Mr Plug's Blog

It’s been a while dear readers, and I thought I ought to bring the blog up to date with news/gossip and general progress where it has happened.  We are apparently getting the keys to the new place tomorrow, however, that all depends on the solicitors sorting their life out today, a task that I feel may be way beyond the capabilities of at least one of them.  I started to pack yesterday, and feel I am struggling against the mountain of crap that appears to be building from the rest of the inhabitants of the house.  I have now packed 95% of the books (This is an estimate in case anyone thinks I have genuinely worked that out) that I have, and felt slightly ashamed at how many I have, but largely impressed that I have actually read pretty much all of them.  There was one that I had no recollection of buying whatsoever.  I don’t know if it is just stress, but I am having memory issues lately, and the pessimist in me has decided that it is either the galloping onset of old age, or something horrific that is eating my brain.  I shall keep you posted on that.

I sit and wait for news from Estate Agents and solicitors, and have promised myself that I will keep my cool today whatever is thrown in my direction.  This will not be an easy task, and has already been tested by my family this morning.

In other news….

We still have the Dog, though we await news as to a possible new family for him.  I am struggling very much with this, and I think I am denial to a degree.

I need to post about something called Pay it Forward soon….I merely post this as a reminder to myself.

In other artistic news, there have been a number of infuriating frustrations that have created more hassle than the projects are worth, so decisions need to be made on a number of them.  I have made a decision to stop dealing with some people though…life is too short and all that.

There

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Why is it that we pay these people thousands of pounds to do a job that we have to nag them to do on an hourly basis?  I’m sure that there are some very complicated sides to the job, that perhaps I don’t have a full understanding of, but it seems that everytime I have the misfortune of asking them a question as to their progress, I am met with the answer “I will call them”.  I just assumed that this was one of the basic skills required to do the job; the ability to phone someone and ask them if you have a question.

I shall continue on in a cynical, but increasingly aggressive tone

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Well…I failed.  The task of keeping up with writing every day was too much to keep up with.  I shall still continue to try and update every day, but with the house sale etc going through, and doing three shows in the last few weeks, it has all been too busy to keep up.  I prepare to do battle with solicitors and estate agents tomorrow, to ensure that the move can go through as planned.  Whilst all this is happening, I am preparing to say goodbye to my friend Pepper.

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Well another Birthday passes fairly uneventfully, which always pleases me.  I had a nice day, and ended it in the pub with some nice people, so I mustn’t grumble.  We have a busy few weeks coming up with shows etc to worry about, so I must try and remain focused rather than getting depressed about the passing of time (And all of its crimes).  I am amazed at the amount of paperwork involved in selling a house, and how much duplication there is.  I thought the idea was to get rid of all of the red tape, but it would appear there is more than ever to me.

I have a hangover that I used to get after a REALLY heavy night out.  Bearing in mind it was a quiet one with a few drinks, I think I can safely say that I can’t do it any more…perhaps not such a bad thing.

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One of positivity, and it has been long overdue.  After a frustrating and infuriating day spent dealing with idiots, it was heartening to see a few lights at the end of a series of tunnels.  Our forthcoming move to Flitwick which at times today looked to be off, is a source of a bit of optimism for me.  I will have my own dedicated office come study, which is very near the kitchen.  Our plans are such that we will need to be a lot more organised, and as I do the lion’s share of the cooking, it is handy to have an office near the Kitchen.  There is a local and affordable Gym.  Now this might make one or two people chuckle, but since I gave up smoking over 5 years ago, I have been out of shape!  Starting smoking is not an option, so I am keen to try fitness!  I will be two minutes walk from a mainline Railway Station, which opens up my horizons somewhat in terms of my writing, and research.  I will be able to visit the old haunts of my family, and the old family house in Islington in which a long line of envelope folders and imbeciles lived.  We will be debt free.  I have to keep repeating that….Debt free!  I got into debt pretty much on my first working day.  That was the 17^th September 1984.  Pretty much 26 years of debt wiped out.  I’m not sure quite how that is going to feel, but I feel sure I will report on it at length.

