T -17 Days and Counting

With just a few weeks left of lovely Lutterworth College, let's reflect on the past two years.

What a load of bollocks.

Okay, now that's over, here's a bit of wisdom I spouted this week:

Why spend every day playing the dress rehearsal of a show that'll never take to the boards? Wipe the makeup from your face, open the curtains and step forward into the lights of real life. Break free of the chains of some other director. Let morals be your script, and chance be your choreographer...

Who doesn't love theatre saying? Non-theatre types, I suppose. Rupert, for example. It was written for someone in particular, but it has a wider meaning than shaking free of the shackles of directed performing arts.

Life is like that. Look at all the abuse I get on Formspring - people trying to direct me to how they want me to be, and causing trouble when I refuse. Why bend and break to what other people expect?

And why expect people to bend and break for you? I'm proud to say that I'm very much for Vertical Tutoring. But people who haven't seen it work on this level don't - won't - understand it, and kick up a fuss. I don't suppose any of you will know how hard it was to stand in front of Yr11 and do that assembly. Yr10 was easy they don't know a thing about me. But to stand in front of close peers, and even friends who value my opinion, and say something that was very much against the stroke was a difficult thing to do.

And the clever people pulled the "You're not going to be here" card. So? So bleedin' what?

VT is something that you have to see working to understand it. Until you do, how on Earth can you not be open minded?

Rant over. I had a very cold day at Mallory Park yesterday, attempting to improve - or rather, gain - some motorsport photography skills with Kenneth. The Kingsmill team were lovely and didn't mind having me pottering about for a little while taking photographs of their sidecar and eating their rolls. Which were blatantly cobs, this is Lestah. Tchh.

(Photographs to follow - I took over 800)

You could see the smoke from the Enderby fire from the circuit. I was listening to the Leicester City match on my iPod inbetween races, they mentioned it a couple of times. So much smoke, poor ozone layer. Poor polar bears...

Busy week ahead. Bank Holiday Monday. Off Wednesday as I'm having teeth removed. Not overly sure if there's much point going in for the rest of the week....

Gone revisin' xx

Happy New Year

New Year's Eve is excellent if you're grumpy like me. I started this year drunk, and I intend to stay that way for as long as feasible...literally. I got up and had a Guinness. NYE = Excuse for a party. Cue Hannah. So here's the story of my passage into 2010...

Thursday morning, bright and cheery. I got out of bed at 8:55am, knocked on Hannah's door at 9am. With her brilliant Mum Sophie driving we went to a local supermarket and stocked up on party food and drink. We got back and started clearing space and making the house a little more party wise, under the watchful eye of the three cats which, incidentally, hate me.

I headed home at 11:15am and did a bit of hoovering for Mum, before heading back around the corner at noon with the sound kit. Several trips and a hand from Hannah soon moved various amplifiers, cables and speakers the short distance from my abode to hers. She did get sent back for Wilde (my iPod) as I'd forgotten it and can't soundcheck using the rubbish she has on hers...

I attempted multi-tasking and more or less pulled it off. The bass amp got wired up outside first, followed by a little bit of DIY to affix a plastic sheeting cover over the little outside area we'd created. Meanwhile, Hannah and Jess painted a bedsheet with the words "HAPPY NEW YEAR" on, which held some balloons to the ceiling which we let down at midnight. Cleverly, they'd managed to paint through the sheet and onto the wall it was pinned to. We laughed, Ryan arrived, more balloons got blown up, Sophie and I started on the Baileys and Take That were played as I carried on rigging the sound system, aided by pins, tacks, velcro ties, duct tape and of course my trusty hammer.

Ryan and I made a visit back to mine about 4pm to pick up an airbed and a gazebo. Then Jess and I came and picked up the computer which would be central to the night's sound system. Hannah and Ryan then came and picked up some fairy lights, and then a large amount of alcohol that David had dropped off. Slowly but surely, the whole system got wired, nailed down and then gaffa taped in place for good measure.

Cue some guests. The party got started, the booze started flowing, and by half ten chaos had erupted. This was mainly the fault of people who aren't used to drinking, drinking. Lots can be said and none of it is necessary, really, but everyone calmed down a bit and sorted each other out. Josh was on tea duty and I had two cups in five minutes, then Ella was sick all over my hands. Pleasant. However, a special mention is necessary for my good friend Joseph. Director of Photography for the British Young Photographers Association. Instrumental in the way the DI business works. A truly great friend. Not a great drinker. Not at all.

