Barabas is coming...
The Secret Language of Tractors
It’s extraordinarily nasty weather, real autumn weather, even though it’s August. This, plus the sudden increase in traffic due to the holiday season, has made my 60-mile-a-day commute pretty hair-raising. I’ve started to mitigate the tedium, not to mention the danger, of being stuck on a dual carriageway behind cars going at a dogged 30, or alleviating the slowness of being caught behind a combine harvester by developing a new specialist subject – tractors.
I’m not quite sure when it all started, or how I somehow found myself with a pretty impressive knowledge of these splendid vehicles. I guess it’s a bit like learning a new language; rather than just seeing a tractor, I now see, and identify (usually correctly) the model, make, style…it’s a lot of fun, and it takes the heat out of the long journey. Particularly at this time of year when harvest (and holidays) are uppermost in many mind and make the travelling slow.
No, I’m not a train-spotter. Did you know that there is an easy, and fairly fool proof, way of knowing the different between a Deutz-Fahr and a John Deere, a Massey-Fergusson and a McCormick, not to mention a David Brown? I won’t tell you want it is, but as usual, a prize, for the first person to post the correct answer…
Of course it doesn’t exactly speed things up during a busy week. But sometimes it’s good to slow the pace. I’ve just had my first weekend off for a month and spent most of it sleeping, and that’s hardly surprising given the pace of things. Here’s a little summary:
Monday. Up as usual, at 6am to do a few chores before driving into work early for our start-the-week senior manager’s meeting. Then into a two hour meeting to discuss national press for the show, a quick con-flab with Frances and it’s off to meet Colin who arrives off the London train carrying not only out huge model box, but an army of costume books and sketches (no wonder he’s so whacked). Two-hour production meeting, quick nip to the office and then we drive back to my place where we’re still going at 11pm, discussing costume ideas.
At 8.30am the next morning Colin is back from his B and B and we continue our discussion until it’s time for him to get the train to Truro, where he picks up our Production Manager Simon and make their way to Plymouth where our set is being built by Tony Harvey and his wonderful team at TR2. I’m back home slogging away on the script, having a long conversation with Juha about movement, marking up a working copy (with cuts) for the cast. Finally finish at 8pm.
Wednesday: back to Hall for Cornwall this morning for a day of solid meetings. Brief chat with our stage management team, an hour with a local dancer to talk about a project she is planning to present at the theatre in 2009, a two-hour conference call to talk about the state of playwriting in the south west, a meeting to look at education opportunities for schools and a catch up with Tim. Then home. On the way I spotted two Fords, a vintage Fergusson, one Case, a Class with baler) and an as-yet-unidentified new looking, silver tractor.
Thursday: A morning at home working on the play before taking part in a special workshop for all staff to look at inter-departmental relationships. It’s really good and quite revealing. Grab a few minutes in the office doing emails before racing to the station to meet playwright and HfC associate artist Kaite O’Reilly, who has come to spend two days working on bricks & mortar – a project to further the individual skills of playwrights using an international context. Kaite is full of beans, but I’m so tired I simply take her to her digs and leave her to explore Truro. A shame but I need to sleep.
Friday and Saturday: no time for a lie-in. Kaite delivers an exciting two days for the playwrights; they each make a presentation based on the research they’ve been doing, take part in a set of practical exercises and have plenty of time to chat to her and to each other. It’s an inspiring weekend. On Saturday I grab an hour over lunch with Marie Macneill, Leo Butler and Denzil Monk who, with Frances, and running a project for young writers DAWN CHORUS. Later on, Ery Nzaramba (playing Ithamore) makes a visit to Truro and we spend a couple of hours together looking at the space and talking about the play. I finally get home at 8pm to start the weekend a day late. Spend most of Sunday sleeping, and then it’s time to start all over again.
So that’s my week. A busy one. But to be fair, although a few days off might be nice, I don’t think I’d have it any other way.
I’m not quite sure when it all started, or how I somehow found myself with a pretty impressive knowledge of these splendid vehicles. I guess it’s a bit like learning a new language; rather than just seeing a tractor, I now see, and identify (usually correctly) the model, make, style…it’s a lot of fun, and it takes the heat out of the long journey. Particularly at this time of year when harvest (and holidays) are uppermost in many mind and make the travelling slow.
No, I’m not a train-spotter. Did you know that there is an easy, and fairly fool proof, way of knowing the different between a Deutz-Fahr and a John Deere, a Massey-Fergusson and a McCormick, not to mention a David Brown? I won’t tell you want it is, but as usual, a prize, for the first person to post the correct answer…
Of course it doesn’t exactly speed things up during a busy week. But sometimes it’s good to slow the pace. I’ve just had my first weekend off for a month and spent most of it sleeping, and that’s hardly surprising given the pace of things. Here’s a little summary:
Monday. Up as usual, at 6am to do a few chores before driving into work early for our start-the-week senior manager’s meeting. Then into a two hour meeting to discuss national press for the show, a quick con-flab with Frances and it’s off to meet Colin who arrives off the London train carrying not only out huge model box, but an army of costume books and sketches (no wonder he’s so whacked). Two-hour production meeting, quick nip to the office and then we drive back to my place where we’re still going at 11pm, discussing costume ideas.
At 8.30am the next morning Colin is back from his B and B and we continue our discussion until it’s time for him to get the train to Truro, where he picks up our Production Manager Simon and make their way to Plymouth where our set is being built by Tony Harvey and his wonderful team at TR2. I’m back home slogging away on the script, having a long conversation with Juha about movement, marking up a working copy (with cuts) for the cast. Finally finish at 8pm.
Wednesday: back to Hall for Cornwall this morning for a day of solid meetings. Brief chat with our stage management team, an hour with a local dancer to talk about a project she is planning to present at the theatre in 2009, a two-hour conference call to talk about the state of playwriting in the south west, a meeting to look at education opportunities for schools and a catch up with Tim. Then home. On the way I spotted two Fords, a vintage Fergusson, one Case, a Class with baler) and an as-yet-unidentified new looking, silver tractor.
Thursday: A morning at home working on the play before taking part in a special workshop for all staff to look at inter-departmental relationships. It’s really good and quite revealing. Grab a few minutes in the office doing emails before racing to the station to meet playwright and HfC associate artist Kaite O’Reilly, who has come to spend two days working on bricks & mortar – a project to further the individual skills of playwrights using an international context. Kaite is full of beans, but I’m so tired I simply take her to her digs and leave her to explore Truro. A shame but I need to sleep.
Friday and Saturday: no time for a lie-in. Kaite delivers an exciting two days for the playwrights; they each make a presentation based on the research they’ve been doing, take part in a set of practical exercises and have plenty of time to chat to her and to each other. It’s an inspiring weekend. On Saturday I grab an hour over lunch with Marie Macneill, Leo Butler and Denzil Monk who, with Frances, and running a project for young writers DAWN CHORUS. Later on, Ery Nzaramba (playing Ithamore) makes a visit to Truro and we spend a couple of hours together looking at the space and talking about the play. I finally get home at 8pm to start the weekend a day late. Spend most of Sunday sleeping, and then it’s time to start all over again.
So that’s my week. A busy one. But to be fair, although a few days off might be nice, I don’t think I’d have it any other way.
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