I have just noticed that whilst writing this post, that my Birthday has gone and crept up on me.  Well Happy Birthday to me.  I realised half way through this year that I had mistakenly been telling everyone that I was still 42, rather than 43…I now realise that I am far too old, and will be deliberately continuing this trend in the near future.  44 sounds quite old to me come to think of it.  This fits in with my current mid life crisis, and I shall continue to get some mileage from it I feel sure.  So my last year has been a good one overall.  Old friendships rekindled, big decisions made, good drama of the right kind, and a little bad drama of the wrong kind.  Not bad.  Here’s to the next one dear reader.

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Today, I will be mostly trying to stay calm in the face of increasing pressure to do otherwise.  I am reacting calmly to the request that I need to write up notes about my soon to be ex-dog, in an almost living obituary, to make him sound attractive to any other owners.  I will laugh in the face of losing a second cast member from a production that is now only a week and a half away.  I will smile sweetly whilst explaining to the mother of the aforementioned cast member that whilst I understand that weekends away can be nice, that I have already committed hundreds of pounds to this performance, none of which is refundable.  I will laugh heartily with the letting agents, who are expecting a relative or friend to act as a guarantor on our rental, as we are self employed.  This is despite our offer to pay the full rental up front.  All of this will be a mere frippery in my day of laughter and joy.

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We went to visit a school today that specialises in teaching dyslexic children.  We visited it with a view to running a session there, and possibly a Summer School or workshop or two.  What we found was the most inspiring, heart warming place, with amazing staff and superb facilities.  I have never seen so many books in one place (With the possible exception of a library of course).  The owner of this private school puts books everywhere in order to ensure that the kids are not scared by them.  I want to be a child again so that I can go there!!!!  We will be doing our absolute utmost to ensure that we can be in some way linked to this fantastic institution.  More news as and when we get it

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Just realised that the daily updates have not been making it to the blog.  I had been emailing them, but for some unknown reason they just sat in the outbox for a week.  I am amazed that my mass of readers have not been bombarding me with complaints!  All updated now, and hopefully I have got to the bottom of what was causing it!

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A day spent filling out forms.  The same information appears to be needed in triplicate by the same people, it is very annoying, very dull, and I spent the day as a miserable sod as a result of it.  Mrs Plug kept a respectful distance, and I think I managed to snap out of it by the end of the day.  Another thick blanket of snow has covered Bedfordshire.  I used to love that feeling of excitement that you got when pulling back the curtains on a day like this, but today, it just blackened my mood even more.  I think I may be going through a mini midlife crisis of some sort.  I just want to switch off from everything, which is not good when you are self employed.  I need a few early nights.  My current frame of mind is leading me to stay up late, and I think the tiredness is not helping.  I need to make a big effort over the next few days and sort myself out/strap on a pair..or whatever the current phrase may be.  Mrs Plug has been fabulous as ever throughout this.  The feeling of being completely debt free is a major factor in all of this, but she will be sad to move too, and I think I need to focus a little more on that as well.

Must try harder!

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I was awoken by this at 8.30 this morning.  He crept up onto the bed, and I woke to find a paw in the middle of my chest and a smiling dog.

I reacted to this in a non emotional way of course.

I managed to snooze my way through an hour or so, but gave in and drank coffee and read my book.  It took my mind off things.  It is Jim Bob’s story of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, and their rise and fall.  I loved them, and continue to do so, and this is a fascinating and funny insight into it all.  He’s a really good bloke in my opinion, and I shall spend the rest of the weekend with it as my soundtrack.

Afternoon spent catching up with housework, in preparation for Spurs to add to my woes.  Fortunately, they won 3-0 away, and therefore the weekend was not a complete washout.