under another sun

Up before the Monday larks with Lorraine, scraping ice off the windscreen before she drove me to Preston Park Station. A bright sunny day. Jumped off at Hassocks. Once on the Victoria train, started writing one of my new eight line poems about a Coelacanth. This jotted down, I started reading a collection of vaguely Christmas themed short stories by Rachel Joyce called A snow garden, a book that Dawn had given Lorraine and I a year ago. As I got off the train I spotted Matt Colborne in the crowds. He'd been on the train with me. A brief conversation galloping across Victoria station, he is living in London now. We bade each other farewell as I joined the massive queue outside the tube, which was let in after not too long. Someone baa-ing like a sheep as we the sheeple flocked along and down into the station. Into work, and not a bad day. Managing to get people to tell me what they want writing from time to time. Still a bit like getting blood from a stone. People quite chatty t...

A bit of a slow start for Lorraine and I today. Beth and Amy into town to meet up with Sarah and Suzie and Ollie. Lorraine and I, along with Kitty caught a cab into the old part of town. En route we passed a poster for our show. There are quite a few around town, but given there are a bazillion posters and flyers around town it is a drop in the ocean. When you realise just how much of the centre is given over to Fringe stuff, and how often one gets approached with flyers it is amazing. We four went off to see Jane Postlethwaite , who Kitty knew slightly and we saw at the women standup show we saw a couple of days ago. A really entertaining and imaginative show called The House , which had us four in it, two others, a critic and a fellow actor in the audience. Matt, Kitty and I were dragged onto the stage. After this show, and Jane saying she may come to ours, Kitty discovered that her bank account had been hacked in India, and her bank urgently called her. All sorted quite soon, howe...

Flyering. Not flyering is more stressful than flyering, because at least I feel like I am doing something to promote the show. Beth went to an free education session about promoting a show, which laid on by theSpace this morning. I went off for a solo flyering mission. Although sunny, obviously rained when I set to work. I have found my own technique which is to have half a pint of beer first, and then chat to people warmly. Although this is outside my comfort zone, I realised I still have it in me to do it fairly well. People end up asking lots of questions. It is time consuming, but I am hoping a qualitative rather than quantitative approach might work. Beth, Kitty and Matt all flyering too at different times and other places. One woman gave me her card, she is connected with the theatre in Dundee. I also went alone to see the show by the Swiss folks, called Idle Time. It was in German, with plot pointer subtitles. It was very odd, with the cast all dressed in white and lying on ...

Up to a full house. With Sam and Jade in the front room. A large and military style breakfast this morning, cooked by Lorraine and aided by her chief kitchen porter. Beth and I off to the grand meet the press session at one o clock. It was advertised as a chance to pitch your piece to the press. Naively I had seen this as a few minutes to a room full of journos etc. The reality was very different. An enormous queue snaking out of a university building down the street. Once you got inside, having queued for an hour, then each publication had a desk and there were long queues for this. Hours of standing about, but we managed to get to speak to three different publications. After this Beth and I had a much needed reviving coffee, and a diabetes inducing piece of millionaire shortcake. While we had been doing this, Kitty and Matt had been flyering, giving hundreds of flyers away. Home, and we all regrouped, somewhat tired and frazzled. Lorraine, who had been with Sam and Jade, cooked a...

A nervy day before our first public dress rehearsal. We had a team breakfast in the Hideout Cafe a few doors down the street. Into town this afternoon. Lots to organise, and I had to find a local printer and copy lots of press releases, a simple thing but it added to the last minuteness of stuff. Beth, Kitty and Matt doing flyering for the show in Edinburgh. Lorraine and I zooming about dropping flyers and posters off at various Space venues. Then back to Mimi's a cafe near us where I had a steadying half a beer.  Then off in the evening in the bus, Beth, Kitty and Matt flyering outside for a bit too. The weather not our friend today. Really rainy and dreary all day.  I had to calm myself down at one point. I have been doing some meditation again lately, and I took ten minutes out midday for some mindful time. Really pleased I did. Also deciding that whatever happens in our run in Edinburgh, it is a win. So nice to have Lorraine with me at a time like this. So, the ...

Up at an ungodly ten past five, and frenzied around before out taxi came at ten to six. Down to Brighton station, and caught the slow train up to St Pancras. Nice to be doing this commute without having to work in an agency. The train broke down a couple of stops before St Pancras, but this only added a small delay, and we met Kitty and Matt at Kings Cross and caught the Edinburgh train in good time. About four hours and twenty minutes later, we disembarked in Edinburgh. Chatted to Mum and Toby on the train, and texted Anton. A pleasant journey up, zooming through downpours and sunny spells. Amy met us on the platform, and we cabbed to our digs in Leith, an air b'n'b flat at the top of rather posh tenement buildings. A nice smart interior, but the sixty stairs leading up to it, time worn with people's feet. Then a bus to Edinburgh for our tech rehearsal. Collected some of the props we had preordered from Argos first, and had a coffee and a snack. Then to the Surgeons...

Up fairly early, and Lorraine drove us down to Preston Circus, where Toby Beth and I had some coffee. Lorraine off to get her hair done.  After coffee we went to the bird studio where we had booked a rehearsal room, and met up with Kitty and Matt. Toby was able to at least see a run through of the play before he went. I walked him off to the station in the rain. Fond farewells with my brother and, as always, I was sad to see him go. Then back to the studio for another run through. Lorraine joined us, sporting smart hair. After rehearsal it was raining hard, and Lorraine drove me off to see Anton. We hung out for a while, the kids now back with Anna for a few days. Anton stretched out on his sofa. His work has given him two months off, and he has to steadily pace himself for his recovery, doing more exercise gradually week by week. For someone like Anton, who works hard, and looks after children and so on, this enforced idleness will be a bit of a challenge. The me...

