Screenwriting #6-7: I can sleep when I’m dead

With the Hea-Van series coming to a finish I decided to work on another screenplay. I have two screenplays I wanted to work on, one that I started five years ago and one I had an idea for a few months ago. I will finish both but have put a concentrated effort into writing the latter first.

I have started writing what was to be a one off TV piece called Marathon Money and it’s about a woman in her early twenties called Jenna. In short she is going to be running the marathon and has got a charity place. But with charity places you have to raise a certain amount of money, and although she finds this easy in reality it’s not.

She’s exhausted all options of fundraising and then realises that an unconventional way might be the answer. Jenna had been going to pole classes for a few years and got quite good, so she takes an evening job at a pole club in order to raise the money. Obviously there are obstacles along the way and while the marathon is at the forefront of the screenplay, the real focus is whether she can raise the money.

This by far is the easiest screenplay I’ve written, for some reason the words have flowed out onto the page really quickly. The second evening of writing I wrote 23 pages and was questioning how long I could stay awake as I couldn’t stop writing.

I guess its true what they say, write about what you know. And while I don’t have any experience in doing pole at a club (well as a paid job) I did go to pole classes for around 3-4 years. And although I haven’t run a marathon, I’ve done several races and challenges which require sponsorship. For me the training part wasn’t the problem for the challenges, it was getting a person to sponsor me which was the tricky part.

The timing of me writing this couldn’t have come at a better time as all over Facebook I’m seeing friends who have applied for a ballot place in the marathon to be told the outcome over the past few days. Others have been toying with the idea of a charity place, but many are put off by the high amount that has to be raised.

Over the weekend I went to a fitness weekend and somehow between classes I managed to write an awful lot. I’m now on 71 pages! So with plenty more still to explore, instead of a one TV piece, I’m making it a film. I’m heading for 90 pages, but I reckon I could do 120.

I hope the rest of the writing will be just as fast. Question is how much sleep do I really need?

New phrases #24-29: Insulting finish

For my food gathering some people brought a phrase with them, and my friend Fran did just that. She told me in German how to say my sister is sometimes annoying, which is; 'Meine schwester est manchmal argelich.' And I’m sure my sisters will use that one on me in the future!

My friend Kayleigh couldn't make the gathering but she text me a Spanish phrase that she had learnt on holiday. A very useful one in ‘Can I have the bill’ which is; 'La cuenta, por favour.'

In the book I’m reading at the moment a trip around Europe is the main focus and in one of the flashback scenes one of the characters says; Ton coeur brise se reparera rapidement in French and for some reason I liked the sound of the phrase.

The last few phrases are courtesy of my friend Rachel, a regular contributor to the challenge. She gave me a book of insults in a foreign language and when I started reading through them I couldn't stop laughing. It was a really tough choice to decide which ones to put in the challenge, and so I've decided on the following phrases:

Vorrei rompere qualcosa. Posso prendere in prestito il vostro naso? This is Spanish for 'I would like to break something. Can I borrow your nose?

Avete il cervello di un panino del formaggio. This is Italian for 'You have the brain of a cheese sandwich.'

Votre pay est comme une toilette. Il n'a pas besoin d'un président, il le besoin justes quelqu'un de vider toute la merde.' This is French for; 'Your country is like a toilet. It doesn't need a President, it just needs someone to flush all the shit away.'

So an insulting finish I think you’ll agree.

New food #29-32: What the gatherers brought

As part of the food gathering that took place on Sunday I asked friends to bring either a phrase or a new food to try. I ended up trying 4 new things and the first was Dal Puri which my friend Penny made. Dal Puri is an Indian flatbread made with lentils and they tasted great. It was really nice that she went to all that effort to create a food for me to try from scratch.

My friend Coops also did the same and made Pigeon Pie which was another great gesture of helping me complete my challenge. It also showed off Coops’ cooking skills and the pie had just the right amount of sauce, so it wasn’t too watery. He also bought an alpaca burger for me to try and I tried it a few days later. It tasted nice and was a rich meat. My Grandad had warned me off trying unusual meats as the last time I had an unusual meat which I think was goat, it did not sit well.

To finish off the day my friend Claire brought round Physalis to try which is a berry that tastes a bit like gooseberries. They’re more for decoration on desserts and are bright orange.
So a great variety of foods to finish off the food part of the challenge.

Reconnecting #28: Old friends?

In 2008 my family took our last ‘family holiday together’ before me and my sisters moved out. 10 days after my graduation we flew out to Australia and went to Melbourne, then stayed with our family friends Karen, Rob, Tom and Emma in Sydney and finished in Queenstown, New Zealand. I think it was while in Sydney or New Zealand we started watching a talk show called Rove and on this show were a couple of guys called Hamish and Andy.

                                                    The Harrold sisters in Sydney in 2008

When we got back to the UK, my sister Lisa found out some more about Hamish and Andy and discovered they had their own drive time radio show, and that you could listen to podcasts of it. So back in 2008 we started listening and loved it. It felt like we were listening to a couple of mates having a laugh. It got to the point where we talked about them so often, that my dad had a question about Australia, Lisa and I didn’t know the answer and he asked us to ask Hamish and Andy as he thought they were our friends!

Over the years they've had some really funny moments; getting the bucket to spin on the top of a KFC and discovering and getting Frank Stallone to perform a concert for them were particular highlights. I want to hang out with them at the Melbourne Cup, and forget the Oscars Vanity Fair Party, the only party I want to go to was the Logie Spit Roast Party. And who could forget the brilliant game of random John, where they would phone a random number and hope the person that answered would be called John. It went on for weeks!

