New Hair and Housekeeping



So,  I finally got around to getting my hair cut this morning.

I've been meaning to for ages, but with work, and being busy at weekends, and being generally disorganised has meant it hasn't happened. But today I didn't have any specific commitments, and when I went into town to do various errands and  go to the library and such, I popped into the hairdresser to see if they could fit me in, and they could.

New Hair

An hour later, I had shorter hair. I didn't have quite the hair I asked for - it was supposed to be about an inch shorter at the front, and shorter again at the back, but despite having confirmed this with the stylist at the start, and half way through, and having shown her a picture (of me) before she started,  she didn't seem to grasp the idea. I don't dislike what she's done.

 It's not massively different to what I actually wanted, but it's annoying, and as I had a photo, of me, showing the front and side views of what I wanted I don't really think there was any excuse. But it became obvious that she couldn't, or wouldn't, sort it out, so I decided that (a) I was not going to argue with a woman waving sharp pointy things round my head and (b) I'm mostly annoyed because it's different to what I wanted, not because it's a bad cut per se, so I can live with it. But I think I'll go somewhere else next time.

Apart from the hair cut, I have mostly been doing bits and pieces of housekeeping - literal and otherwise, today.

My TV licence had to be renewed this month. You can renew online now, (which I did) and they strongly encourage you to keep the whole thing paperless, but I prefer to still get them to post me a paper copy of the licence, so I have hard proof that I have paid them good money. I don't begrudge paying it.. Mitch Benn is right, we should all be Proud of the BBC (and if you haven't, you should buy the song, and the shirts), and at less than £3 a week it's hardly overpriced, but I do want a receipt. . .

In fact, it's my week for renewing licences - my drivers licence is due for renewal at the end of this month, too. This is actually the first time I've had to do it, as the 'new' photocards last 10 years, and before that I had the old paper kind, which didn't need renewing.

It turns out that the DVLA sends a reminder, with a form to fill in, which explains that if you want to renew by post, you must send them a photo of yourself which  must have been taken within the last month. However, if you want, you can renew online, tell them your passport number, and they will use the picture from your passport, provided that the passport was renewed within the last 5 years.  Soooo, my (potentially) 5 year old passport photo would be OK, but a photo taken 6 weeks ago would, at least officially, not be.

As it happens, my passport was renewed only last autumn, so the photo is pretty much up to date, but it strikes me as peculiar, and just ever so slightly a bit illogical. (which I suppose is only to be expected when dealing with a government agency...)

The rest of my exciting Saturday has involved getting all my finacial records up together to send to the accountant to do my tax return, doing laundry, and general cleaning and tidying. So I now have a clean, and organised (well, mostly) house.

Oh, and I might have bought some more books. Just in case I run out, or something..

Not an exciting day, but not a bad one either.

China Miéville in Bath

Yesterday evening was the China Miéville event at Mr. B's Emporium of Reading Delights - I do love Mr. B's; and it seems I'm not alone - they won the Independent Bookseller of the Year Award  on Monday (the BBC has a story featuring them) .

It's a lovely shop, the staff are all  both friendly, knowledgable and passionate about books. And upstaiurs there are comfy chairs and free coffee, if you need a break. And they have theirn own loyalty card to get money off books. And the walls of the toilets are papered with reviews and poems. Did I mention that I like this place?
And I've been looking forward a lot to this event. I booked as soon as the event details went up. In fact, I bought the tickets first, and asked Cheryl if she wanted to come afterwards (she did, obviously. I mean, who wouldn't?)
It turns out that when Mr. B's do an event, you don't just get a writer and the chance to buy books. You also get live music with originals songs by The Bookshop Band, and delicious nibbly finger food, and wine, and mingling with interesting people, AND a writer and the chance to buy books.

I approve of this. A lot.

I especially approved of it yesterday, as I had, up until I got to Mr. B's, not been having a very good day. I had a new case, so I had to go to court at short notice. I was expecting it to be a relatively short hearing, but we  ended up in being in court from 1.30 til 6, with things such as lunch, and indeed any kind of break, or access to coffee, being but a distant hope. So getting to Mr. B's and being offered wine and nibbly things and interesting people to make conversation with was even more welcome than normal!
Having arrived at the shop, and met with Cheryl and her friend Pat and (briefly, China himself) we went upstairs and the evening started with music from The Bookshop Band (Ben and Poppy) who performed two original songs inspired by EmbassyTown.