Anyhoo, we got things somewhat back on track by 11:50pm, and those that could still stand gathered in Sophie's front room to count down the seconds to 2010, aided by Big Ben on the television. And of course followed the greetings and kissing, and then a very shouty and un-lyrically-correct version of Auld Lang Syne. I then checked on Joseph who had taken refuge in the attic room, where I had designs on the bed... These plans were later flattened when Ella decided she was sleeping there. With my quilt.

After the pleasantries were appropriately and politely dealt with, I led a troop up to Charmaine's house where my Mum, Dad and sisters were celebrating. There were quite a few of us that went, and to be honest I don't really remember too much about who went, but I know that Josh and Lily did...we got back, did a tad more people-dealing, a spot more Joseph-checking and then went for a walk with Katie Lock.

Now, this didn't yield a lot more than hypothermia and for some reason we walked down a dead end street. And we played on the park, on the swings...then Lock magically got tripped up. Anyway, I'd had enough for all my memories from now onwards to be a little fuzzy around the edges, but there's not a lot a don't remember. I eventually slept beside Joseph.

The morning after the night before, and Henry got a bit stroppy before eventually buggering off out of everyone's hair. Josh made me a lovely coffee, milk, two sugars, and I surfaced to find the house in fair shape. Which meant Sophie was up already. Sean and David had disappeared, having cycled to McDonalds to get their breakfast. I was in awe for the rest of the day that they were open! I opened my last can of Guinness. Cue a bit of Facebook and a bit of Guitar Hero as our worse-for-wear guests cleaned up and shipped out. The grand operation of unwiring our lovely events venue then came about but I gave up after a short while and we watched Part One of the last Tennant Doctor Who episode on iPlayer.

The morning rolled into the afternoon and the sound system came apart and got put in the box, ready to go back home. Fiona made her way home and we moved the kit back round to my house, leaving me, Hannah, Jess and Ryan to have dinner and then kill a couple of hours before Dr Who Part Two. It was a lovely end to a lovely couple of days, and thanks and well done to Hannah, Soph and the cats for putting on a great night.

Happy New Year, best wishes to everyone and I hope 2010 is a prosperous and happy year for you all...

A Winter Wonderland

Fourty minutes, entirely wasted. On one Florence song.

Evil iTunes didn't want to sync properly. Barney quite eagerly wanted a walk, but iTunes continued to be "Verifying" my iPod. Why? What is there to verify? Yes, iTunes, it's my iPod. It's the same one I've been plugging in all day. So much so that the battery is entirely charged. You even say that. But no, just because me and, increasingly so, the dog, want to go for a walk, it is now you choose not to work.

I gave up. I'm not a patient person, as a general rule the Irish aren't. I guess that iTunes took offence to Joe McElderry (hiss boo) being loaded onto it and decided to wait for an oppourtunity to get me back. It did so stunningly. I couldn't be bothered to wait any longer, so just unplugged the iPod badass style without ejecting, plugged in the earphones and harnessed up the hound.

I knew as soon as I stepped outside that I'd made a bad decision regarding shoes. I've had these odd blue things on all day. They're not mine, this is Croft, and the previous owner has done a good job in wearing the soles away. I slipped and slided around the corner to Hannah's, where I found my two best friends, and their two other halves. Ryan and Matt were quite happy to come walkies with me and Barney.

I removed my earphones and stowed my iPod in my coat pocket.

A bit more slipping and sliding ensued, and talk turned to Hannah's New Years Eve party. Ryan and I, crystal clear on what was going on, held most of the conversation, but we did try to involve Matt.

LS: "Are you coming to Hannah's New Years thing, Matt?"

MH: "When is it?"

How are we supposed to work with this? He came out with that almost immediately after:

MH: "Lads, how come there's no snow on the ground back there?"

RM: "That's because of the trees, Matt"

LS: *Laughs* + *Slips on ice becuase of crap shoes*

MH: "Oh, I hadn't seen the trees..."

No, he hadn't seen the huge trees on Bala Road that we'd just walked under. I love special people. Anyway, I then spent a few attempts trying to get the dog to pull me along on my flat shoes, husky / ski style. As I'm sure you can imagine, it was a failure.

Eventually I fell over.

The ice is still pretty slippy out there, but it's worse in other parts of the country. Airports have been closed, there's chaos on motorways and the Euro Tunnel have closed their Folkstone terminal. After I had returned Ryan and Matt to their respective girlfriends I got home, to hear the BBC News. Now, over the years British Rail have had a few good excuses, including The Wrong Type Of Rain and who could forget Leaves On The Track. But today was the turn of the Eurostar.

I think they picked up that old BR book, turned to the page for "Snow" and read the first excuse listed.

Apparently, the problem is "Fluffier than usual snow"

How ridiculous! Where's my iPod...huh, iTunes worked first time.

Bastard.