Helen cometh

A somewhat mixed bag of a day off. Certainly not a nothing day. I always feel disappointed towards the end of my days off, but at the same time, I'm not actually quite sure what it would take to feel the opposite.

I had arranged with the site manager from Taylor Wimpey that he have some workmen come round this morning, to carry on some remedial work to the flat. I'd agreed that they arrive at 9, so I got up at about 8, which is quite early for me on a day off. They didn't come round.

When it got to midday, I gave up waiting for them, and went off into Cosham to get some things, most important on my list was a birthday card for my Dad, who was 61 today. It's always next to impossible to figure out what to get him as a present, without lots of help from either my mother or my sister, I am naturally drawn toward a bottle of port. Thankfully, my sister avoided the maintenance of a port mountain by asking if I wanted to go halves on some vouchers for a garden centre with her.

My sister came round later in the afternoon, when she had picked up my nephews from school. They came back here for a bit, and by the time they made a move to go home, my Dad had gotten home himself.

Helen came round, as planned, and actually not as late as she normally would be. We agreed on some things that we needed to in regard to the new show. We are going to have to confirm a later date than originally planned. We need to give ourselves enough time to get the reunion, and read-through sorted, but at the same time, have a timescale tight enough to drive us forward. We've proven time and again that very distant deadlines actually turn out to be counterproductive.

It's been so long since we actually looked at the script, we read through everything we have done to date. We made some minor alterations on the way, mostly removing lines. This can't be a bad thing. To know that some three months after starting on the play, we still find it funny, still like the idea, still have the motivation and inclination to complete it and bring it to stage.

Now we just need to get enough other people to feel the same about it, and it will be the success that we want it to be.