Then China spoke a little about Embassytown, (carefully avoiding spoilers, for those of us who haven't yet read it) and about the thedme of the evening, which was 'Corruption'

One of the very nice things about this event was that it was small. I'm not sure how many people attendted, but I would guess around 30 - few enough that it was genuinely possible for there to be a conversation, rather than a 'talk' - the conversation ranged from method of writing/planning so as not to get lost in one's own plot (China  uses flowcharts), the invention of language, with particular reference to the word 'Immer', and what headaches this may present for whoever tranaslates Embassytown into german, and  mention of the fact that when King Rat, which contains lots of 19th Century ryhming slang, was translated into Japanese, the translator didn't ask for any clarification, leaving chian wondering whether the either (a) The translator happened to be an expert in 19th Century slang or (b) Japanese readers have some very odd literal translations in their version of the book..

after the first part of the evening, we stopped for food and wine and chat. (Someone (NOT me) asked China about letting us see the whole of his tattoo - he declined to take his short off, but you can see the whole thing here, Nathalie!)  then back upstirs again for part two of the evening, in which members of staff, members of the audience, and China all suggested books on the theme of corruption - one of which was Documents Concerning Rubashov the Gambler , another (recommended by China, for those who like their vampires Mod and dangerous, was 'The Shiny Narrow Grin' by Jane Gaskell (which is out of print, and hard to find...) Patrick Ness's ''Chaos Walking' also got a shout out..

We then had just enough time to buy books (did I mention the 10% discount on everything, for the evening?) and get them signed, and to speak briefly to China, and then to pick up the free copy of The City and The City (signed) which was available for each of us, before hesding back home.

As you may have gathered, I really enjoyed the evening. This is the first time I've been to one of the Mr. B's events, but I think I shall be going to more. Sadly I shall miss the evening with Patrick Ness on 16th June, as I shall be in a cottage in Wales with no electricity, but I am sure there will be other events when I'm NOT in Wales..

Oh, and for those of you who haven't seen it, there is a short story by China here in the Guardian. Enjoy!

Upcoming Events

Well, after the weekend, going back to work lacks a certain amount of appeal, but I am fortunate in having several other good things to look forward to.

Tomorrow we get to see and hear China Miéville  at Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, as part of his  Embassytown tour. I'm looking forward to that a lot!

Then in 3 weeks time, I shall be heading to Ely and Cambridge - my clever brother (Well, my only brother, but he *is* clever) completed his Open University degree just before Christmas. He got a 1st, and his graduation ceremony is at Ely Cathedral, and I shall be going along. I imagine that the ceremony itself, like most such things, will involve a lot of waiting around, but it will be good to see him and my parents, and I feel I should show to mark his achievement!

On 9th June Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm are playing in Bristol, and I'm going to see them. It's been 2 years since I saw them play live, and I so looking forward to it.

Then the following weekend I am going to go to visit my sister and her fiance, and we shall, weather permitting, do some sailing.

And the weekend after that I've been invited to join my aunt and uncle and cousin for a couple of days in Wales, by the sea (they have rented a cottage for a week, and have a spare bed for a day or two) - it is right by the Coast Path, and should be lovely (plus I get to see Cousin's gorgeous baby again:-)

It's good to have things to look forward to.

Bristol Comic & Small Press Expo

So, after my mini-blog this morning, I thought, as one does, that I had plenty of time to run an errand or two, and so of course I almost missed the train I'd planned to catch.

However, I did catch it, and managed to do a couple of other errands in Bristol before heading to the Ramada to register and then to look around.. 

The Con is spread over two hotels - the Comics Expo in the Ramada, and the Small Press Expo at the Mercure, which is just around the corner; they have a symbiotic relationship but are not, I believe run by the same people.  The first things I saw  in Reception at the Ramada were a pair of Imperial Stormtroopers, and guy dressed as Batman, and three slightly bewildered  hotel guests checking out.

always a reassuring sight!

After looking around, and managing to not buy any comics, I headed over to the Mercure. They keep all their conference rooms on the 5th floor, but there was a familiar looking blue box in the reception area, which gave me confidence that I was in the right place!

