Day eleven

Crap. How did this happen? I could have sworn I set the alarm last night, but apparently I didn’t. It is 10:10am and I have to be at the cairn in the village in thirty-five minutes for the Remembrance Day service. After that I have two panto meetings and then I’d like to get to the gym… Well, I’ve sat down to start. Hopefully I’ll finish later. Otherwise this is going to be a very short entry.

Later: The meetings went on longer than I thought they would (although I did get a nice lunch out of them). So long that it came down to a choice between the gym and the Black Dog Diary. The diary won.

The gym manager did say to me yesterday that even three times a week is good. Hmm. If I don’t get in there tomorrow (I had been planning to take the weekends off) I may have to take her at her word.

So, how am I feeling today? Well, truth be told I’m pretty choked up about Leonard Cohen’s death. (I have his music playing as the soundtrack to this entry.)

I’m also a bit annoyed with the panto cast. Not, as you would expect about the fact that they still need to pick up the pace considerably with only two weeks to go. No, today I’m annoyed because I was told after last night’s rehearsal that a number of (unnamed) cast members had been grumbling about my decision to drop one of the songs.

It wasn’t the decision to drop a song that bugged them. They understood that something had to be done about the running time. No, it was the song I chose. Apparently it was a bad call because there were other songs that should have been dumped first. And which songs exactly should those be? One of the finale songs? No, I thought not. One of the songs that we need to do front of curtain to allow for a set change? Yeah, in an ideal world I would have picked one of those songs first. But then what? We just stop the show while they change the set? No, I didn’t think so. So which song was I supposed to ditch? There were five songs that weren’t finales or set change songs. Has anyone contacted me today to suggest dropping their song so the one I chose could go back in? No. Has anyone spoken to me directly about their grumble? No. Grr.

For fuck’s sake.

Okay, this is going to be a short entry. (I’ve at least met my original fifteen minute target.) I thought ranting about this passive aggressive grumbling-behind-my-back shit would get it out of my system, but it hasn’t.

So, now I’m going to sit down on the sofa with a cup of tea to listen to Leonard Cohen and read the book I need to finish before I can get to Ian Rankin or Michael Connelly. (Actually, writing that sentence has cheered me up, because I honestly can’t believe the will power I’m showing by finishing this novel before devouring Rebus.)

On Remembrance Day I leave you with a memory of Mr. Leonard Cohen.