On the road again...

I'm writing this in the car on the A1 heading up to Newcastle for our first seminar of the round, and for once the weather looks like it's going to hold, so hopefully no unloading the lorry in the rain this time. Time for a bit of a catch-up...

This last week we've been putting the finishing touches to kit and sessions, with rehearsals opened up to the whole company, so we've got some good feedback from all over, along with an opportunity for those unable to attend for real to see the content of the sessions. All this should mean that by the time you see us, we're properly practiced and ready to go.

Friday saw the start of the physical aspects of the round, with Shaun turning up with our great big lorry and trips all over the business park to pick up equipment, stands and flightcases and load them up in the twice-yearly game of 3D Tetris. This time we managed to complete it without damaging or destroying any kit or ourselves, which is something of an improvement on the normal state of affairs! This is either a very good sign or merely to lull us into a false sense of security in advance of some more serious injury later in the round.

I managed to grab a couple of photos during Friday:

This is Shaun and his lorry, freshly cleaned and primed for being filled with stuff. Shaun's doing a pretty good job of hiding his continued disappointment at having to put up with us lot, and of course dealing with Liverpool's anticlimactic end to the season.

Somewhere in this stack of containers is the Secret Storage Facility where a lot of our kit hides between rounds. It's a case of security through obscurity, since there's a sea of containers in all directions - kind of like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but with less whip action.

Here we mid-load, with the caterpillar of flightcase being trundled out ready for the exciting journey up on the tail lift (something we never tire of riding on, to be honest).

Now we're out on the road, we'll be attempting to have a blog entry for every venue we do, with interesting stories, photos and other bits and bobs from during the day. We've just invested in one of those clever little mobile phone internet dongle thingies that you plug into your laptop to give internet access on the move, so we may even manage to type and post en route. Technology, eh?

Right, we're just passing Durham so I'd better go and start my stretching regime in a vain attempt to keep my ageing bones in one piece. Ah - right on cue, it's just started raining. Marvelous.