There were lots of comics (unsurprising, at a ComicCon, really, I suppose), lots of writers and artists, and a small number of panels.

I only went to one panel - 'Women, Politics and cartooning' - this was moderated by  Jasper Bark, and featured  Blue Lou, Kate Evans and a third artist (unfortunately I didn't make a note of her name, and it's not written in the programme). It was very interesting, with discussions about activism, motherhood, guilt, politics and politicians, viciousness, and breastfeeding. Later in the day, in the bar, I had the opportunity to chat further with Lou and Jasper, and to look at more of her artwork. I recommend it. Go look at her site.

I then met up with Cheryl and we went out for lunch in a dodgy pub, where we had some not-very-good beer, and some decent fish & chips, and where we were accosted by a random drunk enquiring as to whether we were east German Stasi. (No, we couldn't quite work that one out either...)

I had thought I might go to one of the 2 o'clock panels but Cheryl led me astray we wandered into the bar, first, where Cheryl introduced me to Paul Cornell and later we wandered around the Expo, and I bought a copy of Alice In Sunderland, in which Bryan Talbot drew me a beautiful Mad Hatter.

Later again I found myself back in the bar, (perfectly sober, but in need of a comfy chair and a cup of coffee) and had lots of interesting conversations - this was when I had the opportunity to chat with BlueLou and Jasper, and with a writer/reviewer named Mark, and Paul Cornell again, and various others whose names I failed to note. 

Conversations wandered from subject to subject - some SciFi / Comics related - Which Doctor Who Episodes deserve to win Hugos, whether Superman and Clark Kent were either or both ever American Cctizens in the first place, how quickly trade paperbacks of comics should become available, and what the chances are of fielding a cricket team entirely made of Doctor Who writers are; Some not - babycare and breastfeeding, government cuts, the tendencies of large organisations to become reactionary, and the excessive cost of coffee in the hotel bar.

I enjoyed the afternoon.

Photo stolen from @MrTonyLee http://yfrog.com/gydxhmvmj

I stayed on in order to watch Neil Gaiman's episode of Doctor Who -  The Doctor's Wife. It wasn't the optimum  viewing experience - the TV was in ne corner of the hotel bar, but there were a lot of people in the bar who were not watching Doctor Who, and so there was a lot of noise - it took a while before we were able to get subtitles up, and of course subtitles are not as good as being able actually to hear the dialogue, but even with those disadvantages it was a great episode (and good company!)

Once Who was over, I headed back home (where I watched the episode again, with sound, this time, and also watched the 'Confidential' - both very good. A nice end,  to an interesting day.

I had bought a ticket for the full weekend but having a lie-in on Sunday morning meant I left it too late to get to Bristol in time to see the 'Just a Minute' game, which was the main attraction, to my mind, so I didn't go back. Maybe next year.

(EDITED TO ADD: the 3rd cartoonist was Vicky Stonebridge. Thanks to Aldous Russell for pointing that out, over at lj)

What I'm Doing Today

Today should be interesting. I will shortly be heading off to Bristol, to the Bristol Comics Expo - I had vaguely thought of going last year, but left it too late, and all the tickets were sold out, so this year I booked early, and then (as no updates are sent) forgot all about it until people in my timeline started tweeting about it...

I know that a few people I have heard of / seen before such as Paul Cornell , Tony Lee and Bryan Talbot are all going to be there, as is my friend Cheryl,  but other than that I am not sure what to expect.

I suspect that around 6.30 this evening there might be a sudden exodus to the bar, or wherever else a large TV can be found...  I don't suppose that the BBC deliberately scheduled Neil Gaiman's episode of Doctor Who to coincide with the Con, but you have to admit, it's good timing...

In Which There Are Many Little Things....

I've had something of a stressful week, despite it having been so short (there was a bank holiday on Monday) and stress did the stuff it always does, and left me not sleeping well, and feeling nauseous, which is no fun whatsoever. And the knowledge that things are (almost) never as bad as you expect really doesn't help.

Anyway, for various reasons I was very much looking forward to the week being over. On Friday I was in court all day. It was a not-too-difficult day for me, as I had counsel, but a long day in a stuffy court room is rarely much fun, especially when timing leads to a certain emptiness, at the point in the day where one usually finds lunch...