Off to town, after faffing about this morning. Feeling wan and run down still. But eventually girded my loins, and met Beth in town and we went shopping for my suit. Got a smart suit, at a sale, cash price of £260 from the shop I often go to, which passed the Betty approval test. Then, pausing for a cup of coffee, Beth and I went off to The Boots and spent the afternoon rehearsing with Kitty and Matt. Somewhat challenged by the fact that the play, despite being repeatedly cut stays stubbornly at the 55 minutes. Beth and I made some last minute cuts, and the final run through, with these bits gone, snuck in just under 50. Thank goodness. A nice afternoon with everyone, Matt had been working hard  to get everything right, and I was very pleased with him. Home again, via the optician to pick up my new reading glasses. Home to Lorraine, and shortly after Dawn came around for tea. She had some feedback from the children who she had been reading The Second Kind of Darkness to, and the...

Lorraine very tired this morning, so we had breakfast in bed. Then I had to slink off to The Boots for a four and a half hour rehearsal. Beth's good pal Emily gave us some of her time. She has been training to be a voice specialist at Central, and provided us with some good notes on voice, and some other feedback too. I like her a lot. Everyone working hard. To slim A Glass of Nothin g down to fifty minutes, we've had to make a few cuts which, if anything, are improving the play. Another cut happened this afternoon, Beth and I thinking the same thing without even discussing it. Matt the intensive focus of what we are doing, and he is bearing up with great fortitude, and good humour. I felt a slight cringe buying some drinks downstairs, asking for a diet coke, a glass of soda water, and a cup of tea, which the owner gave us for free. He lets us use the room for free, and I like to buy drinks there to payback a little. I walked home to find Lorraine reading The Second Kind ...

So up with the sparrows this morning, the sky still threatening rain. I mooched off the doctors to discuss blood pressure, gout, a persistent ear infection and a weird lump in my chest. Came away reassured, and with a few routine tests lined up. I like my doctor very much, and we tend to have a bit of a laugh. I told him its not you it's me, on my white coat syndrome. Off next to get my haircut as it was suddenly unruly and sprouting sideways like a clown. This dealt with, off to the ideologically unsound Starbucks where I celebrated with large cup of coffee, and fiddled with some poems. Then to Specsavers for an eye test. I need a slightly stronger prescription, but my eye health is good. Together we compared the red photos of inside my eyes to last time and it all looked healthy. Then the difficult business of choosing specs with a woman called Raquel, whose head I did in by rebuffing her suggestions. We had quite a laugh about it. Then a bus home, and I sorted out the last o...

Up fairly early for a Sunday. Feeling pretty sprightly and the foot much better. Lorraine working all day. Beth and I went to The Boots for an all-afternoon rehearsal with Matt and Kitty. A good day's work. The whole thing is getting very close now, only a month to go and still quite a bit of work needed to get up to scratch. Working with lovely people helps. Kitty and Matt really good folks, and we had quite a few laughs. Beth and Kitty a dynamic duo. Matt has the biggest challenge in learning lots of lines and finding his way into the play. Work interspersed with sitting in the garden of the Boots, which was very quiet, drinking soda water. Rounded it off with a cheeky beer with Beth and Matt. Asking Matt about his faith, as he is a keen church goer. Betty off to John's tonight. Bumped into Claudius too, who had popped in to say hello to someone there. Home and Lorraine still working on school reports and so on. Briefly spoke to Mum to organise a nip up to London tomorrow. ...

Up and enjoying breakfast this morning. Lorraine, getting towards the end of the school year, had lots of work to get on with. Meanwhile, Beth and I jumped into a taxi and headed off to the Station where we bought some coffee. I took Beth's case as she didn't have enough hands to smoke a cigarette and drink her cup of coffee and pull her case along. To the Boots, where we hung outside for a moment with Matt, and Kitty arrived full of her usual positivity and cheerfulness. Matt is an old friend of hers, and she teases him mercilessly. It was happy afternoon, with lots of laughter. Kitty remembers her part pretty much perfectly, as does Beth. So most of our effort is geared towards getting Matt up to speed. We are doing things differently, and it is making us see new things in the play, which is fun and keeps it fresh. Then Betty off to John's and then up to London to do the showcase early in the week for Vagabond Skies. I mooched home through the park, and arrived home aft...

Another slow start to the day. Up late and after brunch sauntered off in the sweltering heat with Beth down to The Boots, to rehearse A Glass of Nothing with Matt all afternoon. Beth working flat out at the moment, in a production of a new musical called Vagabond Skies.  Pleased with how our rehearsals went. Matt did a great job, and made lots of progress under Beth's direction. He has a lovely natural warmth, and made us laugh a few times too. A cold beer in their strange little beer garden afterwards. I felt pleased in that I could really see Matt in the role for the first time. Lorraine picked us up, and drove Betty to Hove where she was staying with John. Lorraine said what should we do, and I madly suggested that we go to Patcham where there is the Elizabethan Cottage Indian restaurant. We went there and had a pretty good meal in a very old building. Great to do something randomly like that. Felt like we were going on a date, which is always nice, although weird to go out fo...