-05T07:51:00.001-08:00

Down at the hall early to begin. The girls ran my morning session for me so that I could be there to supervise, which was most welcome. I came down at the end of the session to make sure all was well, and was delighted to see the kids having had such a great time. Maybe I am dispensable after all!!? The rest of the day was taken up with building flats, and stages and props, and then having a run through on the stage. Bearing in mind the absentees and the fact that it was the first time on stage I couldn't have been happier really. Some of the technical stuff will be interesting, and I think we have far too much to acheive still but it's all acheivable

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Friday 25th November

2011-12-05T07:48:00.001-08:00

We spent the day making final preparations for the week, and getting ready for the evening session. I find that day before we can do anything rather frustrating, and wish that we could just get on with it. I am also worried that my costume and stilt combo is going to work correctly, and whether I will actually be able to do it. We got home after the evening session, and had a bite to eat, and then headed back down to the hall to assist with the get in. Tonight we put up the lighting rig, which was spectacular. It was slow going, and we were not able to get the stage up, but we made good progress. We finished at midnight and went home to prepare for the mania that is the first full day in the venue.

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Thursday 24th November

2011-12-05T07:43:00.001-08:00

The last rehearsal and the last total day of madness for a while. I had my after school club, which was perhaps the most challenging hour of working with children I have ever experienced, followed by a good evening session followed by the last rehearsal before we move to the venue. I think everyone was a little tired and flat, and just needed to get on with the show now. I feel like we have everything in hand. but I always worry that we have so much to do before we open, in particular with this show. I just hope that everyone gets on well. I have not been reading for a while now, and I am missing it, so I am trying to get back into the groove...it's just so difficult when you are as tired as I am at the moment!

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Wednesday 23rd November

2011-12-05T07:38:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe how quickly the last few months has gone. The blog continues everyday, which I didn't think I would manage, but I am glad I did. I have spent today getting the programme finalised for next week, and realising that I am still waiting for content. The best laid plans and all that. I suspect that there might be a fair few late nights in show week. Ticket sales have been excellent. I wonder how I will manage to keep up the pace as I am already feeling more than a little tired. I am also looking at the girls schedule and wondering how they will cope. The advantage of all of this is that Christmas has sneaked up on us, and by the time this is all finished it will be nearly Christmas!

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Tuesday 22nd November

2011-12-05T07:34:00.001-08:00

The day was dominated with a meeting about all of our big shows at the big theatre next year. I am hugely excited by all of this, and in many ways next weeks show will get in the way of it all. Having said all of that, I am still looking forward to it, though slightly nervous about my form of transport in one scene. The meeting went well, and we have everything that we want in place. I just need to get the finance side approved by the council, and we will be on our way. I spent the evening in front of a warm radiator watching nonsense on the telly, and thinking that I should make the most of it bearing in mind the future week.

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Monday 21st November

2011-11-22T07:07:00.001-08:00

The week starts with a thoroughly busy day, and the momentum of show week beginning to kick in already. I have ordered my complicated footwear for the show, and await the arrival with trepidation and fear. I suspect that it might be a lot harder than I first envisaged. Got quite a lot done today, and feel like I might be heading in the right direction with everything. Still have a very long "To Do" list, but starting to tick off some big things. The evening work session was packed and constructive, though we had our first incident of vomit in five years! Then onward to rehearsals which went really well, and home for food and footy with Spurs playing. They won again, and are now third, and I don't think I can remember enjoying them play as much as this. I hope they can keep this standard up! Everything else seems to have quietened down now, and we can focus on the positive. I must update my blog with more MP related news soon, as quite a lot has been happening. I am also in two minds as to whether I should blog about the community building that we were after, that is now for sale.

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Sunday 20th November

2011-11-21T04:58:00.001-08:00

I stayed in bed and read this morning. This time I have gone for something a little unusual for me...."Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter S Thompson. I suppose it is good to vary your palette occasionally, and I find that modern Literature can leave me a little cold. However, old Hunter has been in the news a little lately with his latest film starring the lovely Mr Depp, and I thought it was time to give him a go. It is certainly an interesting read, and perhaps challenging. I found myself getting a little impatient at times, and wanting to find a character that I could form some sort of bond with. Early days, but not sure what to make of it all quite yet. We are all tired, and a little bit snappy in the evening, but that is understandable. The girls went out to watch the twilight film in the afternoon, and we stayed behind and prepared dinner and relaxed. So much to do, but the family needs a little down time as well. I watched some football, ate, fell asleep, and then ended up watching Quadrophenia. I realised that I had never seen the end, and was only aware of it through what I had been told. Time has not been kind on the film in my mind, with some of the dialogue and acting being at best cringe worthy. However, it was still watchable, and the ending provided some wonderful views.

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Saturday 19th November

2011-11-20T03:47:00.001-08:00

Excellent session this morning with a great atmosphere....got home and put on some football and before I knew it I had woken up after the match. Its been a busy week. Mrs Plug was at an exhibition all day and had great sales again. I'm so pleased for her, she is getting the vindication she deserved and needed. In the evening I was transported back to the late eighties early nineties. We went to Brixton Academy to see Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. It was a celebratory evening for the band, the crowd, and us Ina personal level, and I lost my voice as well! I love the venue, I loved the band and I loved all the memories that they brought back. It was an excellent end to a busy, sometimes difficult but ultimately wonderful week.

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