However, after we had finished, it was suggested that we go for a drink, as one of our number was celebrating a birthday, and besides, I was told, "it's fizzy Friday" (one per week!) so i found myself, at around 5.30, sitting out under a large parasol, sipping chilled prosecco and fraternising with my erstwhile opponents. I’m not in the habit of drinking champagne or prosecco at 5.30 in the afternoon, even on a Friday, but I have to say it is the kind of thing one could become accustomed to, fairly easily…!

Of course, one of the disadvantages of slurping fizz at 5.30 is that you then have to find something else to do afterwards, while you wait for the fizz to wear off in order to drive home. Happily, another local lawyer was holding a party to celebrate 20 years in practice, so we went to congratulate her, and socialise for a while. Not at all what I had planned for my Friday evening, but definitely a pleasant end to the week. And when I got home, it was to find an unexpected free box of chocolates on the doorstep, which I think we can all agree is the type of thing which improves any day no end! (The chocolates are a somewhat belated apology from the chocolate company, for having inserted a big chunk of plastic sheeting into a chocolate I had at Christmas)

So not a bad day, all in all.

And then, it started to rain. It hasn’t rained for several weeks, and everything smelled of freshness and wet earth and spring, and a new start.

Today has been a quiet day – I woke up to the news that the referendum, on AV has resulted in a ‘No’ vote, which does not surprise me, but which does disappoint me. Other than that,  I have done dull things, such as laundry and hoovering the floors, and topping up the oil in the car, and taking cardboard and plastic to the recycling place. I have also been to the garden centre to buy various seedlings – tomatoes, beans and so on, as, as usual, I have either been too late to plant seeds or have planted them and seen them develop into healthy slug-food. I am hoping that the plants I have now bought will prove too large to be easily eaten by slugs, even the Super-Slugs which seem to inhabit my garden. I haven’t planted them yet, as I got side-tracked by weeding, and it then started to rain, but hopefully tomorrow will be fine for long enough to do so.

The day ended, happily, with Doctor Who and Pirates, and a little sneak preview of Mr Gaiman’s episode, which airs next week. I have to say that this week’s episode, while it had its moments, will not, I think, go down as one of the great episodes. It was fun, but not deep. 

That Wedding

One or two of you may have noticed that there was a wedding yesterday.

I have no particularly strong feelings about it; I don't think that the £5m or so costs of the added police etc. should have been paid by the taxpayers, but beyond that, I'm about as interested as I would be in the wedding of any other couple I don't know.. i.e. I'll glance at the dress if I'm passing (and lets face it, this one was hard to miss) but that's about it.

I have, however, been interested in some of the ways  people have reacted. In particular, I was driving through one of the neighbouring towns and noticed that several of the shops had decorated their windows with flags. . . and in every single case they were still showing the creases from where they'd been folded up.   Is it me? I mean, if you are feeling sufficiently patriotic / in the mood for a party that you go to the trouble of buying and putting up flags, why would you not iron the wretched things, or otherwise make sure they looked reasonable?

It just seems odd, to me. (And several of the shops concerned are ones which usually have well presented windw dressings, so I don't think it is that they were put up by the kind of person who wouldn't notice)

Oh, and the best bits of the whole circus, (the runaway horse, and the cartwheeling verger) can both be seen  here.

I have to admit, I'm also just a little bit proud that my street has shown no flags, no bunting, and no street party. ..

In Which We Go For A Walk

Easter Sunday was a quiet day - my parents had agreed to ring for a couple of church services, but I had no such committments, so had the kind of day which starts with tea in bed, and moves on to eating breakfast in pyjamas while watching Doctor Who, and then drifts onward to involve sitting around in the sunshine with  a Golden Age detetive novel and a cat.

Later, we had a deicious Sunday roast: Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and runner beans, with gin and tonic before hand, and red wine to accompany it, and lemon merienge pie and fresh coffee to follow. It was all delicious, and very relaxed and civilized..



looking West towards Combe Martin

So on Monday we decided to be a little more energetic, and to go for a walk.



We started near Trentishoe which is on the edge of the Exmoor National Park, and walked along the top of the cliffs.