Now like some friendships, mine with Hamish and Andy didn’t last. Life got busy and soon I got too behind on the podcasts to catch up. So it was just over a year ago I stopped listening. Yes there have been listeners that would have epic catch up sessions to claw their way back to present day, but I wasn’t one of them. So when my friend Coops who is also a fan (and has even spoken to them) suggested I start listening again, I did just that.

And like catching up with good old friends it was like no time had passed. Yes times have changed. Hamish is now married and has a baby. Andy has a girlfriend after being single since his split with an aussie supermodel. The banter was still there; the phone ins were still funny. The launch party where they relaunched their show was great; they got listeners to launch things and one guy wanted to launch a new grey jacket he bought. And Hamish and Andy’s mum’s interviewed the guys from Magic Mike which was really funny.

So now I’ll be going back to sitting on the train or in the car listening and trying my best to disguise my laughs as coughs once more. It’s good to have Hamish and Andy in my life once more, who knows maybe I’ll call in so I can say long time listener, first time caller!

New recipes #20-26: Food gathering

On Sunday I had a little food gathering for friends and family. It was to act as a little trade off as well. I made nice food and in return I got some unusual food to try or a new phrase for my challenge.

I aimed to cook 10 recipes as I had quite a few people set to attend but ended up making 6. This was a blessing in disguise as 3 people couldn’t make it on the day and 2 others who said they were going to come never showed. Even so I still have a lot of food left over which I’m sure my work colleagues will appreciate, and means I don’t have to go food shopping for quite a while.

I started preparing food on the Thursday as I had a busy weekend ahead and the first thing I made was chicken liver and orange pate. The pate was made with chicken livers which I got from Morrisons for a very high price of 19p! It was pretty straight forward to make which I was surprised about and smelt and tasted like pate. Although before freezing it I did think it looked like dog poo. Even so it still tasted great on French bread.

I was still making slight tweaks in what I was going to make the night before and I was wondering what I could make with ingredients I already had. From the granola bars I had quite a few different seeds left and with them I raspberry jam and a luxury nut and seed loaf. The jam was surprisingly easy to make. It wasn’t proper jam like my mum made with the long cooking process, but it tasted and looked just like jam and was extra healthy as it had Chia seeds in it.

I got inspiration from my favourite band Lady Antebellum in the form of Devilled Eggs. I found out about these through one of their webisodes as Charles from the band would impersonate his crazy aunt bella. She would go on about her devilled eggs and how they were amazing. I googled the recipe and thought I’d give them a try. I hadn’t tried them before either and boy did they have a bit of a kick. 

The nut and seed loaf tasted good, but it did need a sauce or gravy which I didn’t have time to make. It recommended a cranberry and apple sauce but I couldn’t find any cranberries. But it was still pretty filling.

I also made 2 desserts and I seem to be back in my pudding stride after some landslides earlier in the challenge. I made a passion fruit trifle which was a simple recipe using brioche slices as the base. The reason why I made a trifle was that I felt that all the dishes I was making were a little brown. So I asked one of my friends what I should make for dessert that had a bit of colour, and passion fruit was the answer. It was another easy recipe to make and there weren’t any complaints. 

The last thing I made on the day was Banoffee Pie. Now I have an eventful history with Banoffee pie, as when I was growing up if there was free food around I would make the most of it. One Boxing Day we went to my auntie’s and there was a lot of great food. So I stuffed myself and when I got home was subsequently sick, and the last thing I ate was you guessed it Banoffee pie. I’ve never had it since. But I did make it for the challenge and it went down a storm. My friend Penny called me the queen of Banoffee and quite a few people went back for seconds!

I was planning to make Biryani on the Sunday but I decided to make it the day after and I loved it. The rice was very fragrant and it the meat and sauce wasn’t too spicy but was full of flavour. It’s a dish I’ll definitely make again and again.

New books #27-28: Different view point

I had a pretty busy weekend, but somehow still found time to read a couple of books! The first book I read I managed to read on the train while going to and from Hampton Court Palace. I read War Horse by Michael Morpurgo which is the famous book about a horse’s view of the Second World War and the friendship he has with his original owner’s son. Throughout the book they are separated but neither of them forgets their bond. The book is now a play and was made into a film a few years ago. I saw the film when it came out with Bobby and Lord Studman and I remembered how I was the youngest in the audience by a good 30 years.

The book was okay; it was easy to read but took me quite a bit of time to get used to reading a story from a view point of a horse.

The second book I read was called The Yellow Wall-Paper. It’s part of a series of short books Penguin had released to celebrate its 80th birthday. They released 80 books, all at 80p each! I originally bought a few for Matt when I was seeing him as he always wanted to read, but because he was very busy with work he never had the time. I didn't buy all 80 but I bought him around half a dozen or so and was going to give him a couple every few weeks, but we didn't make it that far, so I’m left with some very random books.

The Yellow Wall-Paper is by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the three stories in the book were originally published in 1892, 1893 and 1911. So by far this was the oldest book I’d read in the challenge! To be honest I didn't think much of the stories. I couldn't connect with the female lead character and this maybe due to there not being much description at the start. I also felt like the stories didn't have much happen in them either, so I finished the book asking myself what it was all about.

New book #26: A day’s commute

For a few years I did the Hitchin to London commute and to be honest I didn’t really mind it. What I did mind was the very high cost, but I think it’s because of my dad’s great interest in trains I quite like train journeys on the whole. It’s a great place to people watch and catch up on reading from my permanent seat of the luggage rack.

I used to have a habit of talking to strangers on trains on long distance journeys, but not short ones and the book One Moment, One Morning explores an everyday commute. One day on a normal commute a man collapses but as a result it changes the lives of 3 people.

The book was a straight forward read and I like how it got into the action straight away rather than build up with lots of description. The characters were well formed and the whole situation was really believable. And to top it off one of the characters was from Hitchin, I kid you not!