messy 10 February 2010
I am not necessarily the messiest creature on the earth presently, except in one regard – the writing. As I post this I have spread out notes of all sorts on the table and it is CHAOS. This is partly due to a stationery problem I have – I cannot resist notebooks and have many ‘on the go’. But also I seem to have MANY loose pages too, some of which bear cryptic messages to myself…I have tried my best to streamline this morning but it’s not as easy as all that. And of course, in the course of that action I have also TRAGICALLY made more sundry/cryptic/extra notes…on loose pages AND within my diary AND in various notebooks…this is gonna be one rough ride, folks…
drat 9 February 2010
When technology goes bad it REALLY messes up. And I have had a few days of it, my dears…
The dongle has just refused to work anymore. No discernible reason, it just STOPPED at a random time without warning or explanation. Since then I have been attacking it from various angles in surprise skirmishes but to no avail. I am told by it’s little register thingy on my system preferences that I now have 9 of the things…and none of them are recognised by said system or indeed working in any way. I have been driven to buying some BT Openzone minutes and the signal is so bad in the London flat that it keeps cutting out so I’m not sure if this will see the light of the interweb at all. Veh veh vexing…
And yesterday I had a ‘challenging’ journey from Manchester to London as the overhead power cables were down and no direct services were available. I went through Leeds and a few other places I didn’t expect to see anytime soon and changed trains a few times too.
All in all, it would be true to say that I am fed up of modern life and its fripperies right now…
ARG! 8 February 2010
This is a note from the Husband to say that the Wife is going insane because her internet connection is not working and she can’t blog…think she may dictate a blog tonight if the dongle is still sulking..
dandy 7 February 2010
My favourite name for a pub at the moment is The Dandy Cock – thanks to our lovely cab driver in New Mills last night for that.
buxton 6 February 2010
Well, hello, I visited Buxton today – a place that was merely the name on a bottle of water before. Turns out it’s pretty. Grand, so. And nice for me cos I got recognised from SHAMELESS and not TED.
And then we went to New Mills and they still have a sweeitie factory there that makes Love Hearts = wehay! (and refreshers for those of us old enough…)
odd 5 February 2010
I am returned to Manchester and it’s all a bit odd. Basically, my brother, Ian, and sister in law, Curly, got cheap flights from Ireland and are visiting. This would make perfect sense normally, in as much as I spend a lot of the year here, BUT as we have finished filming the series I don’t actually have that much reason to be in situ. So, it’s a bit like I live as a native in Manchester now as well as work here some of the time. However, as luck would have it I did have a bit of dubbing to do today so I got to go to the regular studio for that and it has made being here more ‘normal’ somehow. Odd, though.
I have instructed the visitors that I am not let out until I have written my daily quota for the novel, then I am allowed a treat. In other words I am putting adults in charge…well, more or less adults….
I believe a meteorite broke up in the sky over Ireland a few nights ago and landed near Monaghan and was a spectacular sight. It’s not some thing everyone will see in their lifetime. Just as I confessed to a gobsmacked recording studio today that I have never been in an IKEA – fact. To be honest I don’t think I need anything from there as I have plenty of shizz in my life already and don’t need more ‘things’.
series 3 February 2010
Gail Renard is a mine of information and opinion and for this I give much thanks. She’s a writer and understands the leaving of projects and moving on and why it might be heightened on our artificial, showbiz world (though it’s really only a reflection of our ordinary lives, a little turned up). Anyhow she tells me that David Hyde Pierce, after Frasier finished, said that everybody tells you how to get a series, but no one teaches you how to say goodbye to a beloved one. How true.
I may not have seen the worst of the farewells as apparently there has been an exodus each day from the unit base with less and less people to say goodbye to and that would have finished me off altogether. Mind you, I also hear talk of a canteen full of the Series 8 writers throwing out ideas, so let the excitement begin to niggle again, eh?
I am writing myself, that Difficult 8th Novel, and it’s moving along…slowly, but along…
function 2 February 2010
A great thing about being in Dublin, however briefly, is that we have a great big screen now in one of the rooms so the watching of movies is well in order. Tonight we got INGLORIOUS BASTARDS out but left it a bit late to watch as it’s a long one (according to the dvd sleeve) so A PRIVATE FUNCTION was revisited, after a gap of many years. What a joy! There ain’t a dud performance or line in it and it is my favourite Bill Patterson role ever (he is the dour man of the law enforcing the strict laws about animal rearing and butchering). I had the pleasure of meeting him when I was doing publicity a while back, with the lovely Sue Johnston for JAM AND JERUSALEM, and he is a wonderful man. I love when the people you admire, and whose work you love, turns out to be such a good egg.
calling 1 February 2010
As you may all remember I made a movie with Brenda Blethyn, and several other goddesses of the entertainment world, year before last in the wonderful Ramsgate in Kent with the, even more, wonderful company MEDB FILMS. Well, it’s going to be on general release from 16th April onwards so do look out for it. And, in the meantime, check out the trailer on www.thecallingthefilm.com – enjoy!
hanged 31 January 2010
NO, fear not, I have not done away with myself – the opposite, perhaps, in as much as I have kept BUSY for the day so that meant getting up early to see Andy Murray get beat, an hours treadmill time, bit of buke stuff, half of the Man Utd v Arsenal match and then A PROPHET at the cinema followed by roast chicken and a bit of the drama about Mo Mowlam on tv – still low but I have been MOVING and DOING…
Struck me tonight that the food we eat in this house is a helluva lot less hairy now that the G cat is gone…so we probably have less roughage, which ain’t great, and I sure as hell know that I MISS her SO much…she was always a great help if I ever got this way…
One other thing, and unrelated, did Tony Blair declare war on Iran the day before yesterday when giving evidence to that tribunal thingy?? and he’s not even PM anymore! Thanks to Gail Renard for bringing it to my attention…