 

It was another gloriously sunny day, and amazingly still, too, so that even on the top of the cliff there was virtually no wind, and no sound, either, other than the distant sound of the sea, the bird-song and the calls of the sheep and their lambs, grazing along the cliff top.



Heddon Valley to Heddon's Bay

  It's a fairly harsh environment - the grass is short and sheep-cropped, and the other plant-life mainly consists of bracken, heather and gorse.

The gorse is all in flower at present, profligate with it's bright gold flowers. The bracken is bright green with new growth, and the heather still has faded white flowers. There are a few foxgloves growing against the drystone walls, a few of them starting to show pinkish buds but the majority with nothing, yet, but large, furry leaves. (I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had managed to correctly identify them as foxgloves, even without the flowers - unlike my mother, I don't know much about plants)



Looking up Heddon Valley to Hunter's Inn



The soil is too poor, and there is too much wind and salt to allow many larger trees to flourish, but that does mean you can see forever, along the headlands.





After a little while, we parted company; my mum turning back the way we'd come (which was relatively flat, andfairly easy going) while my dad and I continued along the path, which got much steeper as it continued around the headland, with some more stunning views, this time eastward toward Lynmouth.  The path then turns inland, at the Heddon Valley.



The valley is very steep and narrow, and the path runs along one side of it, working it's way back downhill from the top of the cliffs, down towards the river which runs along the valley into the sea. F|rom above, you can see the tiny, rocky inlet where the river reaches the sea. there is a tiny, shingled beach, and lots of rocks.

Bluebells





We didn't go down to the sea, but instead continued down the side of the valley. As the path decended, we gradually left behind the heather and gorse, and  started to see many wild violets, primroses and, as we came among the trees, bluebells, vast drifts of them.

Most of the trees were birch, beech nd young oaks, all of them bright with new growth.



As we reached the bottom of the valley, we found ourselves walking by the side of the river, which is cold, and clear, and surrounded by beech trees, with primroses and white campion and ragged robin all growing along the banks.



We arrived at the Hunter's Inn about 10 minutes after my mum (who had returned to the car and driven it round to meet us) did.



Coming down from the cliffs and woods it's a little startling to come upon a beautifully manicured lawn and a set of peacocks..

However, when we went indoors we discovered that the place has a fine grasp of the essentials.

One of the nice things about going for a vigourous walk is that when you reach the pub at the end you do tend to feel that you have earned your beer!

Axe, coming intoWoody Bay Station

After enjoying our beer, and some very late lunch, we hedd home, via Woody Bay Station - this is a station on what was once (and hopes one day to be again) the Lynton to Barnstaple narrow-guage railway.  The railway opened in about 1898,  originlly built and run by a private company, over a distance of bout 19 miles. It was tasken over by Southern Railways in the 1920s and closed in 1935.

A small part of the railway has been restored and reopened, and it is now possible to go for a short train-ride (about 1 mile each way, I believe)

The railway was running, so we went and had a look at their displays, and watched the train leaving and returning, making little 'pish-te-cuff' noises just like Ivor the Engine,  nd mking that distinctive, Steam-engine smell of hot metal and cinders.

In it's hey-day, the railway ran through the village my parents now live in, and the current Trust hope one day to restore the entire 19 miles of track.

 A very pleasant day.

More pictures on my flickr stream here.

In Which Is Sunshine and Seaside

It's Easter weekend, which means two Bank Holidays and thus a long weekend, and having been unable to join my sisters for a weekends sailing (as I left it too late, and so the boat is full) I decided to spend the weekend with my mum and dad, down in Devon.
I am fortunate in that I get on very well with my parents, so visiting them is restful, and they now live in a lovely part of the country.


View from the house

I had a smooth trip down on Thursday evening (except for the part where Tybalt got a little travel sick..).

On Friday my parents had various committments, so we didn't go out anywhere, but instead I spent the day between cooking (flapjacks, and lemon meriengue pie, and a casserole) and wandering around the garden in the sun.

We have been enjoying wonderful, unseasonably warm weather for the time of year - yesterday was in the 70s, so being outside is a pleasure.



Ilfracombe

On Saturday, they asked me whether there was anywhere I'd like to go, and I said the seaside.



