Ranting

Not much this week, mostly work stuff. Wed night Ben and I went to our nice local (one of the locals) The Approach for dinner. It's a really nice pub. I had actually been there before but that was when I first arrived, last Sept. Last night the DOP on Ben's New York Othello film came over for dinner, Zelmira. She's actually British although she lives in NYC and her husband is Swedish and she just got back from shooting a doco in Germany...!

Nought else really. I'm getting a bit frustrated about my lack of time to work on my own projects and write. Life just seems to get away from me all the time. I'm working part-time but then on my days off stuff just always comes up - such as today when there was a problem with my application for this video project that I submitted a few weeks ago, so I had to go into the office to fax it. Then from 5pm I'm working at the Barbican so that allows me 2-3 hours to do my own stuff, but then there are emails and dirty dishes... It's hard to make it a priority. Hopefully next week I'll get some of my own work done.

And can I just be very English for a moment and complain that the weather here has been rubbish for the past 2 weeks. Weird sun-rain-sun-rain weather - and the rain isn't even normal London rain, it pelts down and then suddenly the sun comes out and it's 23C. So odd. And annoying.

Barbed

Had the worst shift at the Barbican last night. 5 hours in the carpark supervising a photo/sound installation. About 30 people came in the whole time and there was this music on a loop, which, I kid you not, sounded exactly like the theme to psycho played at half speed. Did the artist think of the poor sod who had to work on his stoopid installation?? That music went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on...

In better news, Ben and I have booked a holiday to Portugal! After the Edinburgh trip, just before Ben will go back to Aus. 4 nights in a nice hotel on the beach... Yeah!

I gotta get out of the Barbican though. Driving me crazy. I applied for some funding last week for a video participation project with some refugees in Wimbledon, through iceandfire (partnering with FilmAid). So fingers crossed for that coz then I can ditch the Barb and do basically full-time hours for 3 months working on bleeding heart do-gooder projects!

Wired

I know that I'm just full of excuses for why I keep abandoning my blogging duties but this time it's a real good one.

I haven't had the internet.

It took more than a week to get the internet connected at our new flat (yes - new flat! I'll get to that in a moment). I don't know why but all the communications companies said it would take 5-10 business days! It's not like a person ever turned up, they just seemed to flick a switch, and we went from living in the Dark Ages to being in civilisation. They sent us a text message saying we were online and that was that. Why the 5 working days then??

Anyway, new flat. Hoorah! And living like a real, live married couple. In the same house, not just the same country! The apartment is great. Overlooking a canal and a park, with cafes and pubs all around. Nice open plan living/kitchen and good furniture. The only downside is that it's on quite a busy road, so if we have the windows open it can be noisy. But I used to live on the corner of Brunswick St and Johnston, so this is nothing! No trams or crap 80s music blaring from One Twenty Bar...

Had housewarming drinks on the weekend. Slightly disappointing turnout, I think a lot of people were away, but we met some of our neighbours which was nice. They brought us flowers! A lovely couple downstairs. There's another nice guy across the hall, who we're having a beer with tonight. I want to get to know the people on the ground floor who have an awesome terrace on the canal! Maybe they'll invite us over for a BBQ...

I'll put some photos up soon.

At iceandfire we're preparing for Edinburgh Fringe. It'll be the first time the company has gone and we're in a 350 seat venue! So the pressure is on! Thankfully we're in a few "Top Picks" lists, and we also got this Preview Article. Two reviewers have also confirmed they're coming on Opening Night, including one from the Scotsman, so that will hopefully bring some punters in. If you know anyone to Edinburgh, tell them to see Rendition Monologues!

Fliss went to Spain yesterday - I'll miss her! We seem to be more involved in each other's lives over here than we were in Melbourne, I guess because we're both away from home together. We've always been close but I think I see her twice as much living in London as I did before. Anyway, I suspect she is going to have an awesome time on her holiday. And she has already had some interest from potential employers for when she gets back, so fingers crossed there!

That's all from me at the moment. But now that we're all wired in Bethnal Green I promise to keep up the blog more!