Ilfracombe Harbour (Low Tide)

There are lots of bits of seaside near here, and on this occasion we went to Ilfracombe, which started life as a fishing village, and became a holiday destination in the Victorian period, and is now a little run-down. However, in the sun, and with lots of visitors for the Easter weekend, it was looking it's best. 



Beach



We walked down to the harbour, full mainly now with pleasure yachts, not fishing boats, and then to a little beach, where I paddled, because sometimes you have to, don't you? The water was very cold, but bracing... 

Juvenile Herring Gull

There were lots of Herring Gulls, and a few Black Backed gulls and a Kittiwake or two, and we saw a cormorant, too, later.



Harbour wall, and St Nicholas's chapel

After my paddle we walked up to the top of the  cliff (to the right of the beach) then along the path back toward the harbour,and up to St Nocholas's chapel, which is tiny (you can see it  perched on the hill on the left of the picture above) It was also the home of the harbour-master at one time - he and his wife lived there in the 1860s, with 8 or 9 of their 14 children...

By the time we came down, the tide had gone out, leaving all the yachts high and dry, although further out to sea were several, sailing, and also 3 or four retired lifeboats. (The current lifeboat was at the top of the slipway, flying lots of flags, and having a fund-raiser) 



Retired lifeboats

We must have spebt 3 or 4 hours wandering around, enjoying the views and the weather, and sustained only by large ice-creams made with local cream...

It was a lovely day, and then we returned to the house, in time for me to watch Doctor Who while my parents cooked supper.

A most enjoyable day.

In Which I Spend a Cultural Morning

When I arranged to Zombie I booked a hotel for Friday night as well as Thursday, as I knew there was the possibility we might not finish filming until late, and I didn't want to be rushing to catch a train. It also left me with the option of spending Saturday in London.

Thame & Skyline from Canary Wharf

I was able to take some pretty pictures of the skyline before turning in for the night. The hotel I was staying in was right on the river, and had a ferry across to Canary Wharf, which I took in order to get a meal on Friday night.

Thames & Canary Wharf

On Saturday morning,  I decided to visit the British Museum, and to see the Afghanistan exhibition which is running until July.

The Great Court, British Museum

It really was very impressive.  And not only the exhibits but also the fact that they have survived at all - many of them were preserved by museum curators in Afghanistan who hid them to save them from looting or from destruction by the taliban.

The exhibits span millenia - there are gold vessels from around 2000 BC, through to painted glass, carved ivories and gold ornaments (including the crown) which date to the 1st Century AD. Afghanistan was on the Silk Road, and traded across the world, so the artefacts show influence (and sometimes imports) from Mespotomania, China, Indian, and the Greek & Roman Empires.

The crown was part of a set of grave-goods discovered with the body of a 1st century nomadic woman - it's actually made to come to pieces and fold flat, which displays a nice mix of practicality and adornment. it's also incredibly delicate - all of he individual flowers are  made from very thin gold, and even inside the safety of a display case it moved - presumably due to visitors footfalls - you can see how impressive it would be when worn, moving with evey breeze, and every movement of the wearer.

She and her companions also had numerous gold beads which originally decorated their clothing, also big, chunky necklaces, bangles and anklets. They were all very young - in their early 20s when they died. (the exhibition offeredd no explanation as to how they died, but I guess that life expectancy wasn't high for 1st century nomads)

When I had seen the exhibition, I look a quick look into one or two other rooms, to see some 20th Omani wedding jewellery, and to visit one of my favourite of the museum's exhibits, this Ice Age sculpture of swimming reindeer, which is around 13,000 years old. It gets me every time. 

It's such a lovely thing, and the thought that it has survived, and still speaks to us, after so long, is, at least to me, astonishing.

I do love the British Museum. I love that (apart from the special exhibitions) it's free, so that one can pop in and out, and spend just a little time, without feeling you haven't got your money's worth.

I love that it has such a huge range of exhibits, covering so many cultures, across so many centuries. I wish I lived s little closer, but as it is, I manage to visit most times I'm in London, and perhaps, by the time I am old and decrepit, I shall have managed to see it all...

On this occasion, I didn't stay for long, as my day as a zombie had worn me out, so I eneded up heeading back to Paddington to head home for an early night. Maybe next time I shall stay a little longer.

In Which There Are Zombies

Isn't Twitter interesting? One of the people I follow is James Moran, and a little while back he tweeted about his film, Cockneys vs. Zombies and specifically, the fact that the director was looking for extra zombies, and that people were invited to apply.

I thought at the time, 'that might be fun' but I didn't get around to sending the necessary e-mails, then a bout 10 days back I sent hm a tweet meantioning that I'd failed to apply, he tweeted back to tell me they still needed Zombies, I applied, and so it came to pass that I found travelling up to London on Thursday evening, ready for a VERY early start on Friday morning.

The call was for 6 a.m., which meant leaving the hotel at around 5 a.m. It was too early for the buses, so I had a walk down to the tube station, which took me about 25 minutes. Turns out that there are lots of birds in London, and if you are walking just before dawn, when there's no traffic, you can hear them all singing their little hearts out. Also, the tube trains are lovely and empty at around 5.30, making for a very civilised journey!

With only a little bit of getting confused (which I am chosing to blame on the early hour and my under-caffienated state) I found the right spot..

Next came make up, getting checked over by the costume department (mostly checking that we were wearng clothes which we didn't mind getting blood on..

There was a fine selection of zombies, in various stages of decomposition.

Me, just before filming

One we were made up, we got to watch a short training video showing how a zombie behaves in the wild, and then, in small groups, we had Zombie school, to learn the finer points of Shambling, reacting to stimuli, and getting shot. Oh, and they added more blood.

There was coffee and sausage sandwiches around this point, too.

We were then taken to the location to start shooting. This was only just down the road, so we walked, getting one or two funny looks. Anyone would think that seeing a crocodile of blood-soaked zombies walking down the street is unusual in some way.

Once we got there, it was clear to see we were in the right place - several cars with smashed windows, random body parts strewn around the place (and they were very realistic. I just hope they remembered to pick them all up again afterwards)

We were mostly doing repeated takes of one scene (I won't say to much for fear of spoilers) I think I may reveal that it involved a fair few zombies, and some cockneys, and thet they weren't getting along.

Even Zombies chill out sometimes

Between takes, the make-up people were rushing about to freshen up our blood, including giving us fresh blood to put on our teeth and gums.

New thing learned : blood has a minty-fresh taste. Maybe this is why the zombies like it?

Actors including Honor Blackman , Alan Ford, Michelle Ryan were all there - although of course mostly (except when we were trying to kill them) they were at  a distance.

There are more pictures here (I wouldn't normally link to a Mail story, but needs must... this is the same place we were filiming, although a different day so none of the zombies in those pics are me, although I do recoognise several of them!)

We spent a long time on  the same scene, which was (as far as I could tell) being shot from lots of different angles. It was very interesting to watch, and to appreciate just how much time, hard work and painstaking attention to detail is involved in making a film. Also, from the little I heard of the dialogue it sounds as though it'll be entertaining. should be worth seeing for reasons other than to try to spot myself!



Hungry Zombie

Part way through we had to stop and wait as a tourist boat came through, and had to wait for the lock/bridge to open so it could go through. watching the looks on the faces of the passengers was entertaining, and I like to hink that they enjoyed being waved on their way by a bunch of living corpses..

We worked all morning, then back to base for lunch, then back to the same location for another, much shorter scene (I think this was mostly a long distance, panning shot in which I and the other extras will feature a distant blobs, but I may be wrong)

A small cohort were then driven away to be in a further scene, but I wasn't among them, so after getting most of the blood off my face, I was free  to go, at about 3 p.m. (It was tempting to leave it all on, and see what reaction I got on the tube and at the hotel, if I remained covered in blood, but in thhe end I felt it might give people the wrong idea, so I didn't!)

Zombie Me

I had a lot of fun - I'm very glad I did it - I enjoyed chatting to the other Zombies, and I'm really glad I've had the chance to be in a film, and to be a Zombie, and I have a newfound respect for those who do this all the time - I was exhausted after just one day!

So, after getting back to the hotel and showering to get the dried blood and grit out of my hair, I took myself out for an early supper, and went to bed, to dream of those juicy, tasty braaainssss.

If  you want to know more, the film has it's own twitter account and James Moran has listed various other twitterers associated with the film on